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Interconnects vs speaker wire


BlessedPrince

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I’m planing to but a speaker switch/router box to hook up 2 different amps(music and movies) to a set of speakers. Does it matter or will it make a difference in sound if I use speaker wire from switch box to amps instead of RCA’s interconnects or vise versa. Any impedance issues?

 

 

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I will say "no" it makes no difference.  Then I will contradict myself.

 

I used to have a nice Nakamichi tape deck that came with Nak branded RCA cables.  One day when after moving equipment around I couldn't find the Nak cables so I used cheap RCA cables from Radio Shack and the sound suddenly became muffled and dull.  I switched to the Nak cables when I found them and there was an instant, dramatic improvement in clarity.

 

My take from all that is if you have expensive designer cables it won't necessarily improve the sound, but using cheap RCA cables NO DOUBT can degrade the sound.

 

If you have good quality RCA cables or good quality speaker wire they should both work about the same.

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I guess I thought you were talking about internal wire connections and not external.  You'd want to use shielded RCA wires from the switcher box to the components and not speaker wire for low level connections to help block any interference (RF, etc) and I wouldn't use RCA cables for speaker wires since they're rather small internal wires.  But the same would really apply for internal or external.  You could always get some various color 18ga single multi-strand wires, like what crossovers are wired with, and use two colors together and twist them using a cordless drill for one end and a vise, drawer, etc., to hold the other end.  The twisting in the cables is what rejects outside interference.  We used to make our own signal cables in bigger elaborate car audio systems that did a better job of shielding noise than the expensive Streetwires, Monster Cable, Ixos, etc. ,cables.

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For the most part, the interconnect won't change you sound much unless they are the worst in the world.  The key to the best sound will be gear synergy, setup and source.  I have both and cheap and expensive and no real difference.  Proper setup will get the most bang for the buck.  The cheap RCA, HDMI cables have no more noise than the more expensive ones.  out  Toe in or out of speakers by just an in can make or break the SQ and fatigue, imaging, or soundstage...  A good tube amp can be invaluable in a multipurpose system.

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23 hours ago, carlthess40 said:

I make my cables out of rg6 cable and never get any noise from my power cables, I got lucky and found a 1000’ long spool of it about a year ago. The kind with real solid copper center and shield jacket and pretty flexible

This is what I use to make my cables. Dead quiet. Better than the Audio quest cables I bought. Much better. Solid copper center conductor is hard to find, but it’s out there. Monster cable made solid copper rg6 at some point. I think Belden still does. Rg6 is a great interconnect cable in my

experience.

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