Imagine that, changing components that actually introduce a measurable difference in electrical/acoustic properties of the signal path has more effect on "the sound" than things that don't (cable). 🙂
It' is no coincidence that, by and large, those who most frequently claim to hear a difference between various cables are those who've spent the most money on cables.
Or have access only to horrible recycled Chinese-made cables made of painted steel or aluminum, and finally get to hear what real copper sounds like with a 'proper' speaker cable...
Heavy gauge power cord is all you need. Wire rated for 15 amps, like 14 AWG. Wire resistance is what to worry about, lower is better. Other things don't matter unless you're the phone company piping audio more than several miles. Spend the money on better speakers and better amps, tuners, turntables and such.
there might well be some speaker system applications where higher resistance "cabling" is quite appropriate (i.e. probably a misnomer as it may well be a single strand of magnet wire / CAT5, etc)
not all drivers particularly the higher sensitivity types frequented by us crazy "Full-Rangers" require 15 amp rating on this particular piece of cabling
Almost a decade ago, even before I heard my first single driver speaker system, I followed an experiment suggested by John Van Haus - and replaced the not inexpensive Linn Audio K400 biwire cabling on my Keilidhs with braided CAT5 plenum grade. It was but the first in a series of eye-opening experiences that shattered for me a lot of previously held "truths".
The next big one was hearing the magically musical intimacy that a (then) $400 2 Watt SET amp ( Decware Zen C ) could deliver in combination with a high sensitivity single driver speaker ( Ed Schilling's Horn with FE108S).
The rest is my own personal audio history - we all have our own, and I've arrived at the opinion that there is no single right or best answer to any of the "big questions"
well, except:
"42"
and, thanks for the fish
😀 You can of course do what Fostex once did at some or the other HiFi fair.
They showed that their tungsten wire sold at crazy prizes had enough resistance to push the Qtc sky high and make the boxes bass-heavy.
Of course a $1 resistor has the same effect, but on a HiFi fair one can´t say that loud without getting shot at.
Mundus vult decipi.
They showed that their tungsten wire sold at crazy prizes had enough resistance to push the Qtc sky high and make the boxes bass-heavy.
Of course a $1 resistor has the same effect, but on a HiFi fair one can´t say that loud without getting shot at.
Mundus vult decipi.
My dirty little secret....I use 14AWG 2 conductor power cord for 100W+ or 4ohm loads and lamp cord for the small stuff like my PC stereo.
I think a friend with Ninkas has those very same wires. I just don't get why you would need 10g wire for a tweeter.😕
Jeff
I think the extreme pressure method of welding might be what the Russians invented years ago. You put two disparate metals together under extreme pressure and spin them in opposite directions. The result is that you can weld two different kinds of metal together without any added rod. (just a guess)
Anyway, I used to have some crappy interconnects bought from radiohack. When I bought the Rega a pair of Kimber PBJ's came with it. HUGE difference. Now its possible that interconnects are more susceptible than speaker wire to sound quality loss. I don't really know but I"ll have a chance to find out in a couple of days. I found a pair of 5 foot Kimber 4PR speaker cables on Audiogon with banana terminations for $60 including shipping! Now I know these are Kimber's least expensive speaker cables but really, for $60 dollars and all I have to do is plug and play? Couldn't pass that up. What really floors me is I found anything on Audiogon for $60. When I get them and have a chance to listen I'll get back to everyone.
Doing web research I have seen some speaker cables in the $20,000 range. THAT is truly silly. For that I could buy a really nice stereo, and a good used car.
Anyway, I used to have some crappy interconnects bought from radiohack. When I bought the Rega a pair of Kimber PBJ's came with it. HUGE difference. Now its possible that interconnects are more susceptible than speaker wire to sound quality loss. I don't really know but I"ll have a chance to find out in a couple of days. I found a pair of 5 foot Kimber 4PR speaker cables on Audiogon with banana terminations for $60 including shipping! Now I know these are Kimber's least expensive speaker cables but really, for $60 dollars and all I have to do is plug and play? Couldn't pass that up. What really floors me is I found anything on Audiogon for $60. When I get them and have a chance to listen I'll get back to everyone.
Doing web research I have seen some speaker cables in the $20,000 range. THAT is truly silly. For that I could buy a really nice stereo, and a good used car.
I know the answer is "42" but what was the question again?
I bought the monster cable because it was all the local retailer had, other than lamp cord from Home Depot. And I knew that when I found something better for the upper cabinets the monster would work for the transistor/bass cabinets.
In truth I'm a shameless opportunist. I bought my Snells for $400. And I got the Audio Research AND the Mark VI's for a hundred bucks!
I bought the monster cable because it was all the local retailer had, other than lamp cord from Home Depot. And I knew that when I found something better for the upper cabinets the monster would work for the transistor/bass cabinets.
In truth I'm a shameless opportunist. I bought my Snells for $400. And I got the Audio Research AND the Mark VI's for a hundred bucks!
Indeed so. As you may know, I have found that speaker wire is pretty much speaker wire. But interconnects are different. I presume it is because the impedances involved are orders of magnitude higher than speakers. In any case, I got a pair of silver in Teflon interconnects as payment for demo'ing some power cords, interconnects and speaker cables. Running a tube amp off of a DAC, I could hear the difference between the silver wires and RS grade wires. Not huge, but definitely there. Some day I intend to play around with various DIY interconnects, but that is low on the to-do list.
BTW I am amused at the use of "HUGE" in comparison reports. IMO Speakers make HUGE differences. Amps make big differences. Wires can make subtle differences. And, the amount of difference is often directly proportional to the cost of the items.
Bob
This does me fine:
"Studiospares" Speaker Cable 2X2.5mm at Studiospares
Available in different guages too if required 🙂
"Studiospares" Speaker Cable 2X2.5mm at Studiospares
Available in different guages too if required 🙂
I like this stuff AR PR398 1350W Microflat Tape-Style Speaker Wire 100 ft. | Parts-Express.com
It is a simple way to approximate some of the nice logic Allen Wright uses in his cable cookbook.
I ran two lengths of this through a rubber hose, filled it with some microbead fill for weight and covered in techflex. Looks awesome, heavy and professional. Works nicely, as good as any other cable i have heard. Overkill, yep, but looks cool.
It is a simple way to approximate some of the nice logic Allen Wright uses in his cable cookbook.
I ran two lengths of this through a rubber hose, filled it with some microbead fill for weight and covered in techflex. Looks awesome, heavy and professional. Works nicely, as good as any other cable i have heard. Overkill, yep, but looks cool.
Bob,
I would add "Speakers plus the Listening Room make HUGE differences ..."
Unfortunately, this rather significant part of the system is quite often ignored, for some strange reason - can't do without it!
I would add "Speakers plus the Listening Room make HUGE differences ..."
Unfortunately, this rather significant part of the system is quite often ignored, for some strange reason - can't do without it!
I agree, the listening room may be the biggest factor, but it can be hard to change. My Living room requires nice looking stuff and the wife won't let me use any traps or other room conditioning. I to try to strategically place plants and pictures, but even furniture placement is limited. The room comes naturally with some good and bad features that I can't even assess well due to cost, complexity and the lack of any real ability to make significant changes. I get by with digital equalization for some room correction. At least I can blunt the room resonant peaks and troughs at my listening location. The best sound actually may be in the lofted upstairs corner (where I have my DIY workshop. Must be some kind of resonant chamber location.
Interestingly, in spite of room dynamics, I can tell differences between equipment. No matter how bad my room is (to a degree I suppose), better speakers still sound better, better amplifiers still sound better, better sources still sound better. I can still discern nuances, sometimes even subtle ones like cables/interconnects and power supplies, regardless of the room and those aspects are much easier to modify and so still have great value. All this in spite of high frequency hearing loss (I get to about 13kHz). In fact, I notice that with my current system and hearing loss, I can still even tell if the frequencies outside my hearing (like 16khz bands) are suppressed.
So there are reasons the room is somewhat ignored and even though it may be a most significant factor, the others still matter. In fact, I think they matter a lot because my brain can still tell if the music sounds good through many deficits.
Brains are cool....
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Hey all. This might be worth a look 18 awg, pure silver with a Teflon coating for $6.00 a foot. Homegrown Audio Co. | pure silver audio cables - Products - Bulk Wire
I have long been a proponent of truly high-fidelity audio cabling - from power cables, to interconnects and, of course, speaker cables.
I spent many years evangelizing Super-kudos 108's (the full helicals, not the semi helicals - which, to be blunt, are scarcely worth considering, even for a second system).
The only problem with the 108's is that they have a fairly long burn-in time - taking typically 500 hours before they are really worth the money (~$200/ft). This in itself is not a great concern, however due to the polarization effect of alternating current in helical cables, I tend to only get ~100 hours listening before they're unusable and need to be replaced.
This seemed like an intractable problem until a friend tipped me off to the fact that you can uncoil and recoil the helix once they've become polarized and within a few hundred hours they will lose their polarization and become usable again - it's quite a lot of effort, but worth it in the long run.
The same friend, in fact, has also been trialing cryogenic treatment of his cables - he's been running a slow freeze-thaw process on some cabling that's held at a very high potential (~2kV) and thinks he's solved the polarisation problem for good! ...I'll keep you all posted on that one.
I spent many years evangelizing Super-kudos 108's (the full helicals, not the semi helicals - which, to be blunt, are scarcely worth considering, even for a second system).
The only problem with the 108's is that they have a fairly long burn-in time - taking typically 500 hours before they are really worth the money (~$200/ft). This in itself is not a great concern, however due to the polarization effect of alternating current in helical cables, I tend to only get ~100 hours listening before they're unusable and need to be replaced.
This seemed like an intractable problem until a friend tipped me off to the fact that you can uncoil and recoil the helix once they've become polarized and within a few hundred hours they will lose their polarization and become usable again - it's quite a lot of effort, but worth it in the long run.
The same friend, in fact, has also been trialing cryogenic treatment of his cables - he's been running a slow freeze-thaw process on some cabling that's held at a very high potential (~2kV) and thinks he's solved the polarisation problem for good! ...I'll keep you all posted on that one.
Serious question and not intending to insult if the answer is "no"- is this parody? $200 a foot and it becomes useless after 4-5 days of actual use?
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