mid-range speaker cables

[admin_exported]

Hello WHF,

Im a big reader of your magazine which helped me pick 5 years ago, this neat combo below:

Arcam CD 62 player ||| Audio Analogue Pucinni integrated amp ||| Musical Fidelity X-Can V.2 headphone valve amplifier ||| Sennheiser Ovation 565 headphones ||| Tannoy Mercury M2 bookshelf speakers ||| QED Qnect 1 components connectors ||| CableTalk 3.1 flat speaker cables.

The thing is that im not totaly happy with the sound, because the cable´s copper have oxided and every year its the same problem - therefor i have decided to get myself a pair of cables, wich come already prepared with the spade and banana plugs (instead of me peeling-off the copper and screw it to the amp/speaker plugs - this has a reduced surface of conductivity, compared to QED "airloc" method).

Q1: Therefor, im looking to invest up to 80€ in a pair of cables, to make my speakers sing and my Pink Floyd collection, shine... I was presented with 2 models of cables which i beleive both were made of copper - one from QED @ 4€/m (Anniversary XT - flated white 2 cords) and the other from KIMBER @ 7€/m (4PR - braided brown 4 separate cords).

Thank you in advance for any insight and tips about which mid-range cable is the best for my speakers with my best regards from Portugal - Alexa.

 

[Anonymous]

Q2: Arent there cables already with its apropriated plugs, built-in at diferent lenghts, all boxed and ready to sell? Im my case explained previously, the store i went to, will have to cut the cable at the length i wish, make the endings with the QED airloc machine and charge me extra for the plugs and the labor spent by the store, wich i beleive is around 89? total !!! Cant i have the same product already "ready-2-plug" for cheaper?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Alexa, I'm using the QED silver anniversary speaker cable, with good results - and I know it gets consistently good reviews. I'm afraid I haven't used the other cable you mentioned, so can't comment. Speaker cable is usually sold unterminated (i.e. without plugs) unless stated otherwise, so it can work out quite expensive. As an example of costs in the UK, most stores sell the QED cable for £5.00 per metre, plus £5.00 per airloc plug (I've never heard of a store charging labour for fitting a plug though). i.e. you'd be paying £40 just for plugs.

You might want to looking at getting some cheaper plugs - I've heard that the QED airlocs aren't always fitted very well anyway, so aren't even airtight. Other than that, go without the plugs and spend the money on a nice new pair of wire strippers.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks tratorboy, great tip you got there... looking into it without plugs, then. cheers.