Speaker cable rights and wrongs

[drummerman]

I found this article after reading Johnny jazz's issues with his sugden oscillating (assumption on my part, no more). No particular point to this thread other than that the following is an interesting read.

Form you own opinions ...

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

[the record spot]

Yup, referenced RR a few times in the last few months and this is the very site. For those who're interested, Roger was once with McIntosh. Not exactly shy of building quality hifi themselves!

 

[robg1976]

hi drummerman thans for the link very interesting

i guess i must comment so here goes, in my humble opinion to some degree cable hype has gone a bit crazy, and prices to match, for the record i use russ andrews interconnects and speaker cables i do believe cables can inprove a system. but i also believe as long as you use a good quality cable you dont have to spend stupid money. i would never buy speaker cable costing for example no names but £1300 to give you an example i tryed qed speaker cable didnt like it was brigh and harsh, i guess a quality cable also will look nice and last you years and can be used in your next system for example i have a tacima block with r.a powermax power cables £50 and lofetime garuantee i believe thats good value but i will never buy a r.a signature chord costing £250

whats your opinion mate

 

[SonofSun]

Interesting article, I noticed a difference when switching from QED revelation (a very thin wire) to Van Damme (10 awg). The bass was deeper, I sold the QED on ebay.

So, it is all about the girth.

 

[Anonymous]

very interesting; even more so because i posted a similar view of analogue interconnects just yesterday afternoon! (http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/477352.aspx)

"Look upon my expensive wires ye mighty and despair"

 

[Alantiggger]

Wow...

Heavier Gauge Wire ; No audio improvement --- but costs more.

Oxegen Free Copper Wire ; No audio improvement --- but costs more.

Silverwire (which i use) ; Lower resistance as same gauge copper --- but costs more

so the wire can be solid, stranded, copper, oxegen free or 'magic' wire but as long as the resistance is less than 5% of the speaker inpedence then there is no difference.

So are the buying public being 'duped' then ?

 

[the record spot]

To answer the last question, probably, by a combination of their own ignorance, savvy marketing, smart looking boxes and magazine reviews.

My own conclusions are that half a dozen wires offered no difference with a price range from £7 to £65 and I'd like to see something in the hifi press that challenges the claims instead of bolstering them.