Speaker Cable - old vs new?

[eclecticmonkey]

Hi All,

Just a quick question regarding speaker cable - namely how do people feel that a speaker cable costing approx £5 per metre 10 years ago would compare with one costing roughly the same now? I know cost isn't a direct comparison, but I don't think speaker cable has advanced that much in 10 years so I would expect the two to be of roughly comparable quality and therefore am tempted when building a new system to try the existing Cable Talk cable first before shelling out for new. Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi All, Just a quick question regarding speaker cable.....

The question may be quick, but the argument could be less so. :shifty:

IMO. It depends on the cables and whether any are silver coated.

All things being equal, I suspect there will be little difference.

 

[eclecticmonkey]

I can't remember the exact spec of it now, but it's made by Cable Talk - I googled them the other day, saw they'd gone out of business and started up again - or something like that anyway. I think it was fairly decent at the time, I know it's subjective but I too think it will probs not make that much difference unless I were to significantly increase the amount I spent on it, and it seems a bit silly to replace a cable with one which could possibly be so similar it wouldn't be worth it. I'll give it a try and see how it goes!

 

[CnoEvil]

IMO. You are better to avoid Silver coating, and stick with all copper from the likes of Atlas, Linn K20 (ebay) or Van Damme.

 

[lindsayt]

Copper was a lot cheaper in 2003 than it is today. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/all/

The price of silver has gone through the roof in the last 10 years. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/silver/all/

Silver, followed by copper are the best substances known to man for conducting electricity. There have been no breakthroughs in the last 200 years in finding anything better than them for this purpose.

 

[Alantiggger]

See here : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20M-2-X-42-STRAND-OXYGEN-FREE-COPPER-STERIO-SPEAKER-CABLE-WIRE-/251261682762?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D7219887354581137628%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D350724596802%26

 

[Alantiggger]

What about this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100m-WHITE-SPEAKER-CABLE-TWIN-WIRE-LOUDSPEAKER-CABLE-/370511380883?_trksid=p2047675.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555001%26algo%3DPW.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29%26meid%3D7220068425539038218%26pid%3D100010%26prg%3D1013%26rk%3D2%26sd%3D110821200887%26

 

[Alantiggger]

I'm thinking on this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OFC-Loud-Speaker-Cable-Wire-Car-Audio-HiFi-TV-DVD-Player-5M-10M-15M-20M-50M-100M-/230914998303?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=530116630899&hash=item35c39b401f

Seems a decent deal ?

 

[BigH]

I would not spend too much on cable, just make sure its thick enough, for short runs 2.5mm should be sufficient, longer then 4mm, I would try Van Damme Blue or OFC. Blue is available from Maplins for about £3m.

Some of the ebay ones above look a bit on the thin side.

As for old cables I would have thought they are just as good, you may want to clean the contacts. Think your Cable Talk is now Talk Electronics, their Talk 3 cable gets a good reveiw on here and is only £4m.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi electricmonkey

I'll recommend that you should carry on using your existing Cable Talk speaker cables.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Cypher]

Just use the Cable Talk cable............it will work fine like any other cable out there.

 

[bluedroog]

How are they terminated? If bare wire I’d suggest you cuts the ends off and strip some fresh bare wire as oxidization over the years may well affect the contract.

 

[davedotco]

A long time ago I worked for a chap called Mathew Bond, who had a hi-fi shop in Sydney. At that time Monster cable at about A$10 was the cable of choice for good systems and it was awful, Australia was way behind the curve in the late 1980s.

He used to buy 500m drums of 'twin and earth' from a local electrical distributer and we used to open it up, strip out the uninsulated earth and be left with two strands of 2.5mm sq solid core copper one in red and one in black. Out came the Black and Decker and we lightly twisted the two cores to make cables of the required length.

They outperformed the monster cable to a degree that was quite astonishing, everyone could hear the difference so it was priced at A$20 per meter and sold by the truckload.

One evening after work, we were having a beer and he told me he had plans to move to the US and start a cable company.

What are you going to call it I asked, Tara Labs Space and Time cable he said. I thought it was hysterical and said so.......

http://taralabs.com/

 

[davedotco]

Sorry to drift off topic above, but the twin and earth solution mentioned above remains a very decent low cost option. solid core does not suit all systems or all listeners but it is very hard to beat at the price.

http://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/twin-earth/cat830472

 

[Sliced Bread]

Copper was a lot cheaper in 2003 than it is today. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/all/

The price of silver has gone through the roof in the last 10 years. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/silver/all/

Silver, followed by copper are the best substances known to man for conducting electricity. There have been no breakthroughs in the last 200 years in finding anything better than them for this purpose.

Maybe graphine will be used at some point

 

[Sliced Bread]

Copper was a lot cheaper in 2003 than it is today. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/all/

The price of silver has gone through the roof in the last 10 years. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/silver/all/

Silver, followed by copper are the best substances known to man for conducting electricity. There have been no breakthroughs in the last 200 years in finding anything better than them for this purpose.

Maybe graphine will be used at some point

 

[visionary]

Remember as well, your existing cables are already run in ;-)

 

[womble72]

I have an old denon cd/amp in my workshop. I bought a pair of JBL control1 and mounted them on the wall. I didn't have any speaker cable long enough so as a temporary solution I used 2.5mm twin and earth cable that my neighbour gave me. The sound is amazing and not only am I leaving it connected I am now considering connecting it to my marantz/dreamcatcher system in my lounge to see how it sounds :-D

 

[Tommo2]

I have owned cable talk 3 for c.18yrs.

Recently upgraded my system to Yam 2010, MA rx6av, Chord Odyssey 4 & 2. Have read for many hrs about upgrading cable. Some say won't make any difference some say it will. Some say don't use silver plated cables with MA use copper. Some have upgraded to Odyssey 4, 2 and said it improved the sound on many different set ups but it may need time to run in. Even some reputable advertisors on this site who own their own shop have recommended this cable with my set up. I thought what the hell I'll sell it on ebay if it's worse than cable talk 3.

I have wired up my front speakers bi-amped one with Odyssey 4 and the other has cable talk 3. Chord say 100 hrs to run in (from memory I think), mine has been on 1 hr.

Emile Sande cd - rewinding the cd back and forth as I listen to one speaker and then the other over identical parts of a track I can say the Odyssey sounds identical to the cheaper copper cable talk 3. To my ears Odyssey doesn't sound harsh with my MA front 6's, tone, voices, instruments etc sound identical on both cables imo so far.

Now when it has run in if Odyssey 4 doesn't sound better than the cheaper, much cheaper cable talk 3 I won't be very happy as I have just shelled out nigh on £300. Time will tell.

 

[CnoEvil]

Now when it has run in if Odyssey 4 doesn't sound better than the cheaper, much cheaper cable talk 3 I won't be very happy as I have just shelled out nigh on £300. Time will tell.

It is for exactly this reason that I always work with cable that can be returned.....if there is no difference now, I would suspect that there may not be a big improvement with the passage of time.

Try a variety of music, as it can be easy to miss a subtle change......but remain very sceptical, as it's easy to think you hear a difference, as it saves having the bother of selling it on....get someone independent to verify what you hear.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

I have owned cable talk 3 for c.18yrs.

Recently upgraded my system to Yam 2010, MA rx6av, Chord Odyssey 4 & 2. Have read for many hrs about upgrading cable. Some say won't make any difference some say it will. Some say don't use silver plated cables with MA use copper. Some have upgraded to Odyssey 4, 2 and said it improved the sound on many different set ups but it may need time to run in. Even some reputable advertisors on this site who own their own shop have recommended this cable with my set up. I thought what the hell I'll sell it on ebay if it's worse than cable talk 3.

I have wired up my front speakers bi-amped one with Odyssey 4 and the other has cable talk 3. Chord say 100 hrs to run in (from memory I think), mine has been on 1 hr.

Emile Sande cd - rewinding the cd back and forth as I listen to one speaker and then the other over identical parts of a track I can say the Odyssey sounds identical to the cheaper copper cable talk 3. To my ears Odyssey doesn't sound harsh with my MA front 6's, tone, voices, instruments etc sound identical on both cables imo so far.

Now when it has run in if Odyssey 4 doesn't sound better than the cheaper, much cheaper cable talk 3 I won't be very happy as I have just shelled out nigh on £300. Time will tell.

Cables don't run in, so looks like you have your answer, take the new ones back.

 

[BigH]

Send them back, 100 hour run-in is rubbish thats just to discourage folk from returning them.

 

[andyjm]

Copper was a lot cheaper in 2003 than it is today. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/copper/all/

The price of silver has gone through the roof in the last 10 years. http://www.infomine.com/investment/metal-prices/silver/all/

Silver, followed by copper are the best substances known to man for conducting electricity. There have been no breakthroughs in the last 200 years in finding anything better than them for this purpose.

A slightly pedantic point, but silver and copper are the best conductors by volume. Aluminium is the best conductor by weight. One of the reasons it gets used for overhead high voltage power cables.

 

[Tommo2]

Hi guys, I will bi amp the other speaker with the Odyssey and when 100hrs have run in I will take one of the cables off replace with the cable talk and compare, only 12 hrs so far. Will also swap both and compare.

Btw this link from Chord does say 100hrs whether we believe is another matter, in 88hrs time I will know (several months) and report back.

Scroll down to the bottom

http://www.chord.co.uk/help-and-information/speaker-cable-guide/

Burning-in[/b]

If cable direction is a much debated subject, cable burn in and the changes that occur as a cable is used is a very disputed subject. Whilst not being able to offer a totally coherent explanation for this, we do absolutely accept that changes in sound quality occur as a cable is used. Rather like direction, the degree to which sound quality changes varies from cable to cable. As a general rule though, most speaker cables need at least 100 hours use before all the improvements they will bring to the performance of the system can be properly experienced.

 

[andyjm]

Hi guys, I will bi amp the other speaker with the Odyssey and when 100hrs have run in I will take one of the cables off replace with the cable talk and compare, only 12 hrs so far. Will also swap both and compare.

Btw this link from Chord does say 100hrs whether we believe is another matter, in 88hrs time I will know (several months) and report back.

Scroll down to the bottom

http://www.chord.co.uk/help-and-information/speaker-cable-guide/

Burning-in[/b]

If cable direction is a much debated subject, cable burn in and the changes that occur as a cable is used is a very disputed subject. Whilst not being able to offer a totally coherent explanation for this, we do absolutely accept that changes in sound quality occur as a cable is used. Rather like direction, the degree to which sound quality changes varies from cable to cable. As a general rule though, most speaker cables need at least 100 hours use before all the improvements they will bring to the performance of the system can be properly experienced.

Written by someone in marketing? How about a link to a study, not from a cable seller, that justifies any of these claims?