Best wires for Cornwalls?

[Boomzilla]

First, if you're one of those crusaders who believe that science proves that nobody can possibly hear any difference between lamp cord and other conductors, this IS NOT THE THREAD FOR YOU. Please don't waste your time or mine trying to tell me that I don't hear what I hear. Now that I've hopefully dismissed the ranters, let's get to the question:

I've got a pair of Cornwall III's that I'll be driving with either a Rogue Audio Tempest tube integrated amp or with a pair of VTL compact 100 tube mono-blocks. What wires will give a good match with these choices?

Thanks - Boomzilla (Moniker NOT indicative of listening preferences0

[ZAKO]

If your looking for a match,,Youv come to the wrong place,,,I use razer wire for a sharper image..

[CECAA850]

It would be virtually impossible for anyone to suggest a wire that sounds good to you. For that matter, no one could suggest an amp, pre-amp or speaker that sounds good to you.

EDIT, I'm not implying that you can't hear a difference in speaker wire, rather stating the impossibility of naming a wire that you'd like.

[Schu]

buy the most expensive wires you can find... in that way, you can be sure you are getting the best[]

[Daddy Dee]

Boomzilla,

Are you interested in wire that already has terminal ends installed. Those are pretty pricey? There is considerable savings in buying raw wire and adding your own banana plugs or spades or whatever. I don't think finding the right wire has to be an expensive proposition. In the past have used Tributaries, braided Cat5 (from a great forum friend) 12 ga low voltage wire for outdoor lighting (also from a forum friend), 14 ga wire from Parts-express. I think my system has sounded great with all those options.

Haven't spent alot of time real money on speaker wire and haven't heard any difference in what I heard. Would be interested to hear your take on it. Be careful though, there are lots of people selling snake oil out there.

one thing. I did get some silver ICs once and could definitely tell a difference from my copper ICs. Didn't keep them, though. In my system, didn't prefer the difference they made. I did get sort of flamed once on this forum for saying that I could hear a difference at all.

[odysseyrevolver]

[Deang]

With horns, the best wire is a quality tinned copper. I've been using the Supra from Madisound for over a decade. I just buy the Classic 1.6. It's affordable, easy to terminate, and sounds great. I've often considered offering it with my Heritage crossovers as part of a voicing package -- but people think you're weird when you talk about wire.

http://www.madisound.com/about/speaker-wire.php

[mark1101]

Dean,

I'd like to return my crossovers so you can put the regular wire back in. Personally I think tinned wire sounds a little tinny.

[Deang]

You're confusing tinned wire with tin ears.

[Boomzilla]

buy the most expensive wires you can find... in that way, you can be sure you are getting the best

Thanks, but Mrs. Young's idiot son has better sense!

[Boomzilla]

It would be virtually impossible for anyone to suggest a wire that sounds good to you. For that matter, no one could suggest an amp, pre-amp or speaker that sounds good to you.

In theory, you might be right. In practice, I might disagree. For example, I once owned some Thiel speakers. They had low impedance combined with a complicated crossover that presented wicked phase angles to the driving amplifier. I'd be confident making some general statements about electronics to match those Thiels:

• No AV receiver on the market will make the Thiels sound their best
• No amplifier that is current-limited will make the Thiels sound their best
• "Pro-sound" amplifiers, in general, will sound harsh with the Thiels

The Cornwalls, being a more benign load for amplifiers, may not show such pickiness about the source amplifiers, or, for that matter, wires. On the other hand, someone may have, just by fortuitous circumstance, stumbled upon a "match made in Heaven" for the Cornwalls that exhibits a synergy not present with other pairings. Since this is the Klipsch forum, I'm hoping that some lucky Cornwall owner may be able to make me an informed recommendation.

Cheers - Boomzilla

[mark1101]

The synergy for my corns was the ALK contstant impedance networks. Easy on the tubes amps.

[thebes]

About the only thing in audio I do firmly believe is that getting spendy on wires is a colossal waste of money.

That aside, it's very hard to find anything objective out there from the believers in wire on why one set would match up better than another. So even if you believe in wires, it's almost impossible to comparison shop.

Given that, I would start out with speaker wire and interconnects from either Monoprice.com or Blue Jean Cables. Well made at reasonable prices, and no fiddling with their construction to make them sound different from other wires.

If you are looking to improve your system, and who isn't, I'd recommend borrowing an EQ over a cable search. I think that will reveal much more about your room and listening environment and the real improvements that can gained addressing them, then over the much more harder to quantify cable thingy.

So there you have it. A reasoned, rational reply to your post. I didn't think I had it in me![]

PS. I have Cornwall I's and love them and am really jealous you have the 3's.

[Deang]

The Supra Classic 1.6 I recommended goes for $1.22 a foot.

[captmobley]

I bought some KnuKoncepts Karma speaker wire from Ebay and terminated it myself. You can buy different gauges and different lengths. It is all oxygen free tinned copper.

Works for me.

[thebes]

The Supra Classic 1.6 I recommended goes for $1.22 a foot.

Wow! Must be nice. Didn't know you were rolling in that kind of dough.

[djk]

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bulk-Wire-Cable/Speaker-Wire-Cable-Bulk/Canare-Corporation-Of-America/4S8-BLACK200M.xhtml?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=bingshopping

[erik2A3]

Boomzilla: for a 1/2 cent worth more, I'll add that like others who have contributed, the cable question has been one of tending toward quality wire and connectors (or possibly just bare wire termination) for reasonable cost. We know who ludicrous amounts of money can be paid for speaker cable and IC. I have experimented with Teflon insulated CAT5E, low voltage sprinkler wire from Home Depot (which I am now using with great results from my Lowther horns), doorbell wire, thermostat wire, garbage disposal wire (really), twisted pair of cross-connected, foamed dielectric Teflon insulated coaxial, 3 conductor power (mains) cable, Romex house wire (not too shabby, quote frankly!) thin magnet wire, heavy magnet wire, pure silver, silver plated copper, steel-clad copper (ouch), PVC lamp cord. Crazy amounts of stuff over the last 25 years.

The most expensive I have used was from Jena-Labs (Jennifer Crock was the designer of the rear loaded Lowther horns we have), and the Anti cables made by Paul Speltz's. I have an 8 foot pair of the Anti cables, which consist of a twisted pair of enamel insulated magnet wire - the stuff used to wind transformers, etc. I guess my take on this is that the insulation used, PVC, PE, Teflon, very thin enamel, etc. has been for me of greater or at least equal importance at the material used for the conductor. With Lowthers, Heresies, La Scalas, and K-horns, pure silver was, as Dee mentioned above, the one conductor material where I heard distinct difference. It was wincingly bright sounding, almost unbearable after a little while. I tend to like a brighter, less veiled or warm presentation, and have really like the anti cables from Paul Speltz. I had read about them over and over again, and while I'm not willing to spend the cost of some wire, I feel the $80 I invested in an 8ft pair of the heavy magnet wire has been well spent. I have used them with Heresies and La Scalas alike, which are at least siblings of the Cornwall. My initial concern was that they would be like the silver -- bright and out of balance across the listening band, but they have not been that. They don't seem to accentuate anything. The dielectric material is important, and this cable is insulated with nothing more than a thin coating of enamel. It's single conductor heavy stuff, and does not have the flexibility of multi-stranded, PVC insulated wire. But it sound very good to me. With our crossoverless Lowthers, though, it is in fact tilted up a bit toward pronounced HF response. For the Lowthers, I have been enjoying the great quality of the low voltage pure stranded coppe from Home Depot. It's extremely inexpensive, but very, very good wire for the money, IMO.

[Deang]

We rarely converge and agree on anything, but your experiences pretty much line up with mine. Magnet wire makes great speaker wire if you can deal with the inconvenience and hassle of working with it. Really nice sounding stuff. I made up a pair to connect to my K-69/K-402 top sections and just unwound a pair of 14AWG 2.4mH coils. This of course means that I finally managed to pay less for something than you did.

[erik2A3]

Lol!