I just upgraded to Monster Cable. Now my speakers sound like something else entirely

[Gabriel]

Goddamn.

[chinoloco]

Which cable are you using? I am using the XPHP line. I was wondering if its really worth it to go up to the M series.

James

[GooseChaser]

nah, the XP is already more than enough.

[Gabriel]

16 gauge Monster. But the whole setup was custom - connectors are silver plated. Everything just sounds clearer.

[MD1032]

Connectors are SILVER plated? Monster cable should be gold for the price you pay. Oh well, good to hear your wires are sufficient.

[justin_tx_16]

----------------

On 7/25/2003 1:31:29 PM MD1032 wrote:

Connectors are SILVER plated? Monster cable should be gold for the price you pay. Oh well, good to hear your wires are sufficient.

----------------

Silver is a better conductor of electricity than gold. Check out some electrical engineering books, if you get into this kind of stuff they can be facinating! (really, they can)

Silver gives a more realistic sound, sometimes though, when you mix silver CABLES with Klipsch, you get a very bright sound, beyond what even some Klipsch lovers can handle. You do get used to it after a while and soon crave silver cables. If you have a system that lacks detail, putting silver speaker cables can help accentuate the detail that you currently dont' have, unless your speakers are just total wastes of amperage.

[MD1032]

I know, but the crappy cables that come with the speakers are silver plated, so you'd think that Monster cable wouldn't make that much of a difference.

BTW, do you think new cables would make my low midrange better? It's always seemed weak and held back. Upper bass is fine as well as everything coming through the sub, but the low frequencies going through the mid-range drivers sound very held back and as a result, the bass is lacking fullness.

[GooseChaser]

when I upgraded to monster cable, I thought the bass extended much better between the satellites and the sub. there are a plenty of reasons to make the upgrade, but don't hold it against me if you don't find the same results.

[justin_tx_16]

MD1032, a lot of the time, the cable is aluminum and lightly sprayed with silver, if at all. They do this because if they actually want it to work, they need to put SOMETHING on the cables to get them to work. Silver is one of the best conductors so just putting a itty itty bit of it on crappy aluminum cables (resistance out the...) makes up about 1/2 the difference. If not aluminum they are steel.

Upgrading to something like monstercable should help the midrange.

[Gabriel]

The connectors (i.e. plugs) are silver plated. The wires themselves are copper.

[iXtreme]

My guess is the wire "upgrade" sound improvements are purely placebo effect from spending so much money on them. Believe me this DOES happen, I thought my wire upgrade helped alot with mids and highs till I set up my 4.1 system temporarily in my unfinished basement with the stock wires... guess what... same exact sound. You can put all the big gauge wire you want on between amp and sub but the sats still have like 22 or 24 ga. wire inside them and the wattage going thru the wires is so minimal a single strand of copper wire from those Monster cables would suffice. Homes use 14 ga. to pump out 1875 watts at 115V so 22 or 24 ga. for these promedias at it's 30 something "real" watts is just fine. The stock wires will sound exactly the same as any upgrade you may do. Do yourself a favor and save the money for something else. Sounds negative I know, but it's the truth. 24 ga. wire will have the same resistance of 0.00 ohms on the multimeter as will 2 ga. wire. Have someone hook up one of the four sats with monster and the other three with stock and see if you can tell the difference blind folded. You won't be able to unless you get a lucky guess.

[iXtreme]

One more thing, we have 1000 ft. wooden spools of old cat 3 wire at my work which is I believe 26 ga. I tested the resistance of the wire to see if distance makes a difference. I got a 0.00 on the multimeter over 1000 ft. Not even 1/100 of an ohm of resistance over that 1000 feet. I also powered up a 60 watt 12VDC bulb through one of the four twisted pairs with an old ATX 235 watt PSU and it ran just fine for about half an hour then I gave up my test. Cable did not even get warm during the test. This whole big gauge/better sound/long distances thing is a sham brought to us by the people who make the expensive wire. The "ONLY" benefit from the expensive cable is it looks pretty. Too bad it's buried behind equipment:).

[Gabriel]

----------------

On 7/26/2003 12:56:32 AM iXtreme wrote:

My guess is the wire "upgrade" sound improvements are purely placebo effect from spending so much money on them. Believe me this DOES happen, I thought my wire upgrade helped alot with mids and highs till I set up my 4.1 system temporarily in my unfinished basement with the stock wires... guess what... same exact sound. You can put all the big gauge wire you want on between amp and sub but the sats still have like 22 or 24 ga. wire inside them and the wattage going thru the wires is so minimal a single strand of copper wire from those Monster cables would suffice. Homes use 14 ga. to pump out 1875 watts at 115V so 22 or 24 ga. for these promedias at it's 30 something "real" watts is just fine. The stock wires will sound exactly the same as any upgrade you may do. Do yourself a favor and save the money for something else. Sounds negative I know, but it's the truth. 24 ga. wire will have the same resistance of 0.00 ohms on the multimeter as will 2 ga. wire. Have someone hook up one of the four sats with monster and the other three with stock and see if you can tell the difference blind folded. You won't be able to unless you get a lucky guess.

----------------

You got fired from an audio company didn't you?

[Gabriel]

----------------

On 7/26/2003 1:09:02 AM iXtreme wrote:

One more thing, we have 1000 ft. wooden spools of old cat 3 wire at my work which is I believe 26 ga. I tested the resistance of the wire to see if distance makes a difference. I got a 0.00 on the multimeter over 1000 ft. Not even 1/100 of an ohm of resistance over that 1000 feet. I also powered up a 60 watt 12VDC bulb through one of the four twisted pairs with an old ATX 235 watt PSU and it ran just fine for about half an hour then I gave up my test. Cable did not even get warm during the test. This whole big gauge/better sound/long distances thing is a sham brought to us by the people who make the expensive wire. The "ONLY" benefit from the expensive cable is it looks pretty. Too bad it's buried behind equipment:).

----------------

You are so full of ****.

[Gabriel]

I know the difference I heard, that's good enough for me. If you weren't there, then STFU.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/AudioFAQ/part8/

Message-ID:

X-Last-Updated: 2002/08/30

Newsgroups: rec.audio.tech, rec.audio.opinion, rec.audio.misc,

rec.audio.marketplace

Subject: FAQ: rec.audio.* Wire 2/99 (part 8 of 13)

Reply-To: neidorff@ti.com

From: neidorff@ti.com

Summary: Answers to common questions about audio equipment, selecting,

buying, set-up, tuning, use, repair, developments, and philosophy.

Date: 10 Jul 2003 09:54:43 GMT

Archive-name: AudioFAQ/part8

Last-modified: 2000/4/12

Version: 2.15

15.0 Wire

More than any other topic, speaker cables and equipment

interconnects seem to use up rec.audio.* bandwidth echoing

the same theoretical arguments, testimonials, and opinions.

Controversy can be stimulating, educational, and also amusing.

Please try to keep postings aimed at one of those three goals,

and avoid the insults and emotion. Also, try to avoid

echoing a common position or principle, as described below.

15.1 Do speaker cables matter?

To avoid confusion and repetition, here is some terminology,

thanks to Steve Lampen of Belden Wire & Cable Co.

A wire is a single conductor made up of one or more conducting

elements, but all configured (as in a stranded design) to act

as a single conductor. Mostly, this is coated or covered by

plastic, rubber, enamel or similar insulators.

Groups of wires are called cables. So zip cord is a cable,

because it contains more than one insulated conducting

element. Coaxial cable is also cable.

Cables can introduce noise into the signal, act as a filter

(and thus change the frequency response of the system),

attenuate the signal (change the amplitude), and provide

nonlinearities from oxidized or otherwise poor connections.

Nonlinearities can distort the signal which add harmonics.

Nonlinearities can also rectify or demodulate higher frequency

signals into audible signals.

It is quite scientifically conceivable that some cables do

cause a difference in sound, because of the differences in DC

resistance, interconductor capacitance, and connector attachment

alone. The effects of exotic conductor weaving and materials

are not so well established. In general, these effects (once

we eliminate DC resistance), seem to be small. However, if your

system is at least fairly good, then some folks have observed

(although not in an experimental, double-blind sense)

significant differences in system performance with different

cables. The effects are said to be quite system specific; the

only real guideline is to try them and see which ones seem to

sound better in your system.

Roughly speaking, the price ranges for speaker cables is low

(under $1/ft), medium (under $6-8/ft), and high (up to $100/ft

and more). Try to arrange it so you can trial such cables; at

several hundred dollars per set, experiments can be expensive.

In any system or experiment, it is essential that the

differences between cables be separated from the

differences between connectors.

You should have an EXTREMELY solid connection between cable and

speaker. Speakers operate at very low impedances, so that bad

connections will create significant artifacts or signal losses

at any power level. For example, if the connection has a linear

resistance of just 1 ohm, the speaker damping factor may be

changed, and the bass may suffer. If the connection contains

imperfect metal oxides, then a slightly rectifying junction will

block the signal, producing compression, distortion, and other

non-linear effects.

There are many magazine articles on cables with various

perspectives which are worth reading, including:

"Speaker Cables: Testing for Audibility"

Fred E. Davis

Audio, July 1993, pgs. 34-43

15.2 What speaker cables are available and how good are they?

There is a wide range of speaker wire available, ranging from

30ga zip cord (~$.10/ft) to exotic wires costing over $300/ft.

The material used ranges from copper to oxygen-free copper

(OFC) to silver. (There are a bunch of others as well.)

Oxygen-free copper is probably NOT any different from common

copper in sound. If you hear a difference between two cables,

it is not a difference between oxygen-free and common copper.

Resistance may be significant for speaker cables. The higher

the resistance, the more the cable will affect the sound, all

else equal. The resistance characteristic of metals is called

resistivity. The resistivity of copper is 1.7 microohm-cm.

Silver is very slightly lower, 1.6. Gold is a bit higher, 2.4.

Silver and gold are different from copper in other ways than

resistivity. Gold does not oxidize in normal environments,

so gold contacts will not need periodic cleaning and will not

create rectifying junctions. Silver will oxidize, but the

oxide of silver is conductive, so oxidized silver will still

make good contact. Copper oxide is a bad conductor. Oxidized

copper contacts may insulate, may conduct, or may rectify.

Copper is a bad material for cable terminals, but this may or

may not mean anything for the conductor itself.

15.3 What can I use for budget speaker cables?

First, a few words on terminology. Wire is sized by AWG or BS

gauge number. Larger numbers represent smaller wire. AWG 40

(also called 40 gauge) is as fine as human hair. AWG 12 is 2mm

or .081" diameter. If you reduce the AWG number by 3 (such as

from 29 to 26) then the wire cross-sectional area increases by

a factor of 2 and the series resistance drops by a factor of 2.

Some wire is classified as solid, because it contains one

strand per conductor. Other wire is called stranded, because

it consists of many strands per conductor. Stranded wire is

far more flexible than solid wire. Most wire is made from

drawn copper. Some wire is sold that is claimed to be made

with a process that produces oxygen-free copper. Oxygen-free

copper has a different metallurgical structure than common

copper and may or may not conduct current better.

Some critical listeners have reported excellent sound from large

diameter solid copper wire, such as home wiring "Romex 12-2".

At least one expert has said that common 18-gauge solid copper

hook-up wire sold by Radio Shack also works very well. Also

recommended on a budget is Sound King wire, a 12 gauge oxygen

free copper stranded cable. This is available from MCM

Electronics for $.39/ft.

Scientifically, thinner wire has more resistance than fatter

wire, so fatter wire will have less resistance-related effects.

Resistance effects can be eliminated by using at least 12

gauge wire, particularly for long runs. Of course, shorter

runs are always preferred, because they come much closer to

the ideal zero-length wire, with no resistance, no

capacitance, no inductance, and no change in signal.

15.4 What can I use for budget speaker connectors?

The worst connectors are push-down, or spring terminals. Screw

terminals with solid copper wire are much better. Gold-plated

binding posts and gold spade lugs are inexpensive by audiophile

standards and are extremely stable. Binding posts with spade

lugs can be tightened to get a very good mechanical joint, and

may offer the lowest electrical resistance of any connector.

Gold plated banana plugs and jacks are very good speaker

terminals. Good ones are more expensive than gold spade lugs,

however, they also provide a bigger area of contact, and are

more convenient when you must frequently reconfigure the system.

Banana plugs should be periodically monitored for corrosion and

loss of spring tension. Monster offers a banana-plug connector

with an expanding center pin that forms an even better

connection than common gold banana plugs. At approximately $25

per pair, the Monster banana plugs aren't a budget connector.

All else equal, connectors with gold surfaces are better than

connectors with any other surface. This is for two reasons.

First, gold is extremely inert, meaning that unless gold is

exposed to very harsh chemicals or harsh vapors, it will not

corrode or oxidize. It will remain a pure, low-resistance

conductor. Second, gold is quite soft, so that if a

gold-plated connector is squeezed between two metal

surfaces, it will deform slightly to fill scratches and

voids, giving a very broad, low-resistance contact area.

Corrosion of connectors is often a problem. Gold-plated

terminals and connectors somewhat avoid this problem;

problems with other connectors can be mitigated by

unplugging and replugging the connector on a regular basis,

cleaning the contact areas with a pencil eraser, or by

using a contact enhancer such as Cramolin or Tweek. When

you use a contact enhancer, be very sure to follow the

directions, and avoid spreading enhancer about your equipment.

15.5 What about interconnects, such as the cable between tuner and amp?

Line-level interconnects conduct smaller signals than speaker

cables; the typical signal ranges from -2V to +2V (the CD

output standard) with currents in the microamps (the

corresponding values for speaker cables attached to a largish

power amp might be -70V to +70V and currents of many amps).

Line-level interconnects can be divided into single-ended (or

unbalanced), and balanced interconnects. Home audio is almost

always single-ended interconnects.

Single-ended interconnects almost always use a form of the

RCA connector (or phono plug). RCA plugs form fair to poor

connections that degrade with time as corrosion works into the

metal-metal contact and as the spring tension of the connectors

relax. Gold-plating reduces the effect of corrosion and locking

RCA connectors solve most of the mechanical problems. However,

these premium phono connectors are rare and expensive. For

example, a gold-plated Vampire locking RCA plug costs

approximately $23/pair. If RCA connectors weren't a de facto

standard, we'd recommend against them.

Unbalanced interconnect wires vary in geometry, material and

price. Cheaper wires have a single conductor (normally

stranded) and a shield and cost $.20-$2/ft. Medium (complexity

and price) wires have two conductors (often arranged as a

twisted pair) surrounded by a shield and cost from about

$3-$20/ft. Exotic wires have all sorts of geometries and

materials (such as stranded silver conductors, or ribbon cable

braided around a core, or in one extreme case, a tube filled

with mercury!). Prices may be as high as $200-$300/ft.

Balanced interconnects have three conductors: two for the signal

one for ground, and additionally a shield. The standard

connector for balanced cable is the ITT/Cannon XLR connector,

which is quite good mechanically (they lock). Equivalent

connectors are also available from Switchcraft, Neutrik, and

other vendors. If you have to run cables longer than 12 feet or

4 meters, the greater noise immunity of balanced interconnects

is often a good idea. For this reason, balanced connectors are

standard equipment in professional installations such as

studios, public address systems, and broadcast stations. There

is not much variation in balanced cables. The three brands

mentioned above are known to be rugged, high quality and

moderately priced. Slightly weaker imported connectors are

available, but they aren't dramatically cheaper. Better

connectors are also easier to assemble and have a more durable

cord strain-relief.

For most systems, the most important aspect of a cable are

the mechanical reliability of the connectors; in particular,

the joint between connector and wire, and the joint between

connector and socket. Typically, interconnect cables are

short. It is worth getting just the right length; cables

often come in .5 meter increments. With quite good systems,

some people observe differences in sound between various

interconnects. This is quite system-specific and the same

advice as given above applies: try several brands. Most

good dealers will loan interconnects for home evaluation.

In cables where the shield does not carry the signal or ground,

the shield is normally only connected to ground at one end.

In systems where there are significant differences between

ground levels on various components, it may make a difference

which way such cables are connected. Typically, the end where

the shield is grounded should be at the source of the signal.

Often, such cable has arrows on it pointing in the direction of

the signal flow. In any case, try both orientations.

There are many objective reasons why cables might cause

differences in sound by interacting with the drivers in the

signal sources as well as by providing non-linear effects in the

RCA connector. Most of these effects are again related to

interconductor capacitance and resistance, and the quality of

the shielding provided by the "shield" conductor. In balanced

cables the quality of the "twisted pair" inside the shield is

also important. One might note that a shield protects from only

capacitively coupled interference, and not from any magnetic

field interference. The twisted pair in a balanced line provide

some magnetic rejection, as does steel conduit. However, steel

conduit has other characteristics which make it undesirable for

audio in general.

15.6 What about Phono Interconnects:

Phono interconnects are part of the link between a cartridge on

a turntable and a preamp (or head amp or receiver). They are a

special case of line-level interconnects because the signal is

much lower, typically 1 to 50 millivolts. They are also

intended to operate into a higher impedance, typically 47K ohms,

and form part of the capacitive load for the cartridge.

The low signal levels mean that the shielding of the cable, and

the presence of a separate drain/shield are more important, as

is a good ground. A separate solid ground should come along

with the cable as a separate lead co-routed with the cable.

In addition, the low signal levels make a good solid connection

to and through the connectors MUCH more important, because of

the greater sensitivity to low-level nonlinearities.

Wire capacitance is often ignored in line-level interconnects;

however, in a phono interconnect, it may constitute half of the

total capacitive load of the cartridge. Obviously, then, two

cables with significantly different capacitances should sound

differently. In this sense, the "right" cable for one cartridge

may be too low or high in capacitance for another cartridge.

For low-impedance cartridges (most moving coil cartridges),

the wire must have low resistance to prevent cartridge unloading

and frequency-dependent signal loss. In addition, as the

signal levels are quite low, shielding is important.

Unfortunately, copper shields do not block stray magnetic

fields, so in the case of phono cables, careful routing may be

even more effective at reducing hum than special wire.

15.7 Is there really a difference in digital interconnects?

There are now three kinds of digital interconnects that connect

transports to D/A converters: coax, plastic fiber (Toslink) and

glass fiber (AT&T ST). In theory, these should sound EXACTLY

the same (bits are bits). However, this assumes good circuit

design (in particular, the clock recovery circuits of the DAC,

and careful consideration of electronic noise) which may be

compromised because of cost considerations or ignorance. Note:

different signaling schemes are used on plastic and glass fiber.

In any case, some people claim to hear a difference;

of those who do, most seem to prefer the glass fiber.

However, the technology of fast digital data transmission

in consumer electronics is evolving very quickly now.

Any specific recommendation should be treated with

suspicion until the industry matures.

15.8 Can I make very good interconnects myself?

Yes. You will need to be the judge of whether or not they

are as good as $100 interconnects, but it is easy to make

interconnects that are better than the $2.00 set which comes

with new equipment.

There are two necessary ingredients: two-conductor shielded

cable and RCA connectors. There is a lot of debate over what

is the best cable, but in general, the lower the capacitance

per foot, the better. Choice of insulation is harder. There

may be an advantage to polypropylene or teflon over polyester

or rubber, but even that is debatable. If you are buying wire

from an electronics distributor, some have successfully used

Belden 1192A microphone cable. It is rubber insulated, so very

flexible. Another recommended cable is Belden 8451. This is

a polypropylene cable with foil shield. Finally, consider

Belden 89182. This is foamed teflon insulated, so very low

capacitance, and foil shielded. If you plan to make a long

cable, this low capacitance cable may be the best choice.

There is also a variety of RCA connectors available. A

good connector would be gold plated and machined to tight

tolerances. A poorer connector will not fit as well, will

make poorer contact as the connecting surface oxides, and

will lose its springiness with use.

When wiring the cable to the connector, use one wire for

signal, (the tip of the RCA connector) and one wire for

ground (the shell or outer conductor of the RCA connector).

Some cables use a foil shield which is difficult to solder.

These cables typically have a drain wire parallel to the foil

which can be used for soldering. Others use a braided shield.

Regardless of which type of wire you have, connect the shield

or the shield drain wire to ground on only ONE SIDE. This will

stop noise picked up by the shield from causing ground noise.

It can be a touchy job soldering RCA connectors. Before

you use your new cables, check with an ohmmeter or

a continuity tester to make sure that you have not

accidentally sorted the signal and ground leads together,

either with a stray drop of solder or a loose wire strand.

15.9 Is there a standard for wiring balanced XLR-3 cables?

Yes. Connect pin 1 to ground/green, pin 2 to white, and

pin 3 to black. Herb Hamilton suggests that you remember

"George Washington Bridge" and then use the first letter

of each word (GWB) to help you remember Green=1, White=2,

and Black=3. This same wiring convention works for

balanced line level signals and balanced microphone cables.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The information contained here is collectively copyrighted by the

authors. The right to reproduce this is hereby given, provided it is

copied intact, with the text of sections 1 through 8, inclusive.

However, the authors explicitly prohibit selling this document, any

of its parts, or any document which contains parts of this document.

--

Bob Neidorff; Texas Instruments / Internet: neidorff@ti.com

50 Phillippe Cote St. / Voice : (US) 603-222-8541

Manchester, NH 03101 USA

Note: Texas Instruments has openings for Analog and Mixed

Signal Design Engineers in Manchester, New Hampshire. If

interested, please send resume in confidence to address above.

[GooseChaser]

ixtreme, I don't know what kind of music you listen to, but for me it was a difference of hearing details on CD's that I either didn't hear before or KNEW they were there but simply couldn't make out the sound. the improvements were vastly over the acoustic instruments, the reason being that they just have more detail to be heard. you can sit there and write that the jaw dropping detail I heard in Curt's acoustic guitar, the long passages of Mozart's finest, and Beethoven's classic piano sonatas which had to be more annoying than enjoyable at first because the keystrokes actually sounded a spit of second longer. frankly, I felt cheated. anyways, you reserve the right to call all these things a placebo effect but it doesn't get much easier to ascertain the truth when it's as simply as hearing and not hearing. it doesn't take a scientific measurement to conclude that there is an improvement. I mostly listen to classical, jazz, and some grunge, and if it wasn't for the upgrade, I'd still have difficulty making out what the hell Curt and his band members are talking about between tracks on "Nirvana: Unplugged in New York". as hard as I tried before the upgrade, it was impossible to understand some of it even at the maximum volume. the so called, "placebo effect" doesn't even apply to me since I didn't expect to see a solid result. I don't particularly consider myself an audiophile or put much trust in the ears. so why did I buy monster cable? because it was going to be a long weekend and I had the extra cash to burn. it was just something to do. I don't know where you came up with some of these facts, but do you really think that a single strand of monster cable will do the trick? and what does 0.00 on the multimeter mean in the real world? I don't know how you can pass these off as having some scientific merit when you don't provide a quantified relationship between AUDIBLE differences and resistence. I just bi-wired the klipsch RB-5's and I hear an improvement. I am using between mili-watts to around 10 watts but the 14 gauge monster cable brings out something new to the overall fidelity. just for the sake of the argument, I switched to the stock cable on the front satellites of the promedia 5.1 and it sounds fine, but it doesn't have that lively quality. the funny thing about audio is that the standard is as good as you need it to be. if a boombox or an alarm clock radio is good enough, it IS good enough for the listener. so let's not take offense here, people.

[justin_tx_16]

iXtreme. You are correct about the possiblility of a placebo effect. But, when you said you got NO resistance over 1000 feet on a cat5 cable, you blew it. I just can't,won't, believe that.

[blade_runner88]

Hi iXtreme, I've worked in an electronic store for 8 years, when I started there, the difference between a speaker wire of $0.25 /foot and one of $2.00/foot was the same thing for me, but one time a sales rep., to makes us hear the reason why that much difference of a price, has connected one side of a good sound system with the $0.25 wire and the other side with the $2.00 one, ask us to close are eyes and to listen, when he was working the bal nob from one side to the other we thought that he has connected another sound system, I couldnt beleave my ears.

One thing I agree is that we dont have the same ears for the audio quality, some will be earing the difference, other wont even notice.

[pinipig523]

i dont know - some of what he says is partially true - the promedias dont use that much power so in all reality, since P=IR^2 - then resistance would play a lesser role than in larger systems (where more power is transmitted).

however, i find it hard to believe that the resistance of the 1000 foot 26 gauge is nearly zero.

R = p(resistivity of material) x L(length of material)/ A(cross-sectional area of material, in this case the gauge of the wire)

maybe ixtreme needs to measure the resistance of a 16 gauge wire at 1000 feet and determine the proportionality between the two. i am sure that the results will be quite meaningful.

also, GABRIEL, try to remain calm and refrain from using names or profanity when giving a rebuttal - it just shows complete disrespect and the lack of your ability to carry on a conversation. ixtreme is as much entitled to his/her opinions as you are - or anyone else is. we at the klipsch forum try to be open to suggestions/tips/criticisms despite our disagreements.

[blade_runner88]

It's not a question of power, since the volume dont need to be that high to ear the difference, the quality of the copper (like the oxygen free copper) is one of the things.