Cables. What & how much do i spend?

[neil fd2]

Been wondering about changing cables on my system to one brand as the current cabling is a mix & match of everything. I have cairn xo xlr cables connecting a fog 3 cd player to a luxman l-550a ii amp, other sources connected by crystal cable piccolo, tci & audioquest cables. I have also art emotion speakers connected via kimber 8tc cables. How much should i spend? Is it worth selling the lot & using one brand throughout? Is there any potential gain from the synergy of one make? As you may gather cabling is something of a mystery to me & not something i`ve given much consideration to in the past. Given that i`ve just upgraded the amp, this will probably be the last change for a long time or i`ll probably be murdered in my sleep.

That raises another point. Does anyone else have a wife/girlfriend who just doesn`t get this? I`ve been informed that apparently this lot doesn`t sound much different from the factory fit stereo in her Honda civic. Is there any hope for me? Thanks in advance for any replies, sensible or otherwise........

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi neil fd2

I will suggest replacing all interconnects with Van Den Hul's exellent Integration Hybrid. The Integration Hybrid is imo the finest interconnect currently on the market regardless of price. Btw, the Integration Hybrid has been my overall reference interconnect for ten years now regardless of associated components used.

As for speaker cables a generic cable with several hundred strands of OFC at around a few £/m should do the job nicely.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[neil fd2]

Hi Rick,

.You should have an email in the morning. If i sent it to the right place that is!

 

[hifikrazy]

I have been told by one individual about the "cable loom concept". He claims that if you switch all of your cables to one brand, it will certainly outperform a mix of mega high end cables from different manufacturers. He reckons that potentially, that means that a set of entry model single brand cables costing £300 will outperform a mix of high end cables costing £30000. He claims that this concept is all the rage in the US now.

Call me an armchair critic/skeptic, but I find this really hard to believe.

Anybody else heard about this?

 

[the record spot]

I haven't, but anybody spending £3000 or £30000 on cables needs their head looking at. YMMV.

I use 322 strand speaker cable, and some spare for the cable jumpers as the Missions are biwirable (although I no longer use them in this configuration). The cable is generic, but typically uses the same kind of copper that branded cables have as opposed to the special audiophile copper that's been cryogenically treated and sent through the space-time continuum and back.

 

[hifikrazy]

But I guess £3000 on cables may make sense if the rest of your system costs £30000 or more.

However, based on that budget, you wouldn't be in the market for a pair of Nordost Odin interconnects costing £12000.

 

[the record spot]

Why? Because somewhere along the line, someone peddled an idea that said you really ought to spend 10-15% of your system's value on cables right? And that's based on...? What if you spend 16%? Or 9%, or like me, a system that'd probably cost me a good £3k to improve on (based on £1000 for speakers, £1500 for a new amp and £500 for the digital source), I've spent £5 on speaker wire and £7 on the interconnect and it sounds stunning. Spend £300 on cabling? Bizarre.

 

[hifikrazy]

Yes, I have to admit that I'm guilty of being influenced by that 10% on cables ratio that is often quoted.

Good or bad, I do clearly hear differences between cables, and most of the time the more expensive cables do sound better to my ears (even though I have not carried out any double blind tests).

Most recently I have been home auditioning speaker cables and I found that cables costing a lot more than my previous QED Revelation did bring a lot more realism, and it was impossible for me go back to the QEDs after that.

 

[the record spot]

I'm happy you're pleased with what you hear. My mileage does vary in the end, but we're all different.

 

[staggerlee]

I think the 10-15% rule was invented more as a guideline that it didn't make sense to spend say £1000 on cables/interconnects of your system was only worth £500. A £50 outlay on a £500 system is reasonable. For example I have spent more on the interconnects then the power cables, as that's were i noticed the more improvments.

I would advise on a budget, check the review on this site and then buy from a good quality manufacturer.

The view on this forum is split on whether cables make a difference but from personal experience swapping cables does make a difference. The Chord range is raesonable and cheap and if you want a second mortgage then try van den hul.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Id recommend the van damme UP LC-OFC range of interconnects and speaker cables. Very cheap compared to the others and a very good starting point

 

[SonofSun]

hifikrazy:Most recently I have been home auditioning speaker cables and I found that cables costing a lot more than my previous QED Revelation did bring a lot more realism, and it was impossible for me go back to the QEDs after that.

It certainly was a revelation when I got rid of that weedy silver cable. That's the silver effect for you, a real man has copper in his cable.

 

[aliEnRIK]

SonofSun:

hifikrazy:Most recently I have been home auditioning speaker cables and I found that cables costing a lot more than my previous QED Revelation did bring a lot more realism, and it was impossible for me go back to the QEDs after that.

It certainly was a revelation when I got rid of that weedy silver cable. That's the silver effect for you, a real man has copper in his cable.

Its usually because it was a poor grade silver

 

[hifikrazy]

The QED Revelation replaced QED Silver Anniversary XT. At that time, the Revelation was a clear step up, and the SA XT was terribly metallic sounding in comparison. Moving further up the price range now, the Revelation is clearly outclassed by my Audience AU24e.