My system: PS3 60Gb, Samsung LE26R88, AE Aego M, Newlink 85 Mbps powerline ethernet adaptor, Netgear DG834G Modem/Router
I have the above set up in my kitchen as a secondary system for viewing free view TV, listening to music (CD or streamed from Windows Media Player on my PC), DVDs and for gaming. The PS3 is conneted to the TV using a cheap HDMI cable and the Aego M is connected to the TV via the headphone socket so that I can use the TV remote to control the volume.
I wanted to upgrade the cabling used throughout. The first step to achieving this was to take up the subscription to WhatHifi to get the Chord HDMI cable (I have read the magazine for many years but only buy it when I am about to purchase something). For the interconnect between the Aego M and TV I intended to use either the QED QUNEX J2P or Chord iChord. However, the speaker wire for Aego M is more tricky due to the bespoke fixtures for the satellite speakers (in the USA a company have produced a Aego M speaker upgrade cable but it is not available over here) and the small spring clips on the sub woofer.
I have trawled the web trying to find a definitive solution to the speaker wire upgrade for the Aego M and have been unable to find anything definitive for the UK. So I decided to ring a leading hifi retailer with many UK branches and a big advertiser in the WhatHifi magazine. I wanted to know whether it was feasible to use QED Silver Anniversary XT with a RCA plug at one end and pin connectors at the other (to overcome the small spring clips on the Aego M sub woofer).
Just got off the phone to the salesman.....he said that I would be wasting my money, that the Aego M is not hifi and you cannot improve the sound of such a severely limited product. He kept saying "I have to be careful what I say here....". I think he wanted to say that the Aego M is rubbish.
Ok, I accept that the Aego M is not hifi (it's only a £100). I accept that it is limited in it's ability. But is he right to say that it's performance cannot be improved by upgrading the cabling?
I have always assumed that however poor the component it's performance could be bettered buy upgrading cables.....so the cheapest DVD player would provide a better picture using a quality scart rather than the freebie provided in the box. The logic behind this is that the freebie acts as a further 'barrier' to the signal while the quality cable does not.
If this logic is correct, I would have thought that improving the cables on the Aego M would only serve to improve the quality of the sound. His view was that any improvement would be so small that it wouldn't be worth it and that you had to spend upwards of £300-£400 on a system before cable upgrades provided any real, noticable difference. The only thing quality cables would do would be to highlight the weaknesses of my system.
Has this salesman done me a favour and saved me some money or is he wrong? If he is right, then I have probably wasted money on my hifi too. Moreover, have I been to hasty subscribing to the magazine in order to get the Chord HDMI cable if I will only experience nominal/no improvements over my cheap HDMI cable. At the end of the day, the PS3 is not hifi and my TV is at the lower end of the performance scale too.
If the salesman is wrong, I still need a solution to the speaker wire issue so would be grateful for any advice.
I have the above set up in my kitchen as a secondary system for viewing free view TV, listening to music (CD or streamed from Windows Media Player on my PC), DVDs and for gaming. The PS3 is conneted to the TV using a cheap HDMI cable and the Aego M is connected to the TV via the headphone socket so that I can use the TV remote to control the volume.
I wanted to upgrade the cabling used throughout. The first step to achieving this was to take up the subscription to WhatHifi to get the Chord HDMI cable (I have read the magazine for many years but only buy it when I am about to purchase something). For the interconnect between the Aego M and TV I intended to use either the QED QUNEX J2P or Chord iChord. However, the speaker wire for Aego M is more tricky due to the bespoke fixtures for the satellite speakers (in the USA a company have produced a Aego M speaker upgrade cable but it is not available over here) and the small spring clips on the sub woofer.
I have trawled the web trying to find a definitive solution to the speaker wire upgrade for the Aego M and have been unable to find anything definitive for the UK. So I decided to ring a leading hifi retailer with many UK branches and a big advertiser in the WhatHifi magazine. I wanted to know whether it was feasible to use QED Silver Anniversary XT with a RCA plug at one end and pin connectors at the other (to overcome the small spring clips on the Aego M sub woofer).
Just got off the phone to the salesman.....he said that I would be wasting my money, that the Aego M is not hifi and you cannot improve the sound of such a severely limited product. He kept saying "I have to be careful what I say here....". I think he wanted to say that the Aego M is rubbish.
Ok, I accept that the Aego M is not hifi (it's only a £100). I accept that it is limited in it's ability. But is he right to say that it's performance cannot be improved by upgrading the cabling?
I have always assumed that however poor the component it's performance could be bettered buy upgrading cables.....so the cheapest DVD player would provide a better picture using a quality scart rather than the freebie provided in the box. The logic behind this is that the freebie acts as a further 'barrier' to the signal while the quality cable does not.
If this logic is correct, I would have thought that improving the cables on the Aego M would only serve to improve the quality of the sound. His view was that any improvement would be so small that it wouldn't be worth it and that you had to spend upwards of £300-£400 on a system before cable upgrades provided any real, noticable difference. The only thing quality cables would do would be to highlight the weaknesses of my system.
Has this salesman done me a favour and saved me some money or is he wrong? If he is right, then I have probably wasted money on my hifi too. Moreover, have I been to hasty subscribing to the magazine in order to get the Chord HDMI cable if I will only experience nominal/no improvements over my cheap HDMI cable. At the end of the day, the PS3 is not hifi and my TV is at the lower end of the performance scale too.
If the salesman is wrong, I still need a solution to the speaker wire issue so would be grateful for any advice.