Marantz PM 6005, speaker posts pulled by heavy QED speaker cable

[Keepington]

Hello Forum,
I have a Marantz PM 6005 amp with B&W 685 speakers. I wanted to try bi-wiring for myself, but when I went to the store I was convinced to just upgrade my ordinary speaker cable, being told this would give a better result than bi-wiring. So I purchased the QED Ruby Anniversary speaker cable. It was too fat to use the bare wire, so they kindly fitted some banana plugs onto the end for me. I listened for a short while and my initial impression was that the sound was much more trebly for most kinds of music I listened to, maybe there was better definition, I don't know. My concern was the cable is quite heavy and really pulls the speaker posts on the back of the amp downward. Maybe this is always the case with banana plugs, not sure being a novice, but it seems to me it can't be good for the posts??? I would be interested to know if you think this is a bad idea, ie, having cable so weighty it pulls the speaker posts downward; whether for a distance of a metre or so, a thinner gauge of wire would be OK; any experiences with bi-wiring the marantz PM 6005.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Vladimir]

And don't worry about it. The posts can take much more abuse than just cables pulling down.

 

[Keepington]

Thanks Vladimir for the quick reply. Do you have any view about speaker cable gauge for short distances (amp to speaker about 1.2 or so metres)

 

[Vladimir]

2.5mm will be fine. No need to go overboard with such short distances.

 

[Keepington]

Thanks Vladimir

 

[keeper of the quays]

What cable were you using before? You dont sound too convinced bout the new ones? I use qed cables and am happy with mine..(qed xt silver anniversary on my basic kit, and qed xt40 on the main kit..(my opinion is cables need to be run in..

 

[Keepington]

Keeper of the Quays,

Thanks for your post. My old cables were the no-names ones thrown in when I bought the Marantz PM 6005 amp and cd player and BW speakers. They cost about $3.80 a metre I now see. I will listen on to the ruby QED. Does the casing become less stiff over time?

 

[keeper of the quays]

To be honest i have no idea? I would imagine if they were handled a bit the cables would..but once cables go on..they get left alone..just for experiment purpose you could try bi wiring? Using your old cables as well as new ones? My old wharfdales i bi wired..my current speakers only have one set of posts..there must be a reason for bi wiring otherwise why go to trouble of two sets of binding posts? Some change the metal jump plate for cable? If single wiring? If looking for sound improvement elsewhere..speaker stands and placement can make a difference..(i found adding a dac between player and amp biggest change in sound!)

 

[abacus]

why go to trouble of two sets of binding posts?

Bi-amping, which isolates the 2 sections from each other allowing more control.

Bi-wiring just moves the links from the speaker end to the amplifier end and serves no useful purpose.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[gasolin]

Shouldn't be a problem

I find marantz pm6005 to have a very open sound and because of that it could generally sound bright

From the whathifi review: Requires care in system matching

 

[Al ears]

The question is do you have your banana plugs going straight into the back of the sockets as in horizontally?

Most speaker sockets, if you can unscrew them, have a hole for bare wire to be pushed through. You can, therefore, push your banana plug in the hole and screw back up, thus mounting the plug vertically and putting less strain on the sockets.

 

[Keepington]

Thanks for all the replies. The situation has been resolved, in part because I think the new cable "relaxed" a little, and also because I used a small Balinese instrument I have to prop up the cords at that back (think of miniature bamboo ladder the exact height to keep the cables level). Marantz in the US were kind enough to reply to me in Australia and say that if the cable was pulling the posts down, this was not good and I should use 14 or 16 gauge cable instead. As for the sound of the QED Ruby Anniversary cable, I have grown to love this, too. It may be a case of the Emperor's new clothes, but I think not. While the brightness took a little getting used, the detail of the sound is objectively better, that is, I can really hear sounds I never heard or noticed before. I am in no rush to bi-wire but feel obliged to one day experiment given the heated opinions on this one. Anyway thanks to all who have taken the time to post. Much appreciated!