BackBurner Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 Dean : Is that whats refered to as " ribbon " braid ? Andy : What the ? are you drinking today . lol. Reminds me of the tatoo on my bicep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 ---------------- On 2/22/2004 10:23:47 PM DeanG wrote: So, you guys think a set of speaker cables with low capacitance and high inductance, will interact with the speakers and amplifer the same as a set of cables with low inductance and high capacitance? ---------------- Is this a setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 Not really "ribbon", just basically a semi-flat braided type. Wanna guess who makes it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted February 22, 2004 Author Share Posted February 22, 2004 ---------------- On 2/22/2004 10:30:42 PM DeanG wrote: Not really "ribbon", just basically a semi-flat braided type. Wanna guess who makes it? ---------------- Yes, its 14-Gauge Flat, Flexible Megacable from Radio Shack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 ---------------- On 2/22/2004 11:03:20 PM Georg Friedrich Handel wrote: Yes, its 14-Gauge Flat, Flexible Megacable from Radio Shack ---------------- Good call, Handel. You have won the grand prize, Dean's Klipschorns!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted February 22, 2004 Author Share Posted February 22, 2004 ---------------- On 2/22/2004 11:10:44 PM paulparrot wrote: Good call, Handel. You have won the grand prize, Dean's Klipschorns!!! ---------------- Yaaaaay, Im soo smarth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 Hey, guess what? That's a really good cable!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted February 22, 2004 Author Share Posted February 22, 2004 ---------------- On 2/22/2004 11:14:19 PM DeanG wrote: Hey, guess what? That's a really good cable!! ---------------- Sweet deal, ill have to check it out then. How do you guys normally put the banana connectors on the ends? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 It's hard to believe people are still saying that all cable sounds the same. Amazing. One thing IS true, one doesnt have to lay down long green to get some good performing cable. But cable DOES make a difference and is just one more component in the chain. If have heard this time and time again since I started experimenting with cables in the 80s. I do agree that some of the cables are horribly overpriced. But I have heard runs of cable make or break a system. Hell, my Cornwalls and SET system has been a pain to get right with wire. I didnt like any of my previous cable with it, the worst being the BEST for solid state, Transparent Cable (the Network cables were great with high power SS but SUCKED with low power tubes and horns). I went through CAT 5 and a homebrewo 18awg/Magnet combo. When I changed from the home brew 18awg solid core with Magnet wire I had to my current Belden TWisted Cross Connect (ala Jon Risch) it was a JAW DROPPING DIFFERENCE. I mean, Audrey was even stunned. I equate it with a component change; it was THAT big a difference. It was the first wire I REALLY liked with my CW and Moondogs. There are a lot of details online concerning cable you can construct that sound VERY VERY nice. There is no need to lay down big ducats. But cable DOES make a difference in my view. I will say that with horns, I have found the simple cables to be better than the complex. Some of the simple Kimber do a nice job. I really like my Belden 89259 cross connect solution. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 22, 2004 Share Posted February 22, 2004 Yes, it makes a difference. But I'm tired of popping blood vessels here trying to convince anyone. Still waiting for the naysayers to answer my question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I just had a new thought, and given the rarity with which I'm struck with anything new these days, that's pretty cool, so thanks Georg for posting the question... I think cable makes a difference. I've tried various kinds of wire between amp and speaker, ranging from really cheap (pennies / foot) to sort of expensive (Straight Wire Duet) and I hear a difference. A lot of people whose audio observations I respect hear absolutely no difference. Some people in this forum think cables make a difference. Some don't. How is is possible that we can be so divided on this? We're all into audio in a big way or we wouldn't be here communicating with each other. Why do some of us hear things that others don't? Are those that think wire makes a difference feeling / hearing real differences that others don't, or are we hearing a difference that exists only because we expect to hear one, and our mind provides it? One possibility, and I'll grant that this is more due to the late night status and the nice merlot I'm drinking right now than any well thought out rational process (Black Box wines are not too bad...) is that whether wire makes a difference or not might depend upon how well the rest of your system interfaces. Let's take connecting a preamp to an amp. If the output section of the preamp and the input section of the amp are, for lack of a better term, well suited for each other (ground plane, impedence stability as it varies with frequency, other factors I'm not qualified to comment on) maybe it doesn't matter what you connect them together with. On the other hand, if the preamp out and the amp in are, uh, not ideally matches then perhaps the very minor differences imposed by various cable constuction methods and materials might have more influence on the sound of the system. In a more abstract sense, if the system as a whole is fairly stable, then varying cable characteristics (within reason - avoid 24 gauge cable for speaker runs) ought not to have too much of an influence. However, if the system as a whole tends to a chaotic state, then the minor variences injected by the cable could have disproportionally large impact on the sound on the system as a whole. In this case, various cable construction methods and material selection would act as the strange attractors that bound the extent of the varience that we experience even as we note the differences... If a butterfly beats its wings in Africa... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I agree wholeheartedly with mobile. It's hard for me to justify the purchase of a pair of speaker cables that retail for $16,000 for 15 feet. Over a grand per foot? I don't think so. However, there are fundamental differences between the cheapo Lowes zip wire and some reasonably well-constructed speaker wire that costs maybe .20-30 more per foot. I rep for XLO - they sell the aforementioned speaker cables - they're handmade to order and you have to wait 3-5 weeks for delivery. Am I going to try and talk someone into these things? No. At the same time, I'm not going to talk someone out of them, if that's what they really want - regardless of what I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I also agree that speaker cables do make a difference. I had a pair of Kimber Kable 8TC that sounded great with my McIntosh MC7200 SS amp and Magnepan MGLR1 planars, but sounded overly bright with my MC250 and Cornwalls. The same situation applied with a pair of MIT Terminator 2s and even the original Monster Cables...each sounded different with different components. Not bad, but different. Right now I'm using a $69 pair of 11 AWG Orbeck Stratti speaker cables that sound nice with my MC250/BEZ tube preamp combo, but might sound dull or overly bright when I receive my BEZ 300B SET amp...who knows? BTW, Orbeck used to be found on both eBay and AudiogoN, but as of late they're nowhere to be found. My brother uses silver coated OFC wires from Stout-Interconnects (http://stout-interconnects.com/prod02.htm) that he swears by, and they're cheap to boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 My problem is that I do not want to go out and buy some $200 cables. If I were to do so, I would like to be certain that I would gain an audible benefit to justify the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 You could MAKE some cables that would MORE than compete with those $200 cables. A few places offer kits for less that $100, or you could source your own parts. I have been sent various cables from clients and have amassed a small collection over the years. Let's put it this way, with my low watt tube solution, a pair of $900 Transparent cables were trounced by a kit featuring Belden 89259 cable you can order and make yourself. Then again, that Network shod Transparent cable did VERY well with a pair of 200w B&K Monoblocks into some ProAc Minitowers. With the Cornwalls, it stunk with SET. I have found that less is more with the vintage integrateds though. My favorite vintage amp does well with some cable very much like what Dean pictured. Is it the best? No, but entirely presentable. With cable, money does not always equate with sonics. And some designs work well with some amp/speaker combos only to sound problematic with others. I dont discount anything anymore though. I have been surprised and my assumptions proven wrong too many times over the years. It pays to experiment with cable once you get your system honed. But blindly dropping ducats on well reviewed cable is not smart even though loons do it all the time based on reviews. Another option if curious is THE CABLE COMPANY. They will let you audition any wire for a down payment for two weeks (four or five is not uncommon - they carry about EVERY brand and wire type). And you can put this money towards your purchase (you also get a discount if you review the wire with your system). They have been doing with for YEARS and it's a good way to get a handle on a lot of cable if you have the patience. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I've used 6 different speaker cables with Khorns & LaS. All have been copper. Sometimes there have been audible differences, & sometimes I couldn't tell at all. The best so far are the most expensive I've tried, Monster Z3. SSH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I have a mix of IXOS (from www.accessories4less.com), Sound King from www.partsexpress.com, and Carol from Home Depot. It all sounds fine to me, but I think the IXOS looks the coolest with their porcelain-coated connectors and braided structure. How's THAT for scientific and sophisticated? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clipped and Shorn Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 I know that the type of cable going up to a transmitter antenna matters because of impeadance and other farily explanable physical issues having to do with resonance etc. There are even metering devices and things for helping to get everything tuned correctly. What I don't hear in relation to the speaker wire debate is any definitive physics that makes consistent sense, just hocus pocus by the guys who are in the business of selling their brand of wire. This kind of subjective hype would never fly when constucting an effective antenna system, and from what I can see, the analogy between an audio system and an rf transmitting system is amazingly close. What is the physics that one is actually looking to when basing a decision on speaker wire? Obviously it is not practical or sensible to go out and buy a dozen brands of expensive speaker wire in order to audition them subjectively. There has to be some science here which can be predictive. I just want to know what it is. C&S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted February 23, 2004 Author Share Posted February 23, 2004 Thanks Piranha, I just purchased 15' of his blue braided 10 gauge orion cable, came out to $14.50 shipped for the pair. How do you guys install your connectors? Do you screw the banana connectors on or do you solder them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted February 23, 2004 Share Posted February 23, 2004 Tube amps and high-efficiency speakers, great for glorified welding cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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