Which Cables Should I Go For ?

[admin_exported]

Having just purchased Audiolab M-Dac, B&W CM1 Speakers, Musical Fidelity X-AS100 Dual Mono Power Amp, I need some cables.

I will be using Sonos and PC as main sources. I already have B&W ASW608 Sub Woofer

My thoughts were Chord Prodac coaxial from Sonos to Dac Chord USB from PC to Dac.

Chord Chrimson pair from M-Dac to AMP and from Amp to subwoofer ( I assume i will need a pair as previously only used single output from pre amp ?)

Speaker cables i have some qed micro anniversary but feel CM1's might favour something better ?

Any thoughts of other cables i should consider in similar budget ?

 

[Anonymous]

No one got any thoughts ?

Local dealer recomended Chord Cobra 2 over the Crimson and Chord Rumour 2 for speakers ?

 

[Captain Duff]

No one got any thoughts ?

Local dealer recomended Chord Cobra 2 over the Crimson and Chord Rumour 2 for speakers ?

I think people are trying to avoid the regular cable war outbreaks. So your dealer recommends more expensive cables over cheaper ones? Just think about that for a moment please 😉

For what it is worth my advice would be to get a small selection of 2nd hand interconnect cables with decent 'reputations' from ebay and without breaking the bank. Swop them around, have a play, and if you can honestly tell any differences then keep the ones you like and re-sell the rest.

As for the speakers, any copper strand cable with a reasonable guage will be fine (cheap 79 strand or similar)...

 

[Jambalaya]

How much are you looking to spend on speaker cables? You have a really fine amplifier there.

 

[Anonymous]

I was looking at about £125 thinking maybe Chord Rumour ?

 

[bluedroog]

You have a good but modest system so buy good but modest cables. Don’t skimp but just get something well made that doesn’t cost the earth.

For cables I like Mark Grant.

For speaker cable I still use bare ended Gale cable I bought years and years ago, I’d like to replace it with something terminated with banana plugs and when I do I think I’ll go for some Van Damme blue. Never heard it but I doubt I could hear much difference so am happy to buy blind based on many other happy customers.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi Pennypot

I feel that you should also consider using standard 500 strand OFC speaker cables.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Mr Beachams]

You could up the ante on ya speaker cable and go for the QED Genesis (try flea-bay for a bargin) and also look at the Silver High Breeds I/C...... got my I/C on flea-bay for £30...... best money i spent in ages :dance:

 

[steve_1979]

I feel that you should also consider using standard 500 strand OFC speaker cables.

+1

I agree. You don't need to spend £125 on speaker cables when standard 500 strand OFC speaker cable will work just as well.

 

[andyjm]

While the advice about going for generic unbranded speaker cable is good, selecting on the basis of the number of strands is not.

What matters in speaker cables is the resistance, and that is a function of the cross sectional area 'CSA' of the all of the strands added together. 79 thick strands may well have a larger CSA than 500 thin strands.

Select on the basis of CSA, 2.5mm^2 is a good size to aim for.

More strands just make for a more flexible cable.

 

[Anonymous]

+1 on the savings to be had with just fairly decent gauge cable from eBay. Put the money towards something else.

 

[Anonymous]

I have Sonos and Audiolab M-DAC also. Currently I am using Oehlbach XXL® SERIES 7 MK II. It is relatively cheap but it sounds good. Highs and lows are not best defined so this is why I want to change it but it turnes out that it is not metter of price I have tried triple time more expensive Transparent Audio MusicWave Plus and it gives very good mids and crystal clear highs but it lacks lows. After Transparent I have tried AudioQuest Optilink-3. Same story although bass was suppresed it was really detailed. Next in test line is Cardas Lightning 15. Heard great things about it. Will let you know about results.

Oh yeah. Speakers and interconnects are Transparent audio Music Wave and with those I am completely satisfied.

 

[Anonymous]

What matters in speaker cables is the resistance, and that is a function of the cross sectional area 'CSA' of the all of the strands added together. 79 thick strands may well have a larger CSA than 500 thin strands.

Actually its not. Power from the amplifier to the speakers is delivered by alternating current not direct current, therefore its the impedence of the cable that matters. And impedence is made up of resistance, capacitance and inductance. Its confusing since the measurement of impedence is ohms, same as resistance :roll:

 

[andyjm]

What matters in speaker cables is the resistance, and that is a function of the cross sectional area 'CSA' of the all of the strands added together. 79 thick strands may well have a larger CSA than 500 thin strands.

Actually its not. Power from the amplifier to the speakers is delivered by alternating current not direct current, therefore its the impedence of the cable that matters. And impedence is made up of resistance, capacitance and inductance. Its confusing since the measurement of impedence is ohms, same as resistance :roll:

Dr,

Actually it is. A few minutes with a calculator would indicate that at audio frequencies, the effect of the capacitance and inductance of loudspeaker cables on audio quality is dwarfed by resistance. Give it a try.

To quote John Murphy (Author of the excellent 'Introduction to Loudspeaker Design')

'I am of the opinion (and most engineers seem to agree) that the DC resistance of a
speaker cable is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT specification of a cable at
audio frequencies and for reasonable (< 10 meters) cable lengths. Cable
reactance (capacitance and inductance) can generally be ignored under these
conditions. (I realize that many vendors of expensive cable will disagree
with this statement)'

 

[bigmoose]

You can ask the same thing as my dealer did for me: Ask for a set of cables within your budget without letting you know what they are.

Do not try and find out which one they are, just test them "blindly" and pick the one you prefer. More expensive does not necessarly mean better and this method should allow you to get an unbiaised opinion.

Good luck!

 

[ClassicalMusicLover]

Just thought you might be interested in my recent experiences with speaker cables and two X-AS100's used as monoblocks for my Harbeth C7s.

I was using Silver Anniversary cables for a couple of years, but didn't feel that the sound had enough balance, fullness, or bass weight. I returned them to the store, but they couldn't find any issue using their system.Then I switched to some old, cheap Supra cables that I found in a draw. The difference was quite dramatic: instruments were better defined, bass was clearer and deeper. The rather shrill upper frequencies improved, and the soundstage was better.

I'm not an engineer, so I won't attempt to explain these results. Hope it helps.

 

[BigH]

I would get Van Damme OFC instead of Rumour, if you do a search on the forum you will find several posts about VD replacing Rumour speaker cable. Its cheaper as well at around £5 pm for 4mm.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Wrong post really. 12months old. Glad its all working for you tho. 🙂

 

[Overdose]

You could up the ante on ya speaker cable and go for the QED Genesis (try flea-bay for a bargin) and also look at the Silver High Breeds I/C...... got my I/C on flea-bay for £30...... best money i spent in ages :dance:

Given the prolific amount of fake goods on ebay, including cables, it is the last place I would want to buy such a thing. Used cables would be the best way to pass on fakes as the seller can plead ignorance with some conviction and given the tenuous ability to 'improve' a system anyway, who's to say if the cable is fake or legit?

£30 might be better spent on more music I'd say.

 

[Rethep]

I agree with "fellowposters" who advice you to use powercable (2,5 mm2). You could be very satisfied with it without even ever trying exotic and expensive "wires". Cables don't give you miracles!

 

[Bigsounds]

Talk 3 was always one of my favs, cheap as chips, dont fall for expensive cables.

 

[busb]

I run my M-DAC's output via XLR cables to my power amp - cheap XLRs sounded better than Chord Chameleon Vees. I went for 0.5m lengths. In theory, it should make little difference.