Speaker Cable - to change or to not?

[admin_exported]

As u can see my stereo set-up in my SIG, Is this speaker cable enough? or I need to change my speaker cable to get the best out of my stereo set-up? will changing speaker cable increase the sound quality?

I am kinda confused so seeking experts advice.

Thank You.

 

[iceman16]

As u can see my stereo set-up in my SIG, Is this speaker cable enough? or I need to change my speaker cable to get the best out of my stereo set-up? will changing speaker cable increase the sound quality?

I am kinda confused so seeking experts advice.

Thank You.

In my own experience,there are some factors to consider in choosing the right speaker cable for a system to sound better if not great.A speaker cable which is made from pure silver or silver plated copper is more on the bright side with plenty of detail and can be harsh and sounds thin if not partnered with the right system.A copper made cable is a bit warm with plenty of bass but not as detailed as a silver.If your dealer can lend you different types and make of cable for home demo within your budget,I think it is the best thing to do IMHO.

 

[CnoEvil]

This is such a contentious issue, that either few will reply, or you will get a whole heap of strong opinions from either side of the debate, that will leave you more confused than when you started.

My advice is to stay with "all copper" and get a variety of cables, at a range of prices (not more than 10% of the value of your system) and see for youself. IMO Atlas make good cables, but there are others worth trying.

Cno

 

[the record spot]

Speaker cable? Our systems aren't a million miles apart and I went from Audioquest Type IV biwire to experiment single wiring with some 322-strand OFC instead. Financially, that meant £5/metre for ten metres to £5.50 all-in, delivered!

The 322 stuff's still there, the Type IV's on top of the wardrobe...by all means try a bunch, but make sure you have some of this stuff, or even the 500-strand if you can get it. Your system won't be losing out; far from it.

 

[Anonymous]

First of all thank you all for ur precious replies. My system is on the warm side. So I was thinking that whether to change the Supra classic 1.6 speaker cable or not. Is this cable sufficient to perform the the best level of my system?

If I need cable so I don't need bright sounding cable nor warm. I need cable which is between warm and bright.

So far I have zeroe'd on 2 cables:

1. Atlas Hyper 2.0

2. QED Revelation

I need ur opinions on this as well as u have anyother cables in ur mind.

Thank you all.

 

[Anonymous]

Can you please provide me a link for 322-strand OFC cable? any particular brand or????

 

[the record spot]

I've no opinion on either beyond reiterating what I said before, try them and try the 322-strand OFC. Three in all. incidentally, what do you think you'll gain from either the Supra or the QED? What differences do you perceive to exist that is suggested in the pricing?

 

[Anonymous]

I am from India so buying such cables in India is next to impossible. Only branded cables are available here.

 

[CnoEvil]

First of all thank you all for ur precious replies. My system is on the warm side. So I was thinking that whether to change the Supra classic 1.6 speaker cable or not. Is this cable sufficient to perform the the best level of my system?

If I need cable so I don't need bright sounding cable nor warm. I need cable which is between warm and bright.

So far I have zeroe'd on 2 cables:

1. Atlas Hyper 2.0

2. QED Revelation

I need ur opinions on this as well as u have anyother cables in ur mind.

Thank you all.

IMO The Atlas is as you've described....Neutral

 

[the record spot]

Can you please provide me a link for 322-strand OFC cable? any particular brand or????

I used these guys...Digitalis Direct.

http://my.frooition.com/090277/10m-loudspeaker-cable-ofc-322-strand-loud-speaker-wire-p-313.html?osCsid=hkcur8rlf76bp370c6bjpvj017

 

[the record spot]

I would imagine posting the cable out to India would cost relatively little and certainly less than the cost of your other two. Remember, that price is £5.29 for the whole ten metres not each metre!

QED Revelation is about £13/metre in the UK and I assume that you'll need to buy more than one metre. The cost to post the OFC stuff out wouldn't even come to that I doubt, so cost is not a problem here!

 

[Anonymous]

First of all thank you all for ur precious replies. My system is on the warm side. So I was thinking that whether to change the Supra classic 1.6 speaker cable or not. Is this cable sufficient to perform the the best level of my system?

If I need cable so I don't need bright sounding cable nor warm. I need cable which is between warm and bright.

So far I have zeroe'd on 2 cables:

1. Atlas Hyper 2.0

2. QED Revelation

I need ur opinions on this as well as u have anyother cables in ur mind.

Thank you all.

IMO The Atlas is as you've described....Neutral

One thing I forget to mention that I also need just neutral bass. Not heavy nor light. Just neutral sound across the frequencies. Not warm, nor bright. Just neutral.

 

[CnoEvil]

Atlas is neutral, but your room/speaker position can have more effect on the sound than any cable, so a home demo is essential. Also keep in mind the subjective nature of describing sound.....one man's bright can be another man's neutral.

 

[Anonymous]

Is this speaker cable enough? or I need to change my speaker cable to get the best out of my stereo set-up? will changing speaker cable increase the sound quality?

I must admit I always laugh when people attribute sounds to cables, but hey, each to his own. You can easily answer your question by going to a hi-fi store and auditioning some different speaker cables.

The salesman will tell you what to hear when you are trying them all. I like doing this at hi-fi shows, they explain the enhanced sound in glowing metaphors that they think meam something.

TBH they all sound exactly the same to me. _Exactly_ the same. Trust your ears above the inane drivel surrounding the products.[/quote]

 

[Anonymous]

Is this speaker cable enough? or I need to change my speaker cable to get the best out of my stereo set-up? will changing speaker cable increase the sound quality?

I must admit I always laugh when people attribute sounds to cables, but hey, each to his own. You can easily answer your question by going to a hi-fi store and auditioning some different speaker cables.

The salesman will tell you what to hear when you are trying them all. I like doing this at hi-fi shows, they explain the enhanced sound in glowing metaphors that they think meam something.

TBH they all sound exactly the same to me. _Exactly_ the same. Trust your ears above the inane drivel surrounding the products.

[/quote]

So u are saying spending on new speaker cable will not giving me any benefit on sound quality???

P.S.: I cannot audition any new cable nor I can loan any speaker cable coz here is no such hi-fi shop in my city. All I need to order it from abroad or may be from any dealer in my country.

 

[CnoEvil]

I suggest you give John Carrick of Atlas a ring (helpful and knowledgeable), and see if he can help you out......that is if you still want to try for yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

So u are saying spending on new speaker cable will not giving me any benefit on sound quality???

Yes.

You may however improve the sound by adding a ferrite core clamp around the cable at the amplifier end. It may or may not help, but will not detract - it stops RF signals getting into your amp via the speaker cables.

P.S.: I cannot audition any new cable nor I can loan any speaker cable coz here is no such hi-fi shop in my city. All I need to order it from abroad or may be from any dealer in my country.

Sorry to hear that. Mind you the one near me closed up recently so I may be in the same boat soon, too much hype and too many poor quality CDs are affecting Hi-Fi sales - the hobby is in decline. Check out this history of hi-fi so you can judge where your system sits: http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/tinyhistory1.html

 

[MUSICRAFT]

As u can see my stereo set-up in my SIG, Is this speaker cable enough? or I need to change my speaker cable to get the best out of my stereo set-up? will changing speaker cable increase the sound quality?

I am kinda confused so seeking experts advice.

Thank You.

namaste abhi_jollyguy mere dosta

You may recall i responded to an earlier thread of yours regarding speaker cables -

If you want an improvement consider standard speaker cables which have around five hundred strands of OFC These speaker cables should cost you very little money and they'll also withstand many component changes that you may wish to make in the future.

A benefit of using the standard speaker cables (with around five hundred strands of OFC) is these cables will enable your NAD amplifier to grip your PSB speakers far more effectively leading to better overall performance. Fwiw, i also use these standard speaker cables with the mighty Plinius Hiato amplifier and i've yet to feel these cables are holding the Hiato back. These standard speaker cables are not bright, flat, brash, forward or lean in character instead they are smooth with zest and grip. Realistically i feel these standard speaker cables are about as good as they get and they are also very little £. Pity i didn't realise this a lot sooner myself

You should find these standard unbranded cables at most local electrical stores.

bada mem

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Anonymous]

As u can see my stereo set-up in my SIG, Is this speaker cable enough? or I need to change my speaker cable to get the best out of my stereo set-up? will changing speaker cable increase the sound quality?

I am kinda confused so seeking experts advice.

Thank You.

namaste abhi_jollyguy mere dosta

You may recall i responded to an earlier thread of yours regarding speaker cables -

If you want an improvement consider standard speaker cables which have around five hundred strands of OFC These speaker cables should cost you very little money and they'll also withstand many component changes that you may wish to make in the future.

A benefit of using the standard speaker cables (with around five hundred strands of OFC) is these cables will enable your NAD amplifier to grip your PSB speakers far more effectively leading to better overall performance. Fwiw, i also use these standard speaker cables with the mighty Plinius Hiato amplifier and i've yet to feel these cables are holding the Hiato back. These standard speaker cables are not bright, flat, brash, forward or lean in character instead they are smooth with zest and grip. Realistically i feel these standard speaker cables are about as good as they get and they are also very little £. Pity i didn't realise this a lot sooner myself

You should find these standard unbranded cables at most local electrical stores.

bada mem

Rick @ Musicraft

Namaste Musicraft mere dost. Ya I remember that u have responded one of my old thread which was about speaker cables only but at that time I was not having good interconnects and source like Chord Crimson Plus, True colors Industries Coral and DAC. So I thought of improving my source and interconnects first and I did it and obviously now there is a improvement in each and every way. So now I am thinking may be changing speaker cable bettered my system.

As I have said earlier that buying such local unbranded cables is not easy in my city, can't even think of it as I live in such city where there is no such electronics shops or even hi-fi shops. All I can buy is branded cables.

 

[Shanka]

Hi,

Sorry to jump in, have tried to locate 500 strand copper cable, can Rick give me some directions ?

Thanks

 

[the record spot]

Have a look for 12AWG (AWG stands for American Width Gauge - it's the US reference). You're really looking to have some Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) shipped over and it's the multistrand stuff you need.

It's commonly available and easy to find, albeit you may not have it locally to you, it would be way cheaper buying it over the net from the UK and having it sent to you than it would to buy one or two metres just of QED Revelation.

Have a look at the link I provided for the OP earlier, that company will probably ship to India, so all you're going to pay is £5.22 for ten metres of the 322 strand (which is fine for your needs) and whatever it costs to send that to you by airmail. If it's any more than £15 all in, I'll be surprised. Should be very cheap to do.

 

[Anonymous]

Can't say if new cable in your case will bring improvement in the way you want it.

But from my experience I exchanged fine multi-strand OFC cable (Audio Technica) for Chord Carnival SilverScreen (despite the name it's all copper and not so many strands). Good thing is that cable is shielded and the sound improvement was like night and day!

So don't listen to people who say all cables sound the same. Research more, reading consumer reviews from the few popular cables in the budget price range and chose one.

I would recommend FutureShop (also listed as source here at Where to buy tab).

They ship worldwide and excluding VAT.

 

[Anonymous]

Good thing is that cable is shielded

Why was it a good thing Magla?

BTW I tried a new UVBN-Had speaker cable the other day, it was so good I tried replacing my DAC, amp and speakers with an old 1980's Amstrad tower system and some sturdy single cone Goodmans speakers and it was still better than before.

The sound with these cables was neutral, detailed and smooth without blandness, except here it's to a higher level than I've heard from copper before, perhaps because the insulation is a subtle grey. Listen to Beethoven's 5th and the cables deliver a greater level of insight and stronger dynamics than most pieces of identical wire, after this I'm going to put all my money into wire and forget about the bits in the middle - I mean with this cable - how much effect could they have??

Then I went one further and plugged in the 'RA-HaHaSucker' mains cable to replace the standard AC cord, man this thing was chunky and expensive but boy was the effect dramatic! Suddenly the music becomes alive with dynamics and detail, nuances and rhythm unheard from an Amstrad Tower before now - I noticed my feet tapping along to the new dimension this 1000mm of super extra silver/tin wire had on the system.