And so; the Premium Wire Saga Continues...

[picky]

Please check out this article about Monster Cables published on October 7, 2008 by PC Magazine:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2331985,00.asp - Glenn

[fenderbender]

Looked like a great article.....Personally i wouldn't buy Monster anything because of their practices.....

[Groomlakearea51]

Lest we forget Mr. Russell who was McIntosh chief design engineer for years... Here's his take on wires...

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

[Islander]

If the wire is long enough and big enough, that's about 90% of the needs met.

[colterphoto1]

I've been saying it for years - "the electrons don't care" [8-|]

[Groomlakearea51]

I like Islander's speaker cables!!![]

[JJkizak]

I suspect during this next depression that there will be a run on coat hangers to hook up speakers.

JJK

[fenderbender]

I suspect during this next depression that there will be a run on coat hangers to hook up speakers.

JJK

Then maybe Stereophile will run an article : Coat Hangers, 12 Gauge from the dry cleaners Vs.18 Gauge from your old closet.

[BLSamuel]

I agree with GLA51. I like Islanders though a bit of work to update the amplifier and speaker connectors. [^o)]

Islander, tell us about your speaker jumber cables. The wimpy Martha Stewart 8 or 10 gauge? Scratch that, they're not pastel. The quite a bit better auto supply store 6 gauge model? Or the serious 4 gauge variety?

As far as coat hangers - painted, lacquered, or plastic coated?

Dang, too bad but my Stereophile subscrtipion has run out. Seemed to be a lot less BS this time around. Of course the letters to the editor also aren't quite as much fun.... The review on small extremely pricey brass discs strategically placed around one's listening room (... "oh, the magic created...") reaped the use of M&Ms used as the brass discs, and tweakable by enjoying a few and/or changing the color... and the classic strategic placement of a few hot young naked women around the room (Fini, was that your letter?). And at least now they do actually test things and publish the results.... can't remember if they did back then... that was probably around the time of the infamous $30 green Magic Marker to "treat" ones CDS with.

Anybody want to start up an amplifier brick venture? I could probably dig quite a bit of iron rich clay up out of my back yard.... the iron in the clay absorbs the stray electrons eminating from the components on which it is placed, dramatically clearing up the smear caused by such electrons as well as protecting your sensitve electronics.... at only $1599 each, they're an investment you cannot affored to skip. (started with $599 but the quality control would suffer at such a low, low cost). I have some overly dried out Walnut and Butternut at my brother's for those who want a pretty base for their audio bricks. Dang, if I ever get a potterery klin, I just might have to try that. A few suckers, er ultra sensitive platinum eared audiophiles might actually buy a few.... ....

Dad used to have s small coil or two of thick soft uninsulated aluminum wire - much better then old bailing wire for wiring up gates and the like - probably 8 or 10 gauge or so..... stiff enough it could be routed from amplifier to speaker naked ...

(I think I need to tranquilize my brain a bit as it's running amok.... no more caffeine today, maybe for the rest of the week)

[Islander]

Islander, tell us about your speaker jumber cables. The wimpy Martha Stewart 8 or 10 gauge? Scratch that, they're not pastel. The quite a bit better auto supply store 6 gauge model? Or the serious 4 gauge variety?

That jumper cable picture is from another forum member (maybe pauln), but I found it amusing and saved it.

Actually, my JubScalas are bi-amped, and I'm using 8 gauge for the woofers and 10 gauge for the tweeters, both in twisted pair geometry. I'm not sure what that adds up to, maybe 6 gauge or so.

The model is Karma Kable, from knukonceptz.com, and is not very expensive. With big wire like that, you can listen to music without wondering if all the little electrons are lining up and waiting their turn to get into the cable, like you might with the skinny stuff.

Also, low-resistance (big) cable minimizes any reduction in the amplifiers' damping factor, allowing them to exert more precise control over the speakers' drivers.

[Guest " "]

Lest we forget Mr. Russell who was McIntosh chief design engineer for years... Here's his take on wires...

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

No mention of inductance or capacitance factors that can be manipulated to intentionally change wire transmission proprties........ some folks use equalizers, bass and treble contols to change the sound, others tube rolling, some change horns from metal to plastic to wood, others use speaker wire to change the sound....to each their own.

[oldtimer]

Islander, tell us about your speaker jumber cables. The wimpy Martha Stewart 8 or 10 gauge? Scratch that, they're not pastel. The quite a bit better auto supply store 6 gauge model? Or the serious 4 gauge variety?

That jumper cable picture is from another forum member (maybe pauln), but I found it amusing and saved it.

Actually, my JubScalas are bi-amped, and I'm using 8 gauge for the woofers and 10 gauge for the tweeters, both in twisted pair geometry. I'm not sure what that adds up to, maybe 6 gauge or so.

The model is Karma Kable, from knukonceptz.com, and is not very expensive. With big wire like that, you can listen to music without wondering if all the little electrons are lining up and waiting their turn to get into the cable, like you might with the skinny stuff.

Also, low-resistance (big) cable minimizes any reduction in the amplifiers' damping factor, allowing them to exert more precise control over the speakers' drivers.

Interesting Pat. I just heard Klipschorns with zip cord and it seemed as if the drivers were under complete control, and for some reason I never wondered if the electrons had to wait in a queue.

[Islander]

Interesting Pat. I just heard Klipschorns with zip cord and it seemed as if the drivers were under complete control, and for some reason I never wondered if the electrons had to wait in a queue.

I was joking a bit about electrons queuing up, but it stands to reason that less resistance is better than more. With the high sensitivity of Klipsch speakers, though, the speaker cables will be carrying less current than they would be when connected to most other speakers, so it may be less of a factor than usual.

As for the amp's ability to control the drivers, it's an incremental difference. I can believe that Klipschorns sound fine with zip cord, but if you try them with some bigger cable, you may hear an improvement.

Some hi-fi tweaks and mods can really seem like splitting hairs, but when I'm listening to my system, I feel more relaxed if I can feel that I've addressed all the detail improvements that are practical to address. Then I can put the hardware considerations out of my mind and just enjoy the music.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I did an interesting experiment about one year ago. I have monoblocks right next to my speakers. I took my regular speaker wires out and replaced them with 3 foot length pieces of 12 gage copper wire from some romex that I had leaft over from a project.

I could not believe it but the difference was huge. The midrange was muffled and treble rolled off quite a bit. It sounded aweful. I was actually shocked as I never expected such a difference. I have borrowed cables from friends before and the difference was never this big.

Did this make me go off and start experimenting with different cables? No. I use Kimber 4PR that I have had since 1983 for my speaker cables and homemade RCA's for my interconnects (using Mogami Quad from the Guitar Center and RCA ends that I bought on ebay). I don't want to start experimenting with cables because there is no set formula for matching. Seems like a huge and expensive pain to do. I also really like what I have.

But, that beign said, for some reason the electrons did care and did not like the Romex wire. Someone else please try this and report back. I completely removed the wire from the white sleve but left the black and red covers in place. Like I said, very big difference that was immediately noticable. My only disclaimer is that I was not using Klipsch speakers when I tried this.

[Islander]

...for some reason the electrons did care and did not like the Romex wire. Someone else please try this and report back.

This is why some online cable shops will send you several types of cables or interconnects to try, so you can find which one works best in your particular system.

[Guest " "]

Lets just make Oct national wire hangers as speaker wire month so we all can hear the same thing.

[IndyKlipschFan]

OK, I bought this (actually 2 of them for ($29.00) and I admit it now to you all in the Klipsch forum for my pre amp to my sub connection.

It did get rid of a ground noise to the subs.. The subs "seem to be" better in power as well. but can I prove it? Not sure.?

But I can A vs B them and say "They got rid of the slight noise to the subs" ..so YES, these did help.

My take.. Sometimes you need to "try the hype" and see for yourself. OK, You can officially flog me now!

http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=1711

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[Guest " "]

" It did get rid of a ground noise to the subs.. The subs "seem to be" better in power as well. but can I prove it? Not sure.?"

you actually can do a test...a lot of monster interconnects have the sheild terminated only on one side to prevent ground loops....all you need to do is remove the cable and check the continuity of the sheild from one end of the rca to the other. If you get an open, then you have the types that are only grounded on one side.