Speaker Cables

Whats the best speaker cable setup you've found for your gear in the $100 to $300 range. As I think that most of us probutly fall into that range.

I fully believe that speaker, or interconnects, are system dependent. Out of what I've heard I like Siltech the best and they seem to be fairly good with several brands. The series I have isn't in your specific range but I think they do offer some in that range. I also have had good luck with Transparent who offers speaker connects in that range. The most apparent difference I noticed when putting the Transparent in is a much tighter and better defined bass response, as well as overall better SQ.

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Originally Posted by meltdown

Whats the best speaker cable setup you've found for your gear in the $100 to $300 range. As I think that most of us probutly fall into that range.

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Best I've heard in my system are the Monster 14ga. quad bi-wire with Part Express connectors: 50 bucks total. Certainly as good as the $300 Nordost Flatline Gold MkII I was using before.
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Go to radio shack and buy a spool of their 12-16ga copper wire with the white insulation. Its cheap and sounds great. If your uncomfortable with that, then buy 14-16g moster cable or rocketfish cable from bestbuy. For ic's, check out www.blujeancable.com
I would not spend alot of money on cables and wires for a $100-300 system.
You should be able to find good deals on Ebay for cables, especially monster IC's. I found the monster m1000I's for $30 on ebay. They sell for over $100 in the stores.

And by the way, there is nothing wrong with using bare end speaker wire. Some people actually prefer this because its one less connection to affect the signal!

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Originally Posted by meltdown

Whats the best speaker cable setup you've found for your gear in the $100 to $300 range. As I think that most of us probutly fall into that range.

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What amplifier and speaker do you use?

rw

Well, last night it was Maggies and Macintosh. Tonight its Martin Logan and Macintosh. Ive played around with canaire, cardas, flex4 and even some Atlonas. Just curious what you people are experiencing.

Just a quick side track, what did you think of the Maggies compared to ML?

Kinda early Mr. P. Ive only have had them hooked up for about 4 hours now. Off hand,different. Same sweet spot, a bit brighter then the maggies. Like the idea of a powered subs through. Going to take a bit to get use to. They clipped my Mac once, never had that problem with the maggies. They seem to eat the power, more then then the maggies. I may need to look for another amp or dig the Carvers out(heavens forbid). Very crisp and clear in the highs and midrange, very good imaging, lack a bit of depth, but that may be the amp. Almost picked up a Krell Showcase too, the price was right, but I wanted to zero in on 2 channel gear.

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Originally Posted by meltdown

Well, last night it was Maggies and Macintosh. Tonight its Martin Logan and Macintosh. Ive played around with canaire, cardas, flex4 and even some Atlonas. Just curious what you people are experiencing.

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Those speakers present very different loads. The Maggie is a most forgiving nearly resistive load and the ML is a nasty reactive load whose impedance curve also looks like a roller coaster. Ideally, you will need a lower inductance cable with the 'stats and shielded at that.

rw

Thats great E-Stat, but what cable should i be considering without blowing a hole in my wallet.

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Originally Posted by meltdown

Thats great E-Stat, but what cable should i be considering without blowing a hole in my wallet.

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For low inductance, there is always Kimber 8TC at the top of your budget. DH Labs T-14 is a less expensive alternative with somewhat higher L, but lower than zip. There are likely many other good choices as well and I would recommend auditioning cables before buying or finding a dealer with a good return policy.

rw

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Originally Posted by E-Stat

For low inductance, there is always Kimber 8TC at the top of your budget. DH Labs T-14 is a less expensive alternative with somewhat higher L, but lower than zip. There are likely many other good choices as well and I would recommend auditioning cables before buying or finding a dealer with a good return policy.

rw

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agreed, I'm a big fan of Kimber too for speakercables.

Thanks you two, I'll check out Kimber, and do some reserch. i appreciate the help

HCM Audio usually has sales on Audioquest cables. They currently have the GBC speaker and Coral interconnects on sale. The GBC run $80 for an 8' pair. They have an aggragate size of 12 ga, which would be good for power hungry speakers. I use AQ GR8 cables I purchased from them several years ago on my Legacy Focus mains and Silver Screen center. Build quality is first rate.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. I thought that you had a $300 system instead of looking to spend $300 on cables!

I've bought from HCM audio in the past and have had no problems with them. I bought my Music Hall CDP from them.

Thats ok, there are times when I wish I stuck with my 300 dollar system.

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Originally Posted by Feanor

Best I've heard in my system are the Monster 14ga. quad bi-wire with Part Express connectors: 50 bucks total. Certainly as good as the $300 Nordost Flatline Gold MkII I was using before.
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I use monoblock amps and keep them close to the speaks so only cables of only 3', (1 meter), length are required. This obviously reduces impedance, capacitance, and resistance since these are all proportional to length. I do have to use longer interconnects which happen to be balanced (XLR).

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Originally Posted by bfalls

HCM Audio usually has sales on Audioquest cables. They currently have the GBC speaker and Coral interconnects on sale. The GBC run $80 for an 8' pair. They have an aggragate size of 12 ga, which would be good for power hungry speakers. I use AQ GR8 cables I purchased from them several years ago on my Legacy Focus mains and Silver Screen center. Build quality is first rate.

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I second the HCM audio suggestion. Been very happy with my audioquest GR8's bi-wire's and I have to imagine the GBC's are would be a good choice as well.

Just an observation, there are 3 members on AR now so far that use Siltech MXT New Yorker series.

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Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

Just an observation, there are 3 members on AR now so far that use Siltech MXT New Yorker series.

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The price I could find for the New Yorks is Cdn$1000 for 10'. 3x what meltdown originally mentioned.

Certainly more than I would pay any time soon. For a grand, I could make a major DAC upgrade, (for example; or buy a decent LCR speaker set for my HT system).

I don't know what the exchange rate is but that does seem high. www.spearitsound.com did have a bunch of Siltech on special. They also have some cheaper MXT series like the Paris or London.

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Originally Posted by Mr Peabody

I don't know what the exchange rate is but that does seem high. www.spearitsound.com did have a bunch of Siltech on special. They also have some cheaper MXT series like the Paris or London.

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Thanks, Mr.P, looks like Spearitsound has some MTX Londons on sale for US$269 which is almost a price I'd consider. However given my skeptical nature when I comes to wires, I'm unlikely to shell out unless I get to hear them in my system for free.

I don't know about free but they will allow a return. They don't allow the standard 30 days but I've always had great transactions with them. You're just afraid of becoming one of those audiophile guys with the wild imaginations :)

Getting loaner anything is tough around here. All we have is Mac,Adcom,Arcam,Marantz, and whats that other one ahhhhhh.......I hit a Budweiser road block, hold on........oh yeah, Rogue Audio. Thats about it. On occashion you may see a Krell or Audio Reserch come in on trade. Imagin a Krell on trade in.........for what, I cant figure that one out. I wish we had more, its crazy hearing about other gear and not being able to check it out.

the kimber 8tc is what i have and got for reeeely cheeeep. audioquest type 4 is quite affordable at even retail. still, i recommend used.

kimber pbj interconnect is fine, and the lower level aq wires are also fine. no sense in goion broke on cabling.

River Cable.

Well built with high quality parts, and gimmick-free. I have no personal experience with their speaker cables, but I love their SE and XLR cables. Flex8 seems to be receiving rave reviews though.

JRA