lotusmark Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Heavy duty zip cord doubled up. Works a treat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Well I may be timid but your not so timid starting off your first thread soliciting information about cables. Oops, I guess your not timid after all but timed. Timed. Timed. Time keeps on passing into the future, no that's not it. I'll figure it out eventually, and I'm sure there is a conspiracy involved, but that's a pretty nefarious and mysterious moniker you've chosen. So welcome aboard, but excuse me if I sit with my back to the wall while I determine what's what with you. Now to the subject at hand. Cables. As you can see by my picture I just love cables, and the more electricity running through them the better. However, I can't think of any single component in the entire audio chain that shouldn't be more neutral. Speaker wire or interconnects doesn't matter. They shouldn't have a vote, they shouldn't be consulted, they shouldn't be pandered to. They shouldn't be invited out on a date on Saturday night, they shouldn't be allowed into any serious discussion of any real aspect of audio nirvana. They certainly shouldn't be allowed to interfere with what any serious audiophile is trying to do in creating or tweaking a system. They are called speaker wire, no they are not cables. Cables support the Brooklyn bridge and other important stuff. Speaker wire, is just a simple pathway for Mr. Electron to get on down to Mrs. receptacle at the speaker. If you have banana plugs Mr. Electron is allowed to play some calypso and boogie a bit on his way to his date. Interconnects are simply a means of hooking stuff between stuff and need only enough shielding to prevent interference from the z-rays generated from passing Spaceships originating on the planet Sucker. It is said that the great PT Barnum invented snake oil, and his great-grandkid invented cables. For $4 or $5 hundred you can buy at least 10 audiophile lp pressings and spend your time discovering weather the musicians, label and studio artists presented you with audio nirvana. Or you can buy into the whole cable thing and help some smuck garner the wealth to spend his declining days on a tropical beach, awash in a bevy of beauties purchased on the strength of the public gullibility. That said, if you must spend more than $5 try some Blue Jeans. Supposedly they go well with any music but Funk. Parliament requires a more reactive sartorial presentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Zip cord. Use the hundreds you save to buy some killer CDs and take your wife out to dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I agree with thebe, mainly cause I haven't been here much but while talking to BEC about speaker wire he put it a good way these are fairly high efficient speakers so not needing to pull to much through so a good quality wire over a huge wire. I just bought some audioquest off of the bay for half the price what retailers want, I hear not much difference than the cheap bigger guage stuff I had. just my two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Of the miles of tiny gauge wire in an amp, preamp, and speaker and its network...........why on earth folks choose to BEEF UP the 3 feet of wire between components and the 10 feet from amp to speaker........I'll never know. But it is completely amusing to read the discussions of how changing a 10 ft.piece of speaker wire dramatically changed the whole system. I just love that. Make sure you hook them up correctly........you know.........orient them by those arrows they put on there or you'll corrupt the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 If you can hear the differences between properly fucntioning speaker wire then by all mean more power to you, its your money. I would say the gauge size per the length runs are the most important things to consider as well as making sure the cables are neatly arranged away from power lines and not underfoot. Cheers. I would think they would be a bit boring on a date however, unless they are willing to spring for the check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 If you can hear the differences between properly fucntioning speaker wire then by all mean more power to you, its your money. I would say the gauge size per the length runs are the most important things to consider as well as making sure the cables are neatly arranged away from power lines and not underfoot. Two things are important with speaker wire. First, it must be long enough. Second, it should be big enough. After that, it gets pretty subtle.Size and resistance do make a difference. I'd say 14 gauge is a minimum and 12 gauge is a bit better.As for the argument that the speaker has fairly small wires within it, that is true. However, the ideal speaker wire would be none at all, with the amp connected directly to the speaker. Failing that, a cable with very low resistance comes closest to that ideal.Also, resistance in a speaker cable has a lowering effect on the amp's damping factor, so less resistance is better in that way, too, allowing the amp to better control the woofer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hifi jim Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Of the miles of tiny gauge wire in an amp, preamp, and speaker and its network...........why on earth folks choose to BEEF UP the 3 feet of wire between components and the 10 feet from amp to speaker........I'll never know. But it is completely amusing to read the discussions of how changing a 10 ft.piece of speaker wire dramatically changed the whole system. I just love that. Make sure you hook them up correctly........you know.........orient them by those arrows they put on there or you'll corrupt the sound. You are aware of course, that many amplifier and speaker companies use custom wires within their products, even Klipsch used Monster Cable within some of their models. Wonder why on earth they'd do that? Many people change the wiring in their tonearms. Many upgrade the caps in their amps, or crossovers. Some people change their binding posts, and power cords because yes, every change to the signal has a sonic effect. Physically making the change and listening is the only way to know for sure. It seems those people who have done this, and those who have the most experience doing this are the ones most aware of the changes possible. Very amusing to read discussions based entirely on theory though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 HiFi Jim said... " even Klipsch used Monster Cable within some of their models. Wonder why on earth they'd do that? " Nothing to do with performance...but everything to do with marketing... People like you expected it.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Of the miles of tiny gauge wire in an amp, preamp, and speaker and its network...........why on earth folks choose to BEEF UP the 3 feet of wire between components and the 10 feet from amp to speaker........I'll never know. How about the fuse, through which all the power flows? Of course, now you can get audiophile designer fuses... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Of the miles of tiny gauge wire in an amp, preamp, and speaker and its network...........why on earth folks choose to BEEF UP the 3 feet of wire between components and the 10 feet from amp to speaker........I'll never know. How about the fuse, through which all the power flows? Of course, now you can get audiophile designer fuses... Why not, there are already audiophile designer outlets. I would like an audiophile power generation station and then connect that directly to my speakers. I guess those who are that hardcore use the amps powered by batteries. I wonder who makes the best audiophile battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 jacksonbart says; "I wonder who makes the best audiophile battery?" Sears FI - HARD Thanx, Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 The smart thing to do is quit messing with the system and call Machina Dynamica for the "teleportation tweak". Heck.......why not improve the picture on your TV too?.............and no need to buy any wires. It can all be done over the phone. You can also use Q-tips to change the system sound too. That's actually worked for me in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Some people change their binding posts, and power cords because yes, every change to the signal has a sonic effect. Power cords... Oh boy. Well, at least we know where you stand on that issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 I bet Q-tips work as good as changing the power cord. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invidiosulus Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 I bet Q-tips work as good as changing the power cord. I've used power cables for speaker wire before. Sounded fine. I've got a bunch of cat5 wire sitting around that I've thought about making into speaker wires but everytime I think about it I remember the day many many moons ago when I listened to John Albright's LS with his huge cat5 cables and could not(at the time) discern any difference between them and the thin under wallpaper type of speaker cord he had on his surrounds. I have in the past tried using solid 12g house wiring as speaker cable and thought it sounded miserable. Speaker cables can sound different but I think that your money would best be spent elsewhere for a decent return on investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Just another theroy or guess or what ever you want to call it, but like everything elese would there not be different grades of copper, for instince there are different grades of wood right. So a better quality grade of copper would be better than a poorer grade as for conductors, so if this is the case why don't we tear apart our amps and pre amps and rewire them with all an equal quality copper so we get the best sound. Then we can go on to our house and rewire that so we get the cleanist power(not forgeting our power conditioners). After that lets pay higher electric bills so we can convince the power companys to replace thier wires with the same quailty if its not all ready better. I know this goes against what I posted earlier but something I was just thinking of. I know what I am doing tonight, and I still cant figure out my ground issue but at least I will have the best quality of copper through it. duder and also did jb post something that I was able to make some since out of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hifi jim Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 so if this is the case why don't we tear apart our amps and pre amps and rewire them with all an equal quality copper so we get the best sound. Some people do rewire their amps. And then again, some amplifier manufacturers use custom wire when they build their amps. Audiophiles try to control everything within their power to create better sound. Speaker cables, interconnects, power cords, line conditioners, etc., are easy changes that give real results. What wire the power company uses, and what cables the recording studio used are out of our hands. We can only control and easily change the variables within our own systems. But every wire, cable, etc., is a component of equal power passing the signal along and having an affect on the signal one way or another. To close your eyes, or mind to this fact and pretend that wire is wire, is akin to thinking a CD player is a CD player, or that all amplifiers are created equal. Pretend and hope all you want, but it is simply not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 so if this is the case why don't we tear apart our amps and pre amps and rewire them with all an equal quality copper so we get the best sound. Some people do rewire their amps. And then again, some amplifier manufacturers use custom wire when they build their amps. Audiophiles try to control everything within their power to create better sound. Speaker cables, interconnects, power cords, line conditioners, etc., are easy changes that give real results. What wire the power company uses, and what cables the recording studio used are out of our hands. We can only control and easily change the variables within our own systems. But every wire, cable, etc., is a component of equal power passing the signal along and having an affect on the signal one way or another. To close your eyes, or mind to this fact and pretend that wire is wire, is akin to thinking a CD player is a CD player, or that all amplifiers are created equal. Pretend and hope all you want, but it is simply not the case. I could agree, I understand is this all part of the hobbie like anything else. I am just rambling do to the fact that right now in this point in life I am boo whoing about not haveing the money to buy those things to try for my self. Guess I am just having some fun dont mean to bad mouth what anyone says could make a difference in sound. (that and I really haven't even been in this hobbie long enough to actually put in a good argument or true fact for that matter) duder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 To close your eyes, or mind to this fact and pretend that wire is wire Pretend and hope all you want, but it is simply not the case. Or so you think. Please don't state it as fact. It's not like wire characteristics are drawn to spec on circuit diagrams. Wire is supposed to pass signals unaltered; that's it. If lamp cord of a sufficient gauge sounds the same as monoprice and other cheap solutions, but fancy cable sounds different, then you can bet that it's the fancy wire altering the sound instead of passing it unaltered. It shouldn't. I don't want to use wire as a filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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