solid core vs stranded

[StevenSurprenant]

I was never pleased with the sound of the Audioquest Crystal cables, as they made the sound of my system quite harsh, with little detail, but seemingly, more volume (i.e. - they made my system play louder).

Audioquest Crystal cables were the very first higher end cables I heard. Before that it was always zip cord. I have to agree with your assesment of them. I hated them in my system, but they did prove that wire makes a difference. It's funny, I was in this store and heard some B&W speakers playing music and I commented to my friend that it sounded like that were using Audioquest Crystal cables. I looked and yep, they were.

The sound of these cables are very distinctive.

They hurt my ears!

[budgetaudio76]

any one ever use of using cat5e or cat 6 cables for interconnects? ive been thinking about making a pair of them or three as most of my ics are the stuff that came with equipment. i heve one that is more of an upgrade wire. brand is scoche im using it for lfe output for one of my subs(its high voltage rated) i found it outside my apartment. past tenants left it with some other minor stuff.
how would be the best way to soldier them to the ic connectors is it one complete cable per positive or negative terminal. ive done this once before whit sat. dish power cable. no negative results from those. i dont remember how those sounded. one of them had deeper bass at lowest octaves the other had more fuller upperbas. other than that i dont remember much of them.

[O'Shag]

I can only speak from my own personal (and, limited) experience here, but if I were to compare the performance between the solid core Audioquest "Crystal" speaker cables I once owned, and the Monster Z-Series stranded cables I now use, I'd have to state categorically that the Monster cables are inifinitely superior in every way.

I was never pleased with the sound of the Audioquest Crystal cables, as they made the sound of my system quite harsh, with little detail, but seemingly, more volume (i.e. - they made my system play louder). The harshness lessened over time as the cables burned in, but never sounded good enough to justify their price ($800 for two 12' lengths).

I replaced those cables with the Monster Z-Series stranded cables, with screw-on, gold-plated banana plugs (on both ends) and enjoyed an immense improvement immediately: much sweeter, more pleasant sound, with greater detail and deeper bass.

This is only my own experience with two cables, so it certainly isn't to be used as a standard, but I posted this as a point of reference. I also found the Audioquest cables impossbily stiff, and very hard to work with, whereas the Monster ones are a good deal more flexible, and easier to place on the floor behind my speakers.

As always, there are often two sides to a story.

A perfect example of system dependency. Also your scenario demonstrates that even with any perceived improvement in detail, flash, or loudness, ultimately any cable will be undesirable if it makes the system sound harsh or overly bright. Some tweeters are more susceptible to this than others. I always look to the midrange primarily as a bell-weather of my systems performance. I like presence i.e. not too much a fan of very recessed center images. I rather the midrange be a tad on the warm and lush side than overly cool, analytical and bright whcih can be somewhat uninvolving. I want to feel the music, not analyze it - if that makes any sense. I guess Transparents are stranded, but I'm not sure. RW do you know? I also find the QED Genesis Silver Spiral speaker cable to be excellent, with that balance of detail, aliveness, control and body without becoming etched or harsh. they are stranded I believe. I love the Valhallas and the Transparent References, but there is no way I'll pay that much for cables - at least not for now.

HP must be a lot of fun to hang out with RW. I like his style.
Cheers
Adam

[O'Shag]

Something thats puzzling me is these Crystal Cables (the brand). They go against the common wisdom it would seem, by the use of those little connectors to customize length. If you have multiple connectors in the signal path, doesn't that degrade the signal? It seems that many people like them.

[FLZapped]

Again, you are correct that where you are in the room makes a difference, but so far eveyone has "heard the same things" I have. Figure that one out...

Perhaps the Power of Suggestion


-Bruce

[E-Stat]

I guess Transparents are stranded, but I'm not sure. RW do you know?

Sorry, I don't. It took Bugs Bunny to bring me back to this thread.

HP must be a lot of fun to hang out with RW. I like his style.
Cheers
Adam

He is and is more animated in person. His written persona doesn't capture his sense of humor. It is also fun to hear all the toys he gets access to - that which is completely outside the experience of guys like mtry (our former resident ditch digger). I remember hearing the system back in '01 or so when he got the big Nolas. That experience completely recalibrated my sense of the level of realism an audio system could deliver. I brought several very familiar CDs with me and was floored at how much detail I had missed from my old favorites.

rw

[musicoverall]

That experience completely recalibrated my sense of the level of realism an audio system could deliver. I brought several very familiar CDs with me and was floored at how much detail I had missed from my old favorites.

rw

I think we all should strive for this recalibration from time to time when possible. The same thing happened to me about 15 years ago. I was happy with what I had until I heard an acquaintance's system using SOTA (at the time) gear. I was so amazed at the differences in detail that for the first time in my life I spent hours listening to the system instead of the music. It completely revamped my thinking regarding what level of music reproduction was possible in the home.

BTW, Mr Peabody has a question about the Gamut CDP in Digital. Don't you own one of those?

[dingus]

.... What about enameled solid copper wire? has anyone messed around with something like that? Sounds like a good inexpensive experiment for the bedroom system.

it is. i did this very thing with about half a dozen IC's. cost just under $4.00 per meter pair and they sound fine for what i use them for. i also did about a dozen solid silver wire IC's using the same construction at about $24 per pair. i use the silvers exclusively in my main rig and in a bedroom system, and they sound markedly 'different' than the solid copper. i've sent a few pairs of the silvers out for demo with mixed results. a couple of reports noted that they are stellar when being used with a tuner, but overly bright when used between cdp and pre, or pre and amp. to my ear the silvers work very well with the two system i use them in and the coppers are less detailed and more grainy.