Thanks for your help on my earlier thread. Aided by your advice, I have recently bought a Marantz PM6003 Amp and Marantz CD6003 cd player, which I am playing through my new KEF Q300 speakers or Grado SR80i phones. Have only had them for a week, but am delighted with the sound so far. I am currently using my old leads and speaker cables which are 8 years old and probably far from audiophile quality. For a system at this level, how much is it worth paying in this area, how much difference, if any will it make, and what would you experienced people recommend to me ? Thanks.
Advice needed on Speaker Cable and Interconnect Leads
- Thread starter Excitable Boy
- Start date
Congratulations on your new system EB, I think you've made a wise choice.
Curiosity makes me ask, what were your old cables? As it might help other people here help, although personally I'd let your new components 'burn in' a little longer (a months use should get you there). And I see nothing wrong with using old cables, they may even be built to a better standard than the ones you intend buying. Just thought I'd mention it, as when somebody says that they are 'delighted with the sound'... why change?
Curiosity makes me ask, what were your old cables? As it might help other people here help, although personally I'd let your new components 'burn in' a little longer (a months use should get you there). And I see nothing wrong with using old cables, they may even be built to a better standard than the ones you intend buying. Just thought I'd mention it, as when somebody says that they are 'delighted with the sound'... why change?
idc
Well-known member
Exactly, don't fall into the cable upgrade trap as it leads to dissatisfaction for no good reason. Blind ABX tests of cables, all types of cables have found that none are recognisably different from any other. People can only hear a difference when they can also see the difference. Why spend money on that?
I recently changed my interconnect between cd player and amp and speaker cable as they were to short, but instead of spending more money i spent less and found an improvement over my old cables.
Agree with trying cables on loan and if you notice a difference then buy them.
Agree with trying cables on loan and if you notice a difference then buy them.
Van Damme UP-LC OFC speaker cables and interconnects
Less grain than most cables (especially at its price range)
Less grain than most cables (especially at its price range)
Have just ordered IC and spk Van Damme cables and will report their performance in comparing with my Chord cables. Stay tunned.
Speaker cable: 322-strand copper cable (or 14AWG if you do the American guauge thing) is great VFM and does a great job for the money. £5.49 for 10m, postage included, from Digitalis Direct. It replaced 10m of Audioquest Type IV cable.
Interconnects: I use QED Qunex 2, which is about £35 and I bought it years ago when I believed all this stuff. I also bought (also years ago) various other copper cables, which essentially did all the same things that all the other ones did from Monster, Audioquest (x2) and Van den Hul up to about £70. Computergear did some cheapo £8 jobs and did as good as the others - made my mind up in a trice. Spend your money as you see fit, but a cable is a cable. What the manufacturers claim (and the magazines for that matter) and what you can hear is vastly different.
Interconnects: I use QED Qunex 2, which is about £35 and I bought it years ago when I believed all this stuff. I also bought (also years ago) various other copper cables, which essentially did all the same things that all the other ones did from Monster, Audioquest (x2) and Van den Hul up to about £70. Computergear did some cheapo £8 jobs and did as good as the others - made my mind up in a trice. Spend your money as you see fit, but a cable is a cable. What the manufacturers claim (and the magazines for that matter) and what you can hear is vastly different.
i recently upgraded all my interconnects and speaker cables to chord odyssey 2 and chord chameleon silver plus. Gotta admit, for the money i spent, i have barely heard any difference
Check out Mark Grant for interconnects.. The G1000HD is easily as good result wise as anything up to £400, for £65. I got a couple of pairs recently and as far as I can tell they are very neutral, open and detailed. They replaced some Nordost cables which cost me nearer £200 a few years back, and sound much better (or rather, they don't sound!).
With big brand cables most of your money goes to pay for their marketing, which doesn't do much for your ears at the end of the day!!
With big brand cables most of your money goes to pay for their marketing, which doesn't do much for your ears at the end of the day!!
Thanks for your input - I think I'll try to trial a few low-cost options with only moderate expectations. Would the same thoughts apply to mains leads ?
MUSICRAFT
Well-known member
Excitable Boy:Thanks for your help on my earlier thread. Aided by your advice, I have recently bought a Marantz PM6003 Amp and Marantz CD6003 cd player, which I am playing through my new KEF Q300 speakers or Grado SR80i phones. Have only had them for a week, but am delighted with the sound so far. I am currently using my old leads and speaker cables which are 8 years old and probably far from audiophile quality. For a system at this level, how much is it worth paying in this area, how much difference, if any will it make, and what would you experienced people recommend to me ? Thanks.
Hi EB
If you're not already using these then i'll recommend you save your money and use the standard interconnect cable which should have been supplied with your cd player and for speaker cables standard 79 strand OFC or at a push cables with several hundred strands of OFC.
As for mains cables i'll also recommend using the standard ones supplied with your Marantz components and in the first instance plugging these directly into wall sockets.
These standard/basic cables are more then good enough for your components. Keep it simple
All the best
Rick @ Musicraft
Hi EB
If you're not already using these then i'll recommend you save your money and use the standard interconnect cable which should have been supplied with your cd player and for speaker cables standard 79 strand OFC or at a push cables with several hundred strands of OFC.
As for mains cables i'll also recommend using the standard ones supplied with your Marantz components and in the first instance plugging these directly into wall sockets.
These standard/basic cables are more then good enough for your components. Keep it simple
All the best
Rick @ Musicraft
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