b_dans Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I have rb5-ii speakers and am wondering if there is a good recommendation on speaker cables I am using a denon 1803 amplifier. Also, does anyone have experience with tara labs speaker cable? How about monster z2? Biwire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I'm very content with www.bluejeanscable.com Welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Save your money, i,ve gone through this journey. Radio shack has what you need for a whole lot less $$$$... If your concerned about looks spend as much as you can, if not hide it under the carpet....John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 i have 10 gauge belden speaker wire for my rf-83 and they sound just fine from bluejeancompany. I shoulda gotten 12 gauge but it was only 7 cents more a foot or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Check Amazon, I just got 100ft. roll of 16 gauge Monstercable for $21.05, free shipping, delivered to my door.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Radio Shack has some very good cable. Try some. Regarding Tara Labs. I have several yards of this cable which was given to me by a friend a couple of years ago. It's very difficult to use. The cable is very inflexible and the solid core positive and negative inner cables are very difficult to insert into the speaker terminals. No matter how hard you tighten them, the inner cables keep popping out. With regard to sound, I cannot tell the difference between the Tara Labs cable, my everyday Radio Shack cable or the QED flat cable that I kept from another system. It all sounds exactly the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I have rb5-ii speakers and am wondering if there is a good recommendation on speaker cables I am using a denon 1803 amplifier. Also, does anyone have experience with tara labs speaker cable? How about monster z2? Biwire? While I agree with the traditional views of not spending a lot of money on speaker wire and inter-connects, I have found that prior versions and discontinued product lines are an attractive alternative. The prior line to the Z2 may be the monster m1.2/m1.4 product which can be found on ebay very cheap. Be careful about buying monster products offered by companies in the far east. 40 bucks for a set of monster m1.5's is an eye catching deal, but not if you have to pay 80 bucks in shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I have rb5-ii speakers and am wondering if there is a good recommendation on speaker cables I am using a denon 1803 amplifier. Also, does anyone have experience with tara labs speaker cable? How about monster z2? Biwire? While I agree with the traditional views of not spending a lot of money on speaker wire and inter-connects, I have found that prior versions and discontinued product lines are an attractive alternative. The prior line to the Z2 may be the monster m1.2/m1.4 product which can be found on ebay very cheap. Be careful about buying monster products offered by companies in the far east. 40 bucks for a set of monster m1.5's is an eye catching deal, but not if you have to pay 80 bucks in shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I have rb5-ii speakers and am wondering if there is a good recommendation on speaker cables I am using a denon 1803 amplifier. Also, does anyone have experience with tara labs speaker cable? How about monster z2? Biwire? While I agree with the traditional views of not spending a lot of money on speaker wire and inter-connects, I have found that prior versions and discontinued product lines are an attractive alternative. The prior line to the Z2 may be the monster m1.2/m1.4 product which can be found on ebay very cheap. Be careful about buying monster products offered by companies in the far east. 40 bucks for a set of monster m1.5's is an eye catching deal, but not if you have to pay 80 bucks in shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Q: whats the difference between 'speaker cable' and 'speaker wire'? A: about $50 per foot. One must define how he interprets the world for himself. If the world is knowable and best knowable through reason, then cable claims are nothing more than snake oil. If understanding the passage of electrons along a conductor is beyond the kin of our science, and the tools to measure are insufficeint for the task, then cables are free game. peace TommyK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 not to start a war but...to my ears at least...I have found no REAL difference in sound trying the following: Carol Brand "extension cord" in 14GA Carol Brand Outdoor Lighting in 14GA Carol Brand Outdoor Lighting in 12GA Carol Brand Lamp Cord/"Zip Cord" 14GA Generic Clear Jacketed Home Depot copper and silver colored 12GA Mon$ter Brand something or other in 14GA Signet brand Signet Wire in 14GA HOWEVER, I really like the Mon$ter for its REALLY pliable jacket and it hasn't turned green anywhere (original wiring inside my unloved by their previous owner K'Horns was all burnt and green) ...and my favorite FOR THE PRICE so far has been the Carol Brand 14GA Zip Cord or Outdoor Lighting but they are a bit stiffer jacketed than the Mon$ter...extension cord is heavy and harder to strip, clear jacketed stuff just LOOKS cheap, Signet is great, still shiney copper after almost 20 years but I think no longer available (was free with my kg2 purchase from HiFi Hutch in 1989) 14GA (or even 16GA) for my shorter runs (under 50 feet) has been just fine and 12GA or larger has just been too thick and hard for me to work with in the binding posts and near impossible with the terminal screws of Heresys and the EICO HF-81... Good Luck, Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 you know some audiophiles will hid it but they use romex power cords to hook up their speakers. Also a great site to visit is http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 as if I needed any more convincing...finding Roger Russell's site a while back convinced me as well...as a speaker designer himself, Roger COULD certainly take advantage of the "wire wars" but chooses no to...nice Jay! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I love using him, I love how all these brainwashed people think monster is the best, show them his site and they seem to be quiet afterwards. I usually use that website on the promedia forum where overly exagerrated claims are made, like it made the speakers sound like new speakers, the treble sounds soo much better, etc etc. I find that people think they hear something that was not there before because they spent alot of money on wires and started to actually hear music for real to evaluate them cause without monster wires, its not complete so why actually really listen to music until you get them [] Also its funny to see the promedia people say who is this mcintosh person, is he an Apple employee *rolls eyes* or I never heard of this company, logitech sounds better for audio *pukes* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forte2me Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I am not an audiophile by any means, but I have been told that wire/cable statements of improved bass, or sonic clarity with one wire over the other is all pretty much hogwash. People all claim to hear improvements when they know they have spent $$$ for the big name and big diameter stuff, but in blind tests they have yet to find someone who can hear a difference between cables, even with different gauge. Open your speakers and look at the size of the wire going from the terminal connects to the crossover and to the drivers. Open your amp and look at the diameter of the wire internally to the speaker posts. If it made a difference sonically you would see large diameter wire there also. We don't, because it doesn't. Save yourself some $$$ which can be put to better use elsewhere, and go down to Radio Shack and pick one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efzauner Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 i have 10 gauge belden speaker wire for my rf-83 and they sound just fine from bluejeancompany. I shoulda gotten 12 gauge but it was only 7 cents more a foot or so. Lower (thicker) Gauge is not always better. Thicker wire also means thicker insulation wich separates the wires more. The capacitance of the wire decreases with separation but the inductance increases. So moving from 14 gauge to 10 gauge decreases capacitance but increases inductance. A number of tests on Audioholics shows that 12 gauge is about the best you can get. Going lower can reduce performance because of increased inductance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 not to start a war but...to my ears at least...I have found no REAL difference in sound trying the following: Carol Brand "extension cord" in 14GA Carol Brand Outdoor Lighting in 14GA Carol Brand Outdoor Lighting in 12GA Carol Brand Lamp Cord/"Zip Cord" 14GA Generic Clear Jacketed Home Depot copper and silver colored 12GA Mon$ter Brand something or other in 14GA Signet brand Signet Wire in 14GA HOWEVER, I really like the Mon$ter for its REALLY pliable jacket and it hasn't turned green anywhere (original wiring inside my unloved by their previous owner K'Horns was all burnt and green) ...and my favorite FOR THE PRICE so far has been the Carol Brand 14GA Zip Cord or Outdoor Lighting but they are a bit stiffer jacketed than the Mon$ter...extension cord is heavy and harder to strip, clear jacketed stuff just LOOKS cheap, Signet is great, still shiney copper after almost 20 years but I think no longer available (was free with my kg2 purchase from HiFi Hutch in 1989) 14GA (or even 16GA) for my shorter runs (under 50 feet) has been just fine and 12GA or larger has just been too thick and hard for me to work with in the binding posts and near impossible with the terminal screws of Heresys and the EICO HF-81... Good Luck, Bill Was the test hooking up the home-depot or radio-shack cable on the left channel of all componets from end-to-end and hooking up the monster or other premium grade on the right channel from end -to-end, putting the system in mono, and switching back and fourth using the balance controls to determine if there were any differences, using assorted music types? What would be the best method to test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 What would be the best method to test? The problem is that the people who believe that they can hear a difference will fight the test saying it is unfair. Use a switcher type box and they will claim that it adds distortion, but if you actually do a real switch of cables it might be 10 minutes or so and the listener will lose the hearing of the first cable played on. There is no definite or audiophile method...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I used the improper testing method...hooked it up and listened...good luck with your tests...[] Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tychicum Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Best deal on speaker wire I have found is commercial grade "in-wall" 12 gauge speaker wire from Home Depot. It is wrapped in a hideous green colored plastic protection sheath as it is intended to run through holes drilled in 2x4 studs. It is a twisted pair with one twist about every inch. I paid 29 cents a foot from a big roll perhaps 500 feet long or more. I thought it may have been priced wrong it was such a good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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