My boring looking loudspeaker cables.

[chebby]

My present speaker cables ...

Wire gauge - 14 AWG
Jacket OD - 3.60mm
Cross-sectional area - 2.50mm²
Loop resistance - 0.015 Ω/m
Capacitance - 35pF/m
Inductance - 0.59 µH/m
Dissipation factor - 0.0004
Ideal for use in all installations.

Yep. All very righteous i'm sure.

I can't post a picture as they would just be white on a white background. Pointless. Oh! Alright ...

As above except to mention the soldered banana plugs and that they are 2 x 2.5metre runs. Cheap too (or I think they were all those years ago when I bought them for about £3ish per metre and a tenner for the soldering).

But they are white (did I mention?) and quite thin and barely noticeable. Other people get nice, bright red or blue and chunky cables to admire.

Should I waste £36.50 and get two of these? ...

clicky

Nice pretty blue, same AWG, hopefully more flexible. (My pallid 'worthies' flex like an iron bar.)

Or (and more interesting) ...

Pro-ject Connect-IT LS.

4 x 0.96mm2 solid core conductors per cable.

Only £50 for a complete set - as pictured - including banana plugs and termination. Very pretty (to me anyway). Made in Austria according to some ancient recipe passed down amongst the villagers. (That bit is not strictly true apart from being made in Austria.)

Not necessarily flexible (with all the solid core stuff going on) but something different. £36.50 (or £50) doesn't get 'foo' (don't want 'foo') and I don't see any tell-tale direction arrows, or funky braiding, or any mention of EMF/LGM/EMP rejection etc.

Or should I save my pennies and keep my most discreet, utterly functional, totally adequate, 'why change them?', BORING looking cables?

 

[plastic penguin]

My present speaker cables ...

Wire gauge - 14 AWGJacket OD - 3.60mmCross-sectional area - 2.50mm²Loop resistance - 0.015 Ω/mCapacitance - 35pF/mInductance - 0.59 µH/mDissipation factor - 0.0004Ideal for use in all installations.

Yep. All very righteous i'm sure.

I can't post a picture as they would just be white on a white background. Pointless. Oh! Alright ...

As above except to mention the soldered banana plugs and that they are 2 x 2.5metre runs. Cheap too (or I think they were all those years ago when I bought them for about £3ish per metre and a tenner for the soldering).

But they are white (did I mention?) and quite thin and barely noticeable. Other people get nice, bright red or blue and chunky cables to admire.

Should I waste £36.50 and get two of these? ...

clicky

Nice pretty blue, same AWG, hopefully more flexible. (My pallid 'worthies' flex like an iron bar.)

Or (and more interesting) ...

Pro-ject Connect-IT LS.

4 x 0.96mm2 solid core conductors per cable.

Only £50 for a complete set - as pictured - including banana plugs and termination. Very pretty (to me anyway). Made in Austria according to some ancient recipe passed down amongst the villagers. (That bit is not strictly true apart from being made in Austria.)

Not necessarily flexible (with all the solid core stuff going on) but something different. £36.50 (or £50) doesn't get 'foo' (don't want 'foo') and I don't see any tell-tale direction arrows, or funky braiding, or any mention of EMF/LGM/EMP rejection etc.

Or should I save my pennies and keep my most discreet, utterly functional, totally adequate, 'why change them?', BORING looking cables?

Phew... I thought you was going to say my boring cables are so copper.

Aren't all cables... boring? It's just a cable.

To answer your question: If you're happy with the sound leave well alone as they are 'barely noticeable'.

All my cables are white except for the Merlin Chopin and Chord Crimson. Like you, they're hardly noticeable.

If I stand side on to the PC screen your cables look like the Red Arrows doing an aerial display. Cool.

 

[slice]

I vaguely remember you buying some mark grant terminated......or maybe my memory is bad

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Speaker - white. Mains black. Others - grey. Has to be that way, otherwise the electrons get confused.

 

[Al ears]

Speaker - white. Mains black. Others - grey. Has to be that way, otherwise the electrons get confused.

But isn't that why they print the little arrows on the side?

Keep speaker cables white I say, all others are imposters!

 

[Vladimir]

I vote XLO cables.

 

[chebby]

I vaguely remember you buying some mark grant terminated......or maybe my memory is bad

Almost.

I did phone at the time but it could not be established whether they soldered or crimped or just attached plugs with screws.

After that I stopped looking. At least this bunch (A1 Audio Visual on Amazon) specifically mention their use of solder with a high silver content to attach everything. They are also rated 5/5 overall by past customers.

I guess I should just let the 'urge' pass over (like I did for four-and-a-half years with my last system). It's all just OFC copper of the same thickness after all.

I recently spent/wasted a whole weekend establishing whether AirPlay was better than Bluetooth in my set-up by buying a used AirPort Express 802.11n and comparing like-for-like. On balance I got over my conflicting preferences eventually (part of me thought AirPlay should sound better and part of me didn't want the extra clutter) and then got over a volume mis-match between the two systems. In the end it was indistinguishable to this experimenter, so I packed away the AirPort Express in case I ever need it for anything else.

Now I am sitting here ignoring my cables and listening to back-to-back Blur Albums (Parklife and The Great Escape) with the volume up a bit and reading the new John Le Carre biography on Kindle (and talking to you).

 

[iceman16]

If you like your cable Chebby keep them. IME unless you have a higher(mid) end system, they dont have much effect. I would suggest TQ black if you're willing to spend some.

 

[slice]

I vaguely remember you buying some mark grant terminated......or maybe my memory is bad

Almost.

I did phone at the time but it could not be established whether they soldered or crimped or just attached plugs with screws.

After that I stopped looking. At least this bunch (A1 Audio Visual on Amazon) specifically mention their use of solder with a high silver content to attach everything. They are also rated 5/5 overall by past customers.

I guess I should just let the 'urge' pass over (like I did for four-and-a-half years with my last system). It's all just OFC copper of the same thickness after all.

I recently spent/wasted a whole weekend establishing whether AirPlay was better than Bluetooth in my set-up by buying a used AirPort Express 802.11n and comparing like-for-like. On balance I got over my conflicting preferences eventually (part of me thought AirPlay should sound better and part of me didn't want the extra clutter) and then got over a volume mis-match between the two systems. In the end it was indistinguishable to this experimenter, so I packed away the AirPort Express in case I ever need it for anything else.

Now I am sitting here ignoring my cables and listening to back-to-back Blur Albums (Parklife and The Great Escape) with the volume up a bit and reading the new John Le Carre biography on Kindle (and talking to you).

Its seductive to think a bit more spending can improve things a lot. A few years back I bought moderately priced dac a while back and convinced myself it had improved my system. Later I changed back to using analogue wires from the cd and tuner direct to the amp, and decided I couldn't actually tell the difference. The only thing the dac was doing was giving me an extra box to plug in and more buttons to press. Changing interconnects seems the same. I suspect to really improve things I would need to change things that actually count, eg significantly more expensive amp and speakers. But oddly, I think there is more physcological resistance to spending money all at once rather than frittering it away bit by bit.

ps presumably you must feel the soldering v crimping is a significant issue, then.

 

[gasolin]

I just yesterday bought Supra Ply 3.4 and the sound better then my supra classic 2.5 more full bodied,warm sound, less thin and bright as the classic 2.5.

If a cabel like the supra ply 3.4 don't give you better sound or more of the sound you like, then you should look at your speakers or amp

 

[RobinKidderminster]

I just yesterday bought Supra Ply 3.4 and the sound better then my supra classic 2.5 more full bodied,warm sound, less thin and bright as the classic 2.5.

If a cabel like the supra ply 3.4 don't give you better sound or more of the sound you like, then you should look at your speakers or amp

White. And I have looked at the speakers and amp.

 

[Rethep]

I say: the boring cables sound the best! Don't spend your money on that.

 

[chebby]

ps presumably you must feel the soldering v crimping is a significant issue, then.

Yes. Experience has proved it to be the most durable method.

 

[drummerman]

Yes chebby, they look terribly ordinary.

Not at all in keeping with Quad and AudioNote (which do some nice litz wire).

I wouldn't have them hang out of the back of my rack but having said that, my favorite affordable cables, VDH's CS122 Hybrid aren't exactly lookers either neither are my NACA's.

Get some bling.

 

[Al ears]

Silver-grey is the new white.... least it is if you are Acoustic Zen

 

[chebby]

I'm over it thanks.

Now reading up on integrated valve amplifiers! *fool*

 

[drummerman]

I'm over it thanks.

Now reading up on integrated valve amplifiers! *fool*

Na, it will bug you from here on ...

 

[chebby]

But they were only a tenner!

 

[brownz]

ps presumably you must feel the soldering v crimping is a significant issue, then.

Yes. Experience has proved it to be the most durable method.

Heh, I've always made all my own cables, and always take stuff apart and solder where possible. Even mains plugs, speaker terminals etc etc.... ( I think it may be OCD ).

I'm a big fan of this stuff for speaker cables - http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-power/jy01252-50m/2-x-2-0mm-ofc-l-s-cable-50m/dp/CBBR8163 - Nice and flexible, easy to work with and looks neat when terminated nicely with plugs and a bit of heatshink.

 

[chebby]

Heh, I've always made all my own cables, and always take stuff apart and solder where possible. Even mains plugs, speaker terminals etc etc.... ( I think it may be OCD ).

Long ago - before everything had to be fitted with a moulded plug by law - I used to use MK Safety plugs on everything because the circular clamps gripped the exposed copper evenly along its whole length rather than just 'biting' one little bit under a tiny screw. The copper was never oxidised - even after long use - whereas it oxidised quickly inside cheap plugs.