|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 9, 2007 18:06:10 GMT 7
How about speaker cables or wires. Many will surely swear by those esoteric brands How about those monstrosities by the same name? Or would prefer them silver?
This is from a post from the Brit LS group. "Peter Walker of Quad when asked by a hifi journalist what the main attributes of a speaker cable should be, replied that it should be of sufficient length to stretch from the amplifier to the loudspeaker."
The same post also says that Jim Rogers never believed in speaker cables.
I use ordinary cables. On all my speakers. Tried belden as well to good results. Post your findings or any thing copper, silver, and gold. Who knows it just may help solve a sound crisis!
|
|
|
|
Post by mossback on Dec 9, 2007 21:50:22 GMT 7
OK, I confess that at the moment my speaker cable is Gasp… Zip cord!  Yep, at the moment I use that cheap 18 gage stranded two phase from Lowes. I have found some cable do better than others with my LS. I will post more on my experiences later today. |
|
|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 10, 2007 8:00:54 GMT 7
Of Jim Rogers being right. But if you take his sentence literally as one jokingly did, yes how might you connect speakers and amplifiers. But there's this wireless thing! It's here. Another worry? Soundstage, pinpoint imaging, frequency phase shift, and all that hullabaloo!
|
|
|
|
Post by Moz on Dec 10, 2007 18:20:39 GMT 7
I use the orange Home Depot stuff with 3xGa14 wire for speaker cables. This created a lot of debate before in AA. I also remember that when the Quad ESL989 was launched, they used the same type of cable from a nearby hardware store. BTW, the 989 became the Speaker of the Year and Product of the Year as well.
For IC's I use my own DIY silver wires. I feel this livens up the sound a bit without being clinical.
|
|
|
|
Post by Moz on Dec 10, 2007 18:26:27 GMT 7
Tony Faulkner, the world renowned and multi-awarded engineer used these in the Heathrow HiFi show. Here's a feature about them:
Interestingly, the New Scientists recently commented on the London Heathrow Hi Fi Show, saying that among the cables selling for up to £30,000 for 6 metres, they found Quad demonstrating their latest speakers to great enthusiasm. The orange cable to the speakers looked oddly familiar. When asked about it, Tony Faulkner, the recording engineer demonstrating them (who'd used the speakers as monitors while recording Saint-Saen's complete works for piano & orchestra, Gramophone's Record of the Year), said of the cables:
"Yes, they would look familiar if you have a garden. Before the show opened we went over the road to the DIY superstore and bought one of those £20 extension leads that Black & Decker sells for electric hedge-cutters. They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me. The show's been running for three days and no one in the audience has noticed..." - New Scientist Magazine
I've been using these ever since!
|
|
|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 10, 2007 18:45:35 GMT 7
garden hose variety and Quad esl winning the speaker of the year, now that must tell all!
|
|
|
|
Post by mossback on Dec 11, 2007 0:42:43 GMT 7
Heck you could connect the Quads with a clothe line and they would sound fantastic.
|
|
|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 11, 2007 8:09:49 GMT 7
Ergo, Peter Walker is vindicated. Jim Rogers would be shock to hear about the "cloth line" since he does not believe in speaker cables at all!!?
|
|
|
|
Post by Moz on Dec 11, 2007 10:02:27 GMT 7
Even John Dunlavy, the highly respected designer of Dunlavy labs Speakers claimed that listeners "very seldom" hear differences and if ever, these are from placebo effects.
He conducted a cable test in his facility and he reports as follows:
Oh yes, we have heard of golden-eared audiophiles who claim to be able to consistently identify huge, audible differences between cables. But when these experts have visited our facility and were put to the test under carefully-controlled conditions, they invariably failed to yield a score any better than chance. For example, when led to believe that three popular cables were being compared, varying in size from a high-quality 12 AWG ZIP-CORD to a high-tech looking cable with a diameter exceeding an inch, the largest and sexiest looking cable always scored best - even though the CABLES WERE NEVER CHANGED and they listened to the ZIP Cord the entire time.
|
|
|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 11, 2007 10:09:56 GMT 7
He would have said: "Gotcha!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Moz on Dec 11, 2007 10:18:55 GMT 7
His complete post from 1996 in the old Deja site can be found here |
|
|
|
Post by shushu on Dec 15, 2007 5:05:08 GMT 7
Hi to all of you Cables? ;D Well.  A cable acts as an equalizer, and that's all! Some cables supress some trebles, others supress some bass. It depends on their capacitance or their inductance. Their resistance...., well, what is the point withe their resistance? You will guess that I do not use """"high end"""" cable at all. Electric wire is good. If some equalization is needed, a specific but economical cable may be useful. And that's all ;D |
|
|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 15, 2007 6:46:24 GMT 7
Well said!
|
|
|
|
Post by Moz on Dec 15, 2007 10:08:06 GMT 7
Unfortunately the placebo effect heavily comes into play when one tries on very expensive cables. You're right that it's basically an equalizer.
Most times, the first try sounds good but as one listens closer, one starts to realize that all is not right after all.
I'm quite happy with my home depot cables. I've done numerous homebrews in the past and have come to accept the the fact that they are really equalizers as shushu explains. Another inexpensive copper is the vintage NOS Western Electric wires used by our friends in HK. These are cloth covered virgin copper and can be bought on ebay.
|
|
|
|
Post by splendor on Dec 17, 2007 8:11:35 GMT 7
On the "placebo effect," an old audiophile friend of mine who used to be with empire electronics would be quick to say "it's psychological."
This points to the fact that anything that has attained the "level" of good sound adjudged by audiophiles/music lovers is harder and harder to improve on. "Law of diminishing returns" at work?
|
|
