Speaker Wire - Does it effect the sound quality??

[Trefor Patten]

No Psilocybin, our ears are not the same. There is a VAST variation in people's ability to hear subtle differences from those classical musicians and others with 'perfect pitch' all the way to those who are profoundly deaf and can hear nothing at all. I attended a demonstration of speaker cables and the differences I heard were quite marked. It is true that there are some pretty muddy-sounding cables out there whose manufacturers make wild claims. There are also some 'bargain' cables which provide a fantastic improvement to SOME systems for very little cost. If you can't hear a difference then don't spend your money, but don't assume that because you can't hear something it isn't there. My pet cats can hear the postman before I do and piano tuners can hear finer variations than I can manage. :shame:

 

[Psilocybin]

^ Yeh fair enough to those with actual hearing damage. However i love my music and I know it inside out, so i know what to look out for when listening to subtle improvements etc. i didnt hear a difference (i have no hearing loss or damage) in the demo, i understand this is an age old debate (and one i cant really be ar*ed with), however i feel the need to express my opinion on the matter. in my experience the equipment makes the difference! not the cables. If somebody can actually show me the difference then fair enough, but i get a strong impression that a lot of it is there for a money making opportunity. This isnt to say that people who have bought expensive wire are wrong, merely an alternative argument for people to consider before spending big $

 

[Feral]

If you notice a difference then the money is well spent, if you can't then save the money for something else.... like that pair of shoes that costs 10 times as much as a high street pair because of all the work that has gone into them, the leather was rolled on the thighs of Cuban maidens, they make you feel really good despite they were made for people with 4 toes and strangers will love you and want to be your friend.

For example, I love blu ray but some of my friends and family just don't see the difference although they all appreciate the better SQ on the format. There is no question on the improved image quality but if they don't see it then they don't see it. SQ is far more subjective and therefore more difficult to get anyone to agree on.

Now who's going to be the first to invoke Godwin's Law

 

[Anonymous]

There are definiitely slight differences. Mostly inaudible providing you don't start with bell-wire.

Any cable costing £2000 is a definite waste of money IMO. I'd rather give it to a local childrens hospital. That would probably make more difference to the sound too due to the increased feeling of well-being it would induce.

And in the end, the best cable, is no cable. I believe the future of high end audio will lie in wireless transmission of digital signals to speakers with built in amplification and digital to audio conversion.

At least you're saying it's your opinion. I hear lots of differences with cables, and is generally better the more you spend.

£2K wouldn't be wasting your money if you a had a £50K Hi-Fi system

After doing extensive blind AB testing of loads of different wires, I think it still would. If (please please) I ever win big on the lottery, I would probably have a 50K plus system...I'd use £10 cables...no problems, and they would sound just as good as the £2000 ones. While I agree there can be differences, they are at best, subtle, especially when you don't know which is plugged in, and ultimately all a speaker requires is an electrical connection. No wire is worth £2000 IMO. Same with interconnects. I feel that there are a LOT of exaggerated claims made, usually backed up with nothing more than long words.

I think the day I spend more than £2-£3 a metre on cable is the day I start making sure the screws in my plugs all point the same way.

But saying all that, if you have the money, and it makes you happy...go for it.

 

[tino]

The largest single factor is more likely inductance, giving rise to a quite significant cable impendence many times greater than that of the speaker. For best results you want the impedence of the cable the same as that of the speaker, so a cable with impedence of 400 Ohms is totally mis matched to a speaker of 8 ohms. To lower the cable impendence you will need a large capacitance and lower inductance (you cant get both low so its a compromise) , but then high capacitance cables bring other problems.

... errr ... is this right? I always thought that you should strive for a nominal cable impedance that is approx 1% (or is it 5%?) or less than the speaker impedance t avoid excessive attenuation. And you want to keep capacitance as low as possible to avoid shunting away too much of your signal from your speaker load (it appears - in simplistic terms - as a parallel impedance across across your speaker load. Since we are dealing with audio frequencies I don't think transmission line effects (where you do want matched impedances) come into play too much.

 

[Anonymous]

... errr ... is this right? I always thought that you should strive for a nominal cable impedance that is approx 1% (or is it 5%?) or less than the speaker impedance t avoid excessive attenuation. And you want to keep capacitance as low as possible to avoid shunting away too much of your signal from your speaker load (it appears - in simplistic terms - as a parallel impedance across across your speaker load. Since we are dealing with audio frequencies I don't think transmission line effects (where you do want matched impedances) come into play too much.

Your kinda right in places. The principle of impedence matching is just that...matching it. In any kind of power circuit, maximum power is delivered when the impedence of the supply matches that of the source...its the same principle.

And yes, capacitance should be kept low, but generally its the inductance property of a cable that most contributes to the impedence, and generally its difficult to have both low inductance and low capacitance. Hence why it is difficult to achieve low impedence speaker cables.

There's probably alot more to it than that, and I might be talking large round things, but its food for thought. In the end its the sound that matters, and for that I suggest throwing all the theory out of the window and letting your ears decide.

 

[Anonymous]

There are definiitely slight differences. Mostly inaudible providing you don't start with bell-wire.

Any cable costing £2000 is a definite waste of money IMO. I'd rather give it to a local childrens hospital. That would probably make more difference to the sound too due to the increased feeling of well-being it would induce.

And in the end, the best cable, is no cable. I believe the future of high end audio will lie in wireless transmission of digital signals to speakers with built in amplification and digital to audio conversion.

At least you're saying it's your opinion. I hear lots of differences with cables, and is generally better the more you spend.

£2K wouldn't be wasting your money if you a had a £50K Hi-Fi system

After doing extensive blind AB testing of loads of different wires, I think it still would. If (please please) I ever win big on the lottery, I would probably have a 50K plus system...I'd use £10 cables...no problems, and they would sound just as good as the £2000 ones. While I agree there can be differences, they are at best, subtle, especially when you don't know which is plugged in, and ultimately all a speaker requires is an electrical connection. No wire is worth £2000 IMO. Same with interconnects. I feel that there are a LOT of exaggerated claims made, usually backed up with nothing more than long words.

I think the day I spend more than £2-£3 a metre on cable is the day I start making sure the screws in my plugs all point the same way.

But saying all that, if you have the money, and it makes you happy...go for it.

Obviously, when it comes to accessories everyone does have a different view. I once borrowed some speaker cable off a friend which was a lot more expensive than the one I was using, I immediately notice the difference, the bass was more prominent, there was more detail - it was just an overall better sound (I believe these differences were real and it wasn't just my mind telling me so) When I changed back to my original cables it sounded unrefined and muddy, so I then bought that same cable and was just much more pleased with my new sound.

But if you're happy with just spending £2-3 per metre on speaker cable, then I guess that's your decision and no one really has the right to tell you that's not good enough....as previously said, everyone has a different view on this subject. Though, the majority seems to be with me and saying YES they do make a difference.

 

[staggerlee]

There should be a word limit like twotter - what a long boring post ? if you can't hear the difference then stick with your £1 cable - Simples

 

[staggerlee]

There should be a word limit like twitter - what a long boring orignal post ? if you can't hear the difference then stick with your £1 cable - Simples

 

[Anonymous]

When I bought my set up from a local dealer I asked him a few well rehearsed questions, like should each speaker cable be same length etc etc. Usual novice stuff gleaned from Wikipedia, forums etc. All he did was take me round the showroom and gladly advise me they did no such thing. Of course maybe he didn't believe the stuff circulated about cables. He suggested soem decent QED Anniversary at about £4 a yard as afetr all thats what he used in the demo rooms. HOWEVER he did admit to have sold high end cables to folk who demanded it, often without an audition, one guy spent £10000 on speaker cables and interconnects, apparently using magazine reviews as the basis of selection, didn't even ask for an audition!So forget the science for a minute as it seems there are far more elements to the purchasing decision than just science. Misinformation, snob value, etc to name a few. My personal opinion is I'd rather invest in really good quality recrdings where you'll hear more of the music anyway than a lot of badly recorded trash where the most expensive equipment will yield a poor listening experience. Remember tampering with (almost) the last link in the chain will do little to improve or enhance badly recorded music.

 

[staggerlee]

I still don't get what your ranting about ?

1.Is it people spend huge amounts of money ? so what it's their money

2. Is it you don't think speaker wire makes a difference ? fine you stick with your approach

3. Are you trying to convert people to your thinking ? good luck

 

[staggerlee]

I still don't get what your ranting about ?

1.Is it people spend huge amounts of money ? so what it's their money

2. Is it you don't think speaker wire makes a difference ? fine you stick with your approach

3. Are you trying to convert people to your thinking ? good luck

 

[Reggie Mental]

With speaker cable you're looking for as low resistance as possible, ie. thick. Avoid woven cables with high capacitance, they might cause your amp to oscillate and self-destruct.

That's about all there is to it.

 

[camdxr]

Any cable costing £2000 is a definite waste of money IMO. I'd rather give it to a local childrens hospital.

What are they going to do with a bunch of speaker cable?

Sell it on flea-bay and buy them some toys?

 

[Anonymous]

Many moons ago I tried several speaker cables, bought ones and home made ones, in my fairly revealing system and chose the best sounding one, inexpensive Naim cable. They all sounded different by the way. What made the most improvement though was rewiring inside my speakers and power amplifier with the same Naim wire, especially as both had junk status wire in them.

 

[SteveR750]

Nex thing you know, someone's going to suggest that they sound different in opposite directions! Incroyable! :dance:

 

[Anonymous]

I tried the reversed cable trick and could never hear one iota of difference. Different cables yes, direction no.

 

[kevinJ]

It looks better when the current flows in the same direction as the arrows printed on the cable.

It's a psychological thing

 

[mbmichael]

Hi Tim,

Simple answer to your question - YES. The less resistance in the cable the more electrons can pass through and deliver a more acurate signal to the speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

Simple answer to your question - YES. The less resistance in the cable the more electrons can pass through and deliver a more acurate signal to the speakers.

Er, you actually mean impedence not resistance since the current is alternating, and low resistance does not necessarily mean low impedence. And impedence will change with frequency...

 

[Cypher]

IMO : No. All speakercables sound the same.

 

[CnoEvil]

IMO : No. All speakercables sound the same.

So do all cable threads!

 

[the record spot]

IMO : No. All speakercables sound the same.

Broadly speaking, probably. Unless you go down the silver vs. copper route in which case the former has a tendency towards greater detail, sometimes called bright. Other than that, any difference in speaker cable are going to be somewhat less than changing the speakers themselves...!

 

[eggontoast]

Er, you actually mean impedence not resistance.........

Is that the same as Impedance.

 

[Crossie]

No impedence is not the same as resistance although they both have the same unit - Ohms.