Advice on budget speaker Cable?

[Rowan1981]

Hi,

I'm in need of some new speaker cables - I've narrowed my search down to the below cables within my budget.

1: Audioquest G2

2: Audioquest slip 16/4

3: Audioquest X-2

Does anyone have exprience with any of these 3 cables ? if so which one would you reccomend ?

Thanks in advance

 

[luckylion100]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

 

[Al ears]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

 

[luckylion100]

Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

/quote]

Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

/quote]

An early morning echo... ;-)

 

[andyjm]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

The best speaker cable is a short and thick speaker cable. So I would disagree with Al, buy the amount you need and no more. Also avoids having loops of the stuff stuck behind the amp or trailing around the floor.

If you don't waste your money on named brands, then quite honestly cable is so cheap that if you ever need longer cable, just buy a longer one when you need it.

 

[gasolin]

I have this experience that Audioquest flx slip 14/4 can be a little less soft in the sound charateristic, mabye more revealing so if the rest of your system is a bit soft or you just like a less soft sound audio quest would be good

Like if you prefer a normal amp over a tube amp or pa speaker over cerwin vega hifi speakers, mabye you can call the sound of audioquest a bit dry and revealing

 

[andyjm]

I have this experience that Audioquest flx slip 14/4 can be a little less soft in the sound charateristic, mabye more revealing so if the rest of your system is a bit soft or you just like a less soft sound audio quest would be good

I think the O/P was planning on buying speaker wire, not a mattress...

 

[Al ears]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

The best speaker cable is a short and thick speaker cable. So I would disagree with Al, buy the amount you need and no more. Also avoids having loops of the stuff stuck behind the amp or trailing around the floor.

If you don't waste your money on named brands, then quite honestly cable is so cheap that if you ever need longer cable, just buy a longer one when you need it.

Feel free to disagree it's your right, but you are wrong. If you can tell any difference between a 3m length and a 5m length then I'm an alien. Practicality comes into this more so the foo.

 

[andyjm]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

The best speaker cable is a short and thick speaker cable. So I would disagree with Al, buy the amount you need and no more. Also avoids having loops of the stuff stuck behind the amp or trailing around the floor.

If you don't waste your money on named brands, then quite honestly cable is so cheap that if you ever need longer cable, just buy a longer one when you need it.

Feel free to disagree it's your right, but you are wrong. If you can tell any difference between a 3m length and a 5m length then I'm an alien. Practicality comes into this more so the foo.

If by 'foo', you mean cable resistance, then of all the nonsense talked about with regard to speaker cables, this is actually the one thing that matters. Double the cable length, you double the resistance.

Now I will agree that the difference between 3m and 5m is very unlikely to be audible - but stuffing a few metres of cable down the back of the amp ' just in case' can lead to all sorts of nasty effects. As a general rule, short and thick is best.

To quote the instructions that came with my Krell amp 'Place the amplifier as close to the speaker as possible, and keep the speaker cable length to a minimum' - more foo I guess.

 

[hybridauth_Google_113576585947769268360]

'Place the amplifier as close to the speaker as possible, and keep the speaker cable length to a minimum'

Simple and true

 

[Al ears]

'Place the amplifier as close to the speaker as possible, and keep the speaker cable length to a minimum'

Simple and true

Another well perpetrated myth. The only reason you need to keep cables short is to save on cost.

 

[Al ears]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

The best speaker cable is a short and thick speaker cable. So I would disagree with Al, buy the amount you need and no more. Also avoids having loops of the stuff stuck behind the amp or trailing around the floor.

If you don't waste your money on named brands, then quite honestly cable is so cheap that if you ever need longer cable, just buy a longer one when you need it.

Feel free to disagree it's your right, but you are wrong. If you can tell any difference between a 3m length and a 5m length then I'm an alien. Practicality comes into this more so the foo.

If by 'foo', you mean cable resistance, then of all the nonsense talked about with regard to speaker cables, this is actually the one thing that matters. Double the cable length, you double the resistance.

Now I will agree that the difference between 3m and 5m is very unlikely to be audible - but stuffing a few metres of cable down the back of the amp ' just in case' can lead to all sorts of nasty effects. As a general rule, short and thick is best.

To quote the instructions that came with my Krell amp 'Place the amplifier as close to the speaker as possible, and keep the speaker cable length to a minimum' - more foo I guess.

Krell can say whatever they like and 'keep it to a minimum' does not mean short, otherwise you'd really be b*ggered when it comes to running cables to your rear speakers in an AV set-up ;-) However as any BT engineer will tell you you can put an audio signal down a couple of kilometers of copper wire from exchange to your house without any recordable loss. What goes in one end comes out the other. Same with fibre digital interconnects.

Agree, too much length can make things a little untidy back there but nothing else. Please explain 'nasty effects' for those of us less well educated.

However, feel free to believe what you will, it's what keeps this forum going... ;-)

 

[andyjm]

However as any BT engineer will tell you you can put an audio signal down a couple of kilometers of copper wire from exchange to your house without any recordable loss. What goes in one end comes out the other. Same with fibre digital interconnects.

However, feel free to believe what you will, it's what keeps this forum going... ;-)

Al, as the saying goes, 'you are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts'

Your mate at BT needs to buy himself a new meter. Phone cable is generally 600ohm unshielded twisted pair. For audio frequencies it attenuates at around 3dB per Km - that is half the power is lost per Km. For higher frequencies the rate of attentuation is far higher - hence the reason broadband speeds are so dependent on your distance to the exchange / cabinet. Optical fibre losses are far less, and can also support much higher frequencies - but even then undersea cables need repeaters to boost the signal at regular intervals.

 

[andyjm]

'Place the amplifier as close to the speaker as possible, and keep the speaker cable length to a minimum'

Simple and true

Another well perpetrated myth. The only reason you need to keep cables short is to save on cost.

With all due respect to Krell, in my experience, minimising the cost has never been very high on Krell's to-do list.

 

[Rowan1981]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

Bingo! exactly the reason why i'm having to buy new cable as we speak

 

[Al ears]

However as any BT engineer will tell you you can put an audio signal down a couple of kilometers of copper wire from exchange to your house without any recordable loss. What goes in one end comes out the other. Same with fibre digital interconnects.

However, feel free to believe what you will, it's what keeps this forum going... ;-)

Al, as the saying goes, 'you are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts'

Your mate at BT needs to buy himself a new meter. Phone cable is generally 600ohm unshielded twisted pair. For audio frequencies it attenuates at around 3dB per Km - that is half the power is lost per Km. For higher frequencies the rate of attentuation is far higher - hence the reason broadband speeds are so dependent on your distance to the exchange / cabinet. Optical fibre losses are far less, and can also support much higher frequencies - but even then undersea cables need repeaters to boost the signal at regular intervals.

Resistance in the lengths we are talking about is pretty meaningless since the output impedance of a source component is much lower than the input impedence of the receiving amplifier therefore the cable resistance is not going to affect the signal unless it is inconceivably high and, with copper or silver wire of the diameter normally used, it isn't.

PS: You haven't mentioned the 'nasties'

 

[andyjm]

Resistance in the lengths we are talking about is pretty meaningless since the output impedance of a source component is much lower than the input impedence of the receiving amplifier therefore the cable resistance is not going to affect the signal unless it is inconceivably high and, with copper or silver wire of the diameter normally used, it isn't.

PS: You haven't mentioned the 'nasties'

Al, Can I recommend you google 'transmission line theory' and 'cable characteristic impedance'. There is a bit more going on with phone lines than just the resistance of the cable.

But getting back to the original point about speaker cables, you have made exactly the point yourself - in an amplifier / cable / speaker system, the source resistance (amp) and sink resistance (speaker) are both extremely low. Cable resistance, even if very low by normal standards, can have an effect.

 

[drummerman]

I have this experience that Audioquest flx slip 14/4 can be a little less soft in the sound charateristic, mabye more revealing so if the rest of your system is a bit soft or you just like a less soft sound audio quest would be good

I think the O/P was planning on buying speaker wire, not a mattress...

That was funny even if I don't necesserly always agree with you

 

[Rimse]

I would recommend pro audio speaker cables,usually cheaper than well known brands.And you will know technical data of your speaker cable

 

[gasolin]

Nad c 717 q acoustics 2010i and audioquest flx slip 14/4 sounds good but not perfect, it has a bit sibilant bright top, tried my supra ply 3.4 and it sounded much better in the top at high levels, not as loud,bright, sibilant, a more refined top with supra ply 3.4.

audioquest has a more open clear top,it can sound to focused on the top,supa ply 3.4 more neutral but less open sound, it would be better for loud music or listen to music for many hours because of the less fattigue top

Update tried supra ply 3.4 with some song and i prefer the audioquest flx -slip 14/4 over the supra ply 3.4 because of the more open sound.

Supra is a cable i would recommend if your system or speaker cable is a bit bright

 

[Gazzip]

#2 on your list. It did the job on my previous Roksan/PMC set up. Personally I'd go for the cheapest as I doubt there's much performance difference between them.I haven't seen the prices of those you mention.

Speaker cable threads can be a poisoned chalice akin to active v passive or digital v analogue debates.

Without wanting to get drawn into another cable debacle I'd say all Audioquest cables seem to be well constructed with decent connectors so buy the cheapest as you'll probably hear little, if any, difference between them. Spend any money saved on music.

Oh, also buy a longer length than you think you currently need. Often comes in handy if you ever move properties / listening rooms and find you could actually place speakers further apart in the room only to be hamstrung by the fact you only bought short lengths in the first place.

The best speaker cable is a short and thick speaker cable. So I would disagree with Al, buy the amount you need and no more. Also avoids having loops of the stuff stuck behind the amp or trailing around the floor.

If you don't waste your money on named brands, then quite honestly cable is so cheap that if you ever need longer cable, just buy a longer one when you need it.

+1

There is a simple explanatory article here, with a table of reccommended cable guages by length half way down:

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

I use Van Damme Blue Series Studio Grade which comes in a variety of core gauges and weighs in at about £6/m terminated.

 

[Rimse]

another great speaker cable company is Tasker from Italy. I am using 11AWG tasker tsk 1024 with dynaudio speakers, 5GBP per meter

 

[Al ears]

Resistance in the lengths we are talking about is pretty meaningless since the output impedance of a source component is much lower than the input impedence of the receiving amplifier therefore the cable resistance is not going to affect the signal unless it is inconceivably high and, with copper or silver wire of the diameter normally used, it isn't.

PS: You haven't mentioned the 'nasties'

Al, Can I recommend you google 'transmission line theory' and 'cable characteristic impedance'. There is a bit more going on with phone lines than just the resistance of the cable.

But getting back to the original point about speaker cables, you have made exactly the point yourself - in an amplifier / cable / speaker system, the source resistance (amp) and sink resistance (speaker) are both extremely low. Cable resistance, even if very low by normal standards, can have an effect.

I think we can read all the articles we want, many conflicting, but basically over the line lengths we are talking about and for the sort of cable the OP is talking about both resistance and impedence are of negligible relevance.

It will not matter a jot to the sound of his system if the speaker cables are 3m long or 5m long.

We often have posters on here saying ' I have speakers connected one with a 2m length and the other with 3m, is it going to make any difference to the sound?', and the answer is no.

It's all too easy to get wrapped up in physics and reality.

 

[andyjm]

Resistance in the lengths we are talking about is pretty meaningless since the output impedance of a source component is much lower than the input impedence of the receiving amplifier therefore the cable resistance is not going to affect the signal unless it is inconceivably high and, with copper or silver wire of the diameter normally used, it isn't.

PS: You haven't mentioned the 'nasties'

Al, Can I recommend you google 'transmission line theory' and 'cable characteristic impedance'. There is a bit more going on with phone lines than just the resistance of the cable.

But getting back to the original point about speaker cables, you have made exactly the point yourself - in an amplifier / cable / speaker system, the source resistance (amp) and sink resistance (speaker) are both extremely low. Cable resistance, even if very low by normal standards, can have an effect.

I think we can read all the articles we want, many conflicting, but basically over the line lengths we are talking about and for the sort of cable the OP is talking about both resistance and impedence are of negligible relevance.

It will not matter a jot to the sound of his system if the speaker cables are 3m long or 5m long.

We often have posters on here saying ' I have speakers connected one with a 2m length and the other with 3m, is it going to make any difference to the sound?', and the answer is no.

It's all too easy to get wrapped up in physics and reality.

Al,

My transmission line / characteristic impedance comment was in reference to your friend at BT who couldn't measure cable attenuation properly.

There are people who post on this forum who are convinced that two identical (electrically) cables with different sounding names sound different. They don't.

Equally, there are people who when presented with link after link showing that the only thing that really does matter with speaker cables is resistance, dismiss it out of hand.

I would agree that it is very unlikely that the difference between 3m and 5m is audible, but at some point a difference in length will be audible. Depends on all sorts of things, but the difference is real. Which is more than can be said for switching cables from 'anniversary this' to 'anniversary that'.

 

[drummerman]

Of course, don't forget to change your power cables too.

I have just the suggestions you want ...