Speaker Cable

[admin_exported]

Ive been playing around with different speaker cable because the speaker cable i was using was begining to sound to bright with my current set-up

set-up

roksan kandy k2 amp

ATC scm11's speakers

arcam cd73t cd connected to dac magic.

the speaker cable i was using is chord odessey2 which was fine with my old speakers (b&w685s)

but since ive had the atc speakers(about 4 weeks) i have found that the music is way to bright sounding so i thought i would experiment with some old cable that i have first i tried qeds silver aniversery biwire which supriseingly sounded much better the brightness had gone but now it sounded shut in but still better to listen to than the chord cable next i tried some cheap supra rondo biwire cable which sounds even better than the qed the sound now appears to be behind the speakers either side of the speakers. without sounding bright. but still not purfect

my dileama now is im sure there is a better cable out there thats not to expensive, so guys this is where your expertise comes in any recomendations please.

i was thinking of trying supra's ply 3.4 (£6.85) or qed revelation(£15) per metre?

sorry for waffaling & the poor spelling.

regards 80' boy

 

[MattSPL]

When you changed cables to the Qed's silver, how long did you play them before you changed them again?

Cables need time to break in like all electronic components and speakers. Some cables, especially silver can take 100+ hours of use to sound their best. You say they sounded better but shut in, well, when a cable or component is run in properly, you will hear most people comment on how the sound opened up.

It might be worth trying putting some hours on them before spending more money.

Id also recomend spending some money on your mains if you haven't already. Like power cables, silver fuses(Hifi Tuning or Isoclean) and a mains filter. I just bought a Yaqin ML-1100 mains filter off ebay for about £70 delivered. At first it cleaned the sound, especially the highs but sounded shut in. After about 200 hours of power going through it the sound opened up and now sounds amazing and clear.

The benefits brought through mains products are very desirable and are hard to gain from upgrading elsewhere.

 

[Anonymous]

dont run amps thro mains filters ! is this true?????

 

[Craig M.]

i have seen many forum posts claiming a mains filter reduced dynamics and punch when used on an amp.

 

[Anonymous]

ill go with it for a while but its ongoing. I can see where people could be coming from...

 

[Anonymous]

hi, thanks for the info. I am an electrician by trade so i know where your coming from. Post me a link of a non coiled based conditioner if you can find one, id like to look into what youve said/ suggested. No rush.

dave

 

[gpi]

Wasn't this thread about speaker cable?

OP, how does the cable you've already tried differ and by how much from a material/component/structure pov? How can it possibly change the sound of your system to the extent you expect it to? Your speakers are very revealing of bright recordings. Are you playing just CDs? Personally I would look elsewhere for the brightness because it's not the cable or any cables.

 

[Anonymous]

speaker cable oh yeah, well if i had to choose one to try next it could end up being...
http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Atlas-Hyper-20/

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, cables 🙂

There seems to always be two radically opposite camps when it comes to cables. Those that don't think they make any difference and those that swear by a huge difference and can almost pay as much for cables as for the rest of the system.

I'm a bit in the middle. There are actually differences, but the most expensive are often not the best. At least if by "best" one means a cable that doesn't have a sound of its own. I tend to want all my cables to be as neutral as possible. I also strongly believe in single core, or lots of thinner, individually isolated singles as apposed to multi strains. I'm using a DIY speaker cable that is low impedance and is terminated with a RC filter link. If at all curious and into DIY, building instructions can be found here: http://lts.a.se/Portals/0/artiklar/kabelbygg.pdf (It is in Swedish but you can probably use a translation service to make it comprehendible.)

That Supra you're thinking about I actually had a few years ago. I would strongly recommend against it. It is in no way neutrual and the effect it ads is not pleasant. There are lots of cables that "color" the sound and in some systems and tastes this may be a nice experience. This is not one of those. Avoid it. IMHO of course. An ordinary electrical installtion cable 4 x 1.5mm solid core copper sounds a lot better. That is probably the best bang for the buck there is, they are virtually free. To avoid too high capacitance though, the strands should be cross connected.. (http://lts.a.se/Portals/0/artiklar/diy_ekk_v6.pdf)

By all means, experiment with cables, but if they are of a fancy brand, make sure you get to try them out at home for a while before buying. Something that sounds "amazing" the first few hours might end up being a big annoyance a couple of days or weeks later... This goes for all HiFi equipment. Always be suspicious of stuff that has a high "wow-factor" at first listen.

Regards

 

[Anonymous]

basically the longer the speaker cable the more likely it is you will hear a difference

however lots of people on this forum believe it is not so and that speaker wire not to mention interconnects can have the same effect on the sound as speakers

if you look at the original post youll see it was the new speakers that made the system seem more bright because they have revealed the true nature of the rest of the components so the fix is to replace the amp or use other speakers the wire really isnt going to help

however as i said people dont believe that here and it doesnt matter since im off back to my own planet now

peace

 

[Anonymous]

Personally, I think you need to run those ATCs in much longer. The speaker cable will make little or no difference. The presentation of the speaker is neutral, not bright, so perhaps it's just that which you will need to get used to. I find them a lovely, warm-ish presentation with a smooth, not tizzy treble. I have 4mm copper unbranded speaker cable and have found that works perfectly well.

Perhaps worth a punt to check for yourself? There are plenty 10m runs on eBay of the same cable for about £12.00 - yes, seriously. Just search for 532 strand 4mm speaker cable.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

georgejack:
reggaedave:dont run amps thro mains filters ! is this true?????

Definately.

If you know any electricians, ask them what the regulation value is for mains impedance. When any new works are carried out in a house, the system needs to be tested to be under a certain impedance, this ensures appliances that require high current can run safely by obtaining the full current they need.

Amplifier consumption can vary, 200w and upwards to 1kw, they need to be able to draw the current they need converting the AC to DC with a percentage of heat loss to power the amplifier which returns into itself to give the output, the higher the impedance, the less efficient the conversion = less power = less movement of the voice coils = less dynamics.

RCD's and MCCB's are exactly the same.

Try a tacima CS-929 with your amp, then turn it up and you'll notice the difference in dynamics, they sap it.

Although not always the case, some of the more 'expensive' conditioners are not coil based.

I know this post is about speaker cable, but i think this is quite important info. I for one have my amp running through a Tacima so i think i'm gonna unlug if from the Tacima and see if i can tell a difference. Thanks for the info by the way.

 

[caddyhound]

I agree with One off.Odyssey 2 is a good speaker cable and unlikely to cause brightness ,but just to pass it through.I would try unplugging the DAC and see what that sounds like.CA have a reputation for bright sounding equipment.If it gets rid of the brightness then a new DAC or CD player may be called for.Try borrowing one if you can to check how it sounds in your system.If it doesn't reduce the brightness then it is probably the amp.

 

[Craig M.]

what filter setting have you got the dm on? i find "min" is the only one i can listen to.

agree with Graham, atc are not bright, so the problem is upstream or you just need a bit more time to adjust to the change in sound.

i'm using atlas hyper 3.0 speaker cable.

 

[Anonymous]

hi guys thanks for all your thoghts and ideas i will try and answer most of your quetions.

ive allready used the qed speaker cable b4 so surly it allready run or does it need rerunning if not for a while?

im also using tacima mains & clearer copper line mains cable.

i personnly think that changing to different speaker cable can make a difference for example with the chord cable i found listening to duffy,elbow albums they were almost unberable to listen to but changing to the qed or supra seems to just take the edge of the hi's and also appears to have more bass.

craig.m

the dac was set to lin but will try min and see what happens.

i have to say that the supra cable sounds better allready so i will stick with it for a while.

cheers guys keep your ideas coming in as the advice is really helpful. i think im addicted to this forum help?

 

[MattSPL]

Yes the debate on running in of cables and equipment is a never ending one and people have different opinions.

I personally believe that everything in a hifi needs some time to settle in. Obviously speaker drive units more so.

And back onto the mains filter, My Yaqin ML-1100 is a passive type with a coil in it. I was concerned when i was considering a filter as i had done lots of research regarding the compression of dynamics etc.

I risked it anyway and bought the filter as it wasn't exactly expensive and if i didnt like it, i could use it for my tv, sky and dvd player.

Anyway, when i first plugged it in i felt is took some life and deep bass out of the sound so unplugged it after 10 minutes. Later on i plugged it back in so my hifi could be left running in standby through it overnight than spent the next few days playing music and switching back and forward between having the filter connected or not.

This comes back to my opinion on running in, after a week i did more A & B testing and the filter had lost all its initial negative affects and possessed excellent detail in the higher frequencies i had never heard before and the bass was now full and tight.

It by no means compresses the dynamics of my Krell Kav 300i, infact the dynamic ability of the Krell and my new SCM19's can nearly blow you off your chair.

 

[gpi]

one off:
basically the longer the speaker cable the more likely it is you will hear a difference

however lots of people on this forum believe it is not so and that speaker wire not to mention interconnects can have the same effect on the sound as speakers

if you look at the original post youll see it was the new speakers that made the system seem more bright because they have revealed the true nature of the rest of the components so the fix is to replace the amp or use other speakers the wire really isnt going to help

however as i said people dont believe that here and it doesnt matter since im off back to my own planet now

peace

Correct, put your ATCs in the shed at the bottom of the garden. If you don't hear a difference from your living room I'll eat my Gotham GAC-1 interconnect.

 

[Anonymous]

Just my twopence worth:

Speaker cable - just get the thickest you can for the length required. Try and find Roger Russell's cable page on the net. There is a table there that shows you the thickness of copper required for the distance between amp and speakers. Something like Van Damme Studio cable, 6mm will do just about anything. Cables can't be directional, because AC current runs along them. They don't need breaking in either.

Mains filters etc. UK mains voltage is fixed at a certain value, +/- a known variable (can't remember what it is off the top of my head). UK electric supplies are generally of a very high quality and therefore predictable. I suspect you will find it useful to take the Tacima away from your amp at least. This should make it far more dynamic. It won't have been designed to run with a filter, and indeed, the type of circuitry within the box is almost certainly designed to perform this function anyway. If you phone your amp manufacturer and ask them if the filter is of value, I am sure the answer will be interesting.

Fuses and power cables -