Adding an extra 1ft to premium speaker cables


I was given a pair of premium quality speaker cables but they’re about 1ft short on each side and there’s no way to change it. If I added an extra 1ft of cheaper cable would it defeat the purpose?

rankaudio

My guess is that the extra set of cable connectors to join two different sets of cables might be a big cause of sound degradation even if both sets of cables were the same. 

audphile1

Just like any other cable denier you continue to try and stir something up.

 

I’m good with your honesty and I’m not completely in disagreement that cables can make a difference, just so you’re aware. For example, I recently had a situation with some idle hum which was occurring because of shielding issues with a particular pair of RCA cables. I used a better shielded pair of RCA’s and the idle noise was removed.

With regard to the demos, I also agree that certain good tracks like Malia can disguise what speakers are doing. You can see I also discuss it here.

https://youtu.be/K29LPl9LF4I?si=Nb4REIWUw8OSa3z_

I also don’t disagree about some issues I had with how the 1.7i’s sounded which you can also see I shared here. https://youtu.be/6ZIPehgRBpU?si=a-9orchXR7Uwvgyf

There’s nothing wrong if audiophiles would like to spend some bucks on some nice looking cables, I have a couple buddies who do, however, you have not answered my comment and I don’t think you can come up with any answer to this question.  Even if the cables were $20,000 as you asked, how can they be faithful if they are plugged into a speaker terminal that has about 1ft of Monster cable behind it?

Here’s a video that may resonate better with your ears. 

https://youtu.be/oIPwxkGI_Qc?si=bUamXRSXQPo03P34

@audphile1 Please define “faithful”.

Odds are overwhelming that 1 ft of added cable of equal or greater gauge will not add any appreciable resistance or capacitance to any cable to change the resulting sound.  The only thing the OP has not defined is how long the original cable is.  If the OP is talking about being 1ft short on a 3 ft premium cable (amps right next to the speaker) then there is a high chance that something will change.  If the OP is using long cables then a 1ft add, again, would have negligible impact. 

Ultimately, as I said earlier, the blocker is really what’s being used by the speaker manufacturer.  Many times it’s no better than 24 gauge bell wire. 

jonwolfpell     My guess is that the extra set of cable connectors to join two different sets of cables might be a big cause of sound degradation even if both sets of cables were the same. 

 +1. All connectors degrade the sound. IME, the speaker binding post (biggest metal mass) degrades SQ the most. Bigger and more robust binding post sounds the worse. Alex/WTA 

@pcolvin  

I never used word “faithful”. That’s one. 
Two - this thread is a clickbait. The OP doesn’t have a set of premium speaker cables that are 1ft too short. He was implying that using premium to connect speakers that use lesser quality internal wiring makes no sense to him. That’s all there is to it. 
 

@rankaudio 

I’ll answer your question now. I normally refrain from using terms like neutral. We don’t know what neutral is. As far as I’m concerned there are no “faithful” cables. Every cable will color the sound to a certain degree. I’ve heard cables in my system that rendered tone of instruments and vocals completely unnatural. 
In addition, we weren’t there to hear instruments or vocalists in the studio to have a point of reference. So neither you nor I can call out any specific cable as faithful. 

 

The way I approach is simple. Get the best possible components and speakers, get your room acoustics right and then try different cables. Whatever sounds the most natural to you and gives you goosebumps that’s the cable for you. But there’s always room for improvement. 
Your logic with cheap wires inside speakers negating all possible benefits of quality upstream cables is faulty. Going by this logic we should not even worry about quality of components upstream. So amplifiers, DACs, preamps have zero to minimal impact because ultimately cheap wires inside speakers will just completely negate all of it. If you don’t agree with it, ask yourself why better cables wouldn’t natter. 
I’ve been at it for a while now in this hobby and tried plenty of cables. Price isn’t always an indicator but in most cases good stuff costs more. 

But then you have another variable. You. Can you hear these differences? Are they enough to justify the purchase? Some people just don’t have the ear.