what is the difference in wires?

[hifitommy]

"if they were blind tested they wouldn't have a clue!"

well, not true but if thats where youre at, youre lucky. you wont be spending big bucks on wire.

when you have a receiver, you cant know as most receivers are mid to low fi. with cleaner glass, you see more.

[atlas91]

Just stay away from Monster cables. They just buy regular cables and re-sell them as super high tech expensive ones. Rip off.

[hifitommy]

a cost effective and good sounding speaker wire is the auddioquest type 4. they were given to me gratis when i bought my adcom 555II amp and 565 preamp.

they replaced monster and when i first listened, i thought there was less bass but after a while, i realized the bass definition was tighter and not fat, which is what the monsters were erring at. the top also was cleaner.

yes regular 10-12 ga twin lead is adequate but not what you want if you are refining the sound of your system. the monster was muddying up the low end and i didnt hear it until i substituted the aq for which i had no expectations for.

[hermanv]

I have always had good luck with Cardas products, whether you assemble your own or buy pre-made.

Their stuff is not cheap but, it does one of the better jobs of relating cost to sound quality. What I mean is that the more expensive the cable, the better the sound.

I use their 9 gauge cable for my woofers, a bargain by most standards.

Michael Percy carriers many of their DIY products.

Michael Percy Audio Ordering Information

[hermanv]

To a large extent differences between wires is an acquired taste. I did learn that the longer I listened (to quality equipment) the better I got at hearing small differences. I think that increase in acuity is one major cause of the upgrade cycle.

Get wire that fellow hobbyists tend to agree as good product with high cost value per foot/meter. I stay away from wires advertized with some mysterious physical quality or nearly magical component.

I have tried making my own cables and know that if ultra pure metals and first class connectors are used, the expected savings tend to disappear. Which is just another way of saying that expensive cables are not the rip off they might seem.

[TECHNICAL 1]

cables with high copper content is better in transfering any signal better than other alloys copper only is best i work with very long cables when installing satellite systems and sound some cables the good ones have verv low resistence the bad can make an 8 ohm speaker measure about 25 ohms with 20 m cable that means power is lost and it sounds slower and dead cable loss or attentution varys with temperature hot days **** sound cold days better try it 4 ur self lay 30m cable on ur roof and test on cold and hot day and hear the difference i know the roon has aircon but some times cables run in the cieling no air con there now we know more mate pure metal is good what cable did u make anyway and how

[TECHNICAL 1]

Herman how about 1000m 10 guage clear cable 4 the cat in the pic only thing i am in south africa bartering still exists here u know as long as it does not chew cables or maby i can give it a roll of cable so u get 900m i love this cat is it urs i had a cat that used 2 play with cables for hours note we are still talking about cable

[filecat13]

Ah cables, wires, interconnects, power cords...



It's the never-ending story.

[hermanv]

My speakers are tri-wired, with the crossovers at the amplifier end. The short (10 inch) cable from the amplifier to the crossover is Cardas 5 nines 17AWG silver, paralleled 4 times for an aggregate AWG of 11. The main cable(s) run eight feet long, each way.

I used 2 AWG 9 copper Litz in parallel for the woofer. This results in a 6 AWG cable

AWG 17 copper Litz, 5 in parallel for the midrange. This results in a 10 AWG cable

AWG 22 4 nines silver 8 in parallel for the tweeter. This results in a 16 AWG cable

I use heavy gauge Rhodium plated lugs, soldered on. They seem to stay clean and tolerate mechanical abuse. I've had bad luck with bananas since they seem to get lose with age. Gold is good but so expensive that the plating is too thin and is mechanically removed with use.

If memory serves all the above was about $500 in parts, not far off a commercial cable and mine is not sleeved and pretty, although I did shrink sleeve the very ends and I had to provide my own labor.

The crossover and cable configuration are the result of many, many hours of listening to various combinations. The only generic answer is that a heavier gauge always seems to sound better for woof, mid or tweeter. My cables gauges were limited by cost.

[thedj]

Personally I cant hear the difference. Then again I'm not a dog.

[hifitommy]

dj-

"Personally I cant hear the difference"

as you havent listed your equipment, we cant know if it is capable of distinguishing between wires.

its not all about high frequencies, its about imaging differences, dynamics across the audible range of frequencies, tonal coloration, and other things that cannot be measured or that measurements havent been devised to reveal.

if you never are able to hear these differences, you will likely save a lot of time, trouble, and money.

[hermanv]

The analogy that seems to hold up best is the wine taster. The good ones can tell the age and type of wood cask in which the wine was "finished", they can tell in what part of the world the grapes were grown due to miniscule differences in soil composition. Is this a gift from natures or is it learned? As near as I can tell most of the tasters believe it is learned ability. It's not that their taste senses are intrinsically better, it's because they care a lot and trained for years.

So was my experience with cables. Initially I heard no differences between my Monster 1000 interconnects and the "free" ones that came with newly purchased equipment. Eventually I learned to hear more (and discovered that the Monster 1000's were damn poor)

A fair warning, I moved from my good 'ol Sansui receiver to Denon separates and then to the more exotic equipment. My original $500 system became $2,000 and finally ended up nearer to $20,000. I could easily spend more except that I do believe in return on the dollar and with my limited income I am already well past proportionate, realistic costs

Happy listening.

[pammyJ]

I have just acquired two previously awesome compenents.

Pioneers SX-7
Signet SL-260/II speakers

Just wanted to know if they are compatible with each other. I bought 12g copper cables from (Monoprice) to hook up. Still confused with the bi-wire system as I am a noob, but wanted to test them out for a old system.

I love my dad's old amp, even though it is only 60w, I hope it can power these speakers...

[hermanv]

There is no reason to worry about compatibility and 60 Watts will do a decent job of powering the speakers.

I do not know how efficient the Signet SL-260/II speakers are. If they are typical (89 dBSPL per watt), they will not provide room shaking sound while perfectly acceptable to all but the hard rock aficionado.

[hifitommy]

pammy.

hook them up, if they play loud enough for you without obvious distortion, they are compatible.

[E-Stat]

Personally I cant hear the difference. Then again I'm not a dog.

I don't know any dogs with discerning ears.

[Pat D]

i know that you can get bbigger guages and better terminal ends but why are brands like monster so much money? is there a good buy to buy wires at a better prices? do better wires change the sound?

when i bought my bose system, the wire were small and nothing special about them.

Get some good quality speaker wire from the hardware store, something that is not likely to corrode. There's not much point in buying wire smaller than 16 gauge since it is very easy to work with. The main electrical factors for ordinary lengths are the resistance of the wire and the impedance of the speakers. Physically, the wire gauge, the length of the wire, and the impedance of the speakers are most significant in most applications. There is a good entry in Wikipedia on Speaker Wire:

Speaker wire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have used the same 12 gauge cable since the mid 80s. If I ever have to get new wires, I probably would go for 14 gauge since it is easier to work with.

[blackraven]

Just buy some unterminated 10,12 or 14g Belden speaker wire from Blue Jeans Cable -- Quality Cables at Reasonable Prices and terminate them yourself with their connectors. The wire is dirt cheap and of good quality and very easy to terminate.

[thehifiguy]

If you entered audiophila after the 90's just get Kimber wires and grow from there based on what you hear and how changes sound - based upon live music (not recorded) as your reference.

If you cannot get to live music, try any high quality component chain of equipment (analog), Kimber wires as a start, and pre 90's CDs as your reference. Older TELARC CDs is a good jumping off point.

[paulsmuk]

On the subject of cables does an upmarket scart lead on a 5.1 system make much difference? ie worth the outlay?

[Poultrygeist]

In discussions of speaker cables what's often overlooked is the gauge of the speaker's internal wiring. I've seen high end speakers with inexpensive 18 gauge wire soldered to the internal binding posts.

Unless it's a long run what benefit is derived from an expensive 9 gauge wire connected to an inexpensive 18 gauge wire? And it's not the same as a fire hose connected to a garden hose.

Tiny gauge cat5 wiring is a favorite among many DIY'ers for certain amp/speaker combos.

Many purist in the full range single driver crowd are inclined to use unbroken speaker wire runs from the amp soldered directly to the driver tabs. My OB speaker builds have been criticized for using binding posts which are considered to be a break in the connection.

[hifitommy]

what may appear to be cheap wire inside speakers may actually be very high quality. being inside, there would be no reason to fancy it up.

[Poultrygeist]

I know 18 gauge stranded copper wire when I see it.

Believe me speaker companies spend most of their money on exteriors. Crossovers and drivers represent chump change in their equation.

[Happy Camper]

The R/L/C combinations of cables on different speakers and lengths do have some impact. Zip cord wiring doesn't do very well with electrostats but may do well with typical dynamic loads. There are different needs requiring consideration. As for the jewelry inspired, nuclear industry certified gimmickry, there are those elitists willing to spend a lot of money for bragging rights. Once the signal gets to the speaker, the needs of the internal connection isn't as critical but there is always room for subtle improvements. I was given a guideline that says to spend 10% of your budget on cables/cords.

[hifitommy]

"Believe me speaker companies spend most of their money on exteriors. Crossovers and drivers represent chump change in their equation."

uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhRIGHT!