Best Sounding Speaker Cables?

@audiophil88 

good post... i totally concur with your findings, based on my own experience with the three cables you tried

your system is also an excellent example of an excellent system, at a very smart point of the value curve -- outstanding performance at a sensible price -- much much sonic pleasure for $$ spent

👍

Hello, I had the good fortune to AB 3 speaker cable brands all within a price range of 500-1,000 USD for 7.5 ft length. Kimber Cable12TC, Nordost Bue Heaven and Cardas Parsec. I did use any measuring tools so my "analysis" (also a great cable mfr) is purely anecdotal and subjective (how do I respond to to the music). Kimber Cable was overkill for my modest system (Hegel H90, Bluesound Node 2i and Focal Electra 1080 BE (bought new in 2018). Focal's are not difficult to drive. 
Nordost Blue Heaven sounded a bit technical in the high end and did not seem to reach down to the lows as far as the the Cardas Parsec did. I went with the Cardas cable and coudn't be happier. As they became more aquainted with my components, the sound opened up. I would say they were the most neutral with a bit of warmth that interacted well with the glorious warmth of the Hegel, and spectacular highs of the Beryllium tweeter. The soundstage is, as you would expect with Bookshelf speakers, very accurate. I have the Focals sitting on top of ruggedly elegant and highly functional (and pricet), Sound Anchor stands which enhances the bass response substantially.  Good luck choosing!!  

All this Storm & Drang re:varied cables, and which are best. Yet, ‘wireless’ cables, ie usb seem on the ascendant, how come?

@mahlman

I suppose obsessing about wire would be a bit silly. But the often substantial effect on sound quality of cables and interconnects is pretty counterintuitive. So folks that thought it silly and then hear the difference are likely to be vocal and somewhat evangelistic about it. I remember my first jaw dropping experience. So I guess it is not surprising some people come off as obsessed. Cables, interconnects, placement, and treatments are the bread and butter of creating a great audio system. Without them only a good to very system would be possible.

Why aren’t there more technical articles on the subject? Well I suspect because it involves so many variables that it becomes very esoteric very quickly. You have the complexity of describing the nuances of sound reproduction, the many different variables of the wire, input devices, output devices… it quickly simply becomes more effective and efficient to describe instead of attribute. The lack of technical articles is not just here, but also in all high end periodicals. It’s been that way for 50 years and pretty sure it will continue that way for another fifty.

@kozka  " there is so much one can discuss re audio....acoustics, mastering of recordings, preamps etc....but those cables seem like a stubborn floater that wont sink "
 AMEN to that. Stubborn floater LOL! Active crossovers, DSP, real time room correction with REW and a UMIKe, taming the bad HZ that is in every driver with DSP. Your music files and Audacity. High def drivers for your PC sound card if you go that route like I do. Room treatments and measuring to see what works. Balancing gain between drivers left to right and matching the higher DB efficiency of tweeters and mids to lower efficiency woofers without the limits passive crossovers impose. My right ear does not hear as good as the left one so for my personal music enjoyment I have one setting in the Xilica with right gain up a bit and another for the same set of speakers balanced with the assumption visitors ears are better than mine.

 The people who obsess over wire are mostly clueless about really tuning and improving WHAT THEY HAVE to it's best potential. Or they are selling wire.
  The fact that there are not more serious technical articles here though is the fault of Audiogon. You can't post pictures of driver curves nor improvements you did and how you did them. Linking to other sites for your technical evidence or info, at least in my case, leads me to visit THAT site for answers both then and in the future. Audiogon is mostly for entertainment quite frankly and that it delivers in spades. I miss Geoff's space alien telepathic fix precious pebbles stuff though.

For what ? A Bose speaker
  an ML CLS 2 ,  a Merlin Black Magic VSM ,  ??

@millercarbon ... said perfectly above.

In my experience, foils get you to 80% by their nature alone. The deep mods, innovations, techniques get you the rest of the way.

I read the responses to make sure I wasn't going to duplicate any ones thoughts and had something new to offer.  Every piece of wire will sound different in every high resolution system before we get to individual subject evaluation and personal tastes.  The only best is the best for you that fits your budget.  You can't blindly just go buying cables to try...  you must test on loan or library loan basis.  Last I looked the lending library section of the Cable Company allowed you to loan cables for demo for a slight fee that goes towards future purchases.  When I was working on that leg if my system many years ago I did demo loans of 8 different brands of cables for speakers.  My criteria at the time, and it was 25+ years ago, was under $1,000 for an 8 foot pair.  My base pair was 10 ga OFC multi-strand Monster silver soldered to spades.   After all of that testing and mailing cables back ans forth a friend loaned me a pair he had moved on from and as soon as I turned te music on a wood stick hit cymbal and the shimmer was all that and nmore. Everything that was metal from cymbals to trumpets, sax, etc., and more just cane alive, bass tightened up and details jumped out.  I still use that brand of speaker cable today except it's 6 foot pairs and bi-wired, bi-amped.  You have to cable roll just like folks tube roll, and the same for interconnects and digital wire..  and power cords.  Put in the work and you will get the sound.

Also a Fidelium user. Best I have ever used and not looking for anything new now.

I replaced $6K speaker cables with $1200 Silversmith Fideliums. Now the former cables are relative junk.
Check out the Enjoy the Music review. His Fideliums beat his $20K Reference. Innovative and superb. And for $175 the Fidelium bi wire feature is brilliant.

I have found ribbon cables to be a game changer--easily the equivalent of upgrading my speakers, and I already had very decent cables. 

Ribbons are the wire equivalent of springs. They can be done at different levels but the basic technology is so good even inexpensive versions tend to outperform a lot of more expensive stuff that is trying to do it another way. Tekton MTM is another example. As is DBA. In all of these it is a fundamental re-thinking of what everyone else has been doing for so long that yields unusually large performance gains without having to spend a tremendous amount of money.

speaker cables do not ’sound’...they do not carry sound, mix the sound, soften the sound etc etc...
get over it...they cary an electrical current

do a test with your table lamp - connect different cables and run 120v to it and see if you get a brighter light, softer light, harsher light...or maybe no light at all....since this would be a 'sound' carrying cable...hmmm

there is so much one can discuss re audio....acoustics, mastering of recordings, preamps etc....but those cables seem like a stubborn floater that wont sink

danvignau"Obsess much? Use your time to learn to play an instrument."

This is an audio forum where people are allowed to discuss matters related to music reproduction systems if you want to play an instrument this is the wrong group for you there are others more suited to your pursuit, interest, and passion.

All the sensible cautions and qualifications about personal preference and system fit being duly noted and appreciated, I have found ribbon cables to be a game changer--easily the equivalent of upgrading my speakers, and I already had very decent cables. Soundsmith Fideliums are an amazing value (in high-end terms) and definitely open up entire new vistas of detail and soundstage. @mglik's review is thorough and matched my experience perfectly.

What a stupid post..."Best speaker wires" I'll enjoy my music, you a/b speaker wires and other components to death if you wish...hahah..Then again most posts here are stupid., I love the entertainment  

Obsess much?  Use your time to learn to play an instrument.

I had a very expensive pair of Cardas speaker cables in the past and I am currently using Morrow cables. These Morrow's are amazingly good and very affordable.

😂Yes but that is true of everything. Nothing is ever perfect. Everything affects the sound one way or another. So this tells us nothing.

The geometry flaxxer describes is basically the Townshend F1. Max Townshend worked out the optimal conductor spacing from LCR and engineered the design based on that. Plenty of others use a similar closely spaced ribbon geometry. Townshend actually optimized it to be impedance matched with the speakers, eliminating a lot of ringing, which turns out to be a major source of the sound of different designs. F1 doesn't do that, and so has much less of a sound of its own. Not cheap, but outstanding performance.

If speaker cables have a sound, then something is wrong with them.

@ghdprentice
" Sorry but this is not a valuable source. This is simply a review of a bunch of cheap cables with reference to a couple of electrical characteristics. Of no value to someone serious about high quality sound reproduction. "
This is precisely what gives the word audiophile a bad taste to most. Pretentious dollar slinging denial of superior quality to be had at reasonable prices. To rephrase your comment I might say....
" Sorry but this is not a valuable source. This is simply a review of a bunch of cheap cables with reference to a couple of electrical characteristics. Of no value to someone serious about aspirations of golden ear preten(d)tious high quality sound reproduction.

I propose a descriptive way of referring to these types of people. Like the S after a comment means sarcasm perhaps Audiophile$ would be appropriate for those with the metric of if it did not cost a bunch it can’t possibly sound superior.

 At the end of the day I don't really care how much someone spends for audio. They support businesses with their money. What I find irritating is the presumption of superior knowledge and impeccable taste somehow becomes the domain only of those who feel compelled to spend lots of money to purchase their gear. This stupid attitude seems to grow in direct proportion to the $$ spent in the vast majority of cases. $500 dollar unobtanium infused fuses anyone? If they did not improve sound they could not possibly charge that much now could they. Right?

" Erastof, if you are interested in an objective or more science-based approach to this question, check this out:

The Best Speaker Cable | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com) "
  THIS is exactly right. Monoprice 12g by the 100' spool is all I have used for years. For me it's waste your money or spend your money and 12g Monoprice is all you will ever need. Avoid banana plugs and use fork crimp connectors. Solder if you are concerned about connection quality and no I don't mean fancy silver solder. If you must use banana plugs then rather than use bare wire and tighten down (which always seems to magically work loose here and require checking before I hook up another set of speakers for demo or testing) use crimp fork connectors and once tight these never seem to lost their grip.

"In my opinion, that would be cables which negatively change or affect the sound the least. I’d start with the right geometry foremost. Conductor spacing is paramount to proper LCR. Then you want that geometry held in place without any relatable insulation ... No skin effect. Imagine a cable with the pos and neg conductors floating in space, perfectly equal distant apart. (impossible, but idea) The conductors should have the best silver, mixed with an alloy to allow the silver to shine, (like Mundorf, but without that sheen it has). One without any of the negative possible aspects of some silver. The cable should be damped for vibrations. And the connectors are less known than most popular boutique brands (WBT, Eichmann, etc) , but simply be better by design. Actually they are about the perfect design imo." These would be the perfect cables for me ..."

I pasted that from an email I saved 10 years ago. Written by a great friend. He actually made the cables described above, and figured out those challenges. And I get to use them in my system exclusively! But he is a friend, so it is a perk. I would personally steer clear of most of the big expensive brands. I sold my Valhalla cables when I changed to my friends cables and made enough to seriously upgrade my system. The main thing I was saying, is I like to steer clear of the expensive big cable brands, and that is my suggestion. But I hope you find sonic nirvana with the cables you end up with, and your future audio journey! Cheers

Ghdprentice, you "(SCANNED) the article"? Ordinarily, I'd say try reading EVERYTHING and reading it THOROUGHLY and for comprehension before proffering an opinion. Then again, your mind is obviously too closed for that, made up and already knows everything on this subject.

"If you want to do a review... then you need to become familiar with the lay of the land of people that can tell, language and values as they apply to music." No respect for Brent Butterworth? Really?

"This is just more justification why the ignorant masses are really smart in their ignorance and values." WOW? Did you get this one from your uncles, Adolf and Benito? Do you have any idea what you sound like?

"The very first high end cable I listened to over 45 years ago...". Look up "Presbycusis". Chances are better than 33% you have it. On the other hand, maybe the master audiophile class is impervious to the normal frailties afflicting the "ignorant masses". Had an audiological evaluation recently?

This will be my last rebuttal to your egocentric prattle on this subject because it detracts from what the original poster (and others) were hoping to learn through this thread. So, go ahead! Get in the last shot! You know you want to. Then, you can go play with yourself and proselytize to "the ignorant masses" another day.

Sad!

Nice post budburma, my findings after "miles of cable", LOL, through my system.  Back to Kimber 8TC for me.

Doh! Duelund for speaker wire.

Miles of audio wire has passed through my system(s).  And house for that matter! A lot of it pretty pricey. The only IC/SC combo I have some sellers remorse around is the older silver/cotton version of Sablon Panatela. Duelund tinned copper DCA16ga bare wire - I use double runs to approximate 13ga. To my ear, it's articulate, smooth and extended. And crazy inexpensive compared to most...Most recently, I didn't hear any advantage with Auditorium 23 even though it's supposed be the schizzle with the Devore/Leben combo I'm enjoying.
Power cords have proven to be a different animal and the expensive Dynamic Design Titanium GS analog and associated Ariel GS digital have blown my mind. Big, quiet, dynamic, nuanced, insightful easy on the ears and as transparent as I've experienced. I still use my BMI Oceanic Statement, too, but thought it would never be rivaled. The BMI is more powerful in it's presentation and calls your attention to the tunes, while the subtleties of the DD are more comforting somehow.
A watery analogy would be a cool, but not bracing pool vs. a more body temp enveloping stream. Both are just this warm side of neutral, but their invitation into the tunes differs...

Neotech NES1001.
Killer

They will all be system dependent, but i might suggest taking a look at cardas clear reflection also because it is a well balanced cable when the system is too detailed and works better with new speakers and amplifiers.

On a whim, I bought a pair of AQ Rocket 44`s and they sound pretty good to me.
Nicely made too.

^^^ That's not dynamic, it's inconsistent.

^^^ Most LCR meters measure LCR of a cable as a per foot metric.  But in a cable the LCR is a distributed phenomenal so it's not like the entire cable is one big inductor or capacitor.  The inductance or capacitance can vary along the length of a cable.  I expect a good cable to have very little variance, whereas in cheap cable the variance can be relatively larger.

If you have a large variation in LCR, you could have reflection of the energy along the length of the cable.

andy2

LCR is spatially variable.

Please tell us what that means.

well said 👍

@oldaudiophile... I scanned the article. Yes, I saw that they listened to some high end cables... they used Krell equipment. I also noted the source of the article.

While I try and remain patient and just highlight positive things. This kind of BS reporting really irritates me. It is the kind of thing that is published in popular press. I have the highest regard for the NYT but this kind of stuff is irresponsible.

The differences in cords and cables are easily discernible. The very first high end cable I listened to over 45 years ago made itself instantly obvious. If you want to do a review... then you need to become familiar with the lay of the land of people that can tell, language and values as they apply to music. Then you can present a balanced view... the relatively small differences have a significant impact on the overall musical presentation. This is just more justification why the ignorant masses are really smart in their ignorance and values.

well emojied 👍

here we go... 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

LCR is dynamic to the level it impacts musical program.

I am not sure what you meant.  But inductors and capacitors can become non-linear if the applied stimulus will exceed the rating parameters.

Ghdprentice, did you read ALL the articles in ALL the links available? If I remember correctly, Shunyata, AudioQuest, QED and, possibly, other speaker cables were used in the testing & measurements articles via the many links. I wouldn't call those cheap speaker cables, especially Shunyata. These are all fine cables, indeed! That being said, I tend to agree with your general observations of 7-11-21. We are talking about extremely fine and subtle nuances here. If spending two thousand, five thousand or more dollars on speaker cables (or anything else, for that matter) floats your boat then, by all means, go for it! However, I couldn't agree less with your pompous, dismissive conclusion that the information put forth in the sum total of ALL those articles is "of no value to someone serious about high quality sound reproduction". "The more that you read, the more things you will know" (Dr. Seuss). Of course, as so called audiophiles, there's no substitute for critical listening. A little (or a lot) of reading & preparation in this regard doesn't hurt. Most high-end shops I've frequented have demo cables they are more than happy to let you borrow for your own proper auditions at home.

Boy! There's nothing like a thread on speaker cables to bring out the sanctimony and incivility of some audiophiles! Release the trolls!

There is no best. 

All one can hope to attain is reasonable compatibility between system components that interfere minimally with the music.

@andy2 - show me the science, real not pseudo, and math proving LCR is dynamic to the level it impacts musical program.

I understand these "what is best" questions come from the dilemma of being unable to buy a bunch of expensive cables/amps/streamers and compare them. So, it seems natural to ask others, "Which should I buy?" It would be great to have a Consumer Reports that compares fridges, dishwashers, amps, and interconnects. But there will never be an audiophile version of Consumer Reports because your ears are different from everyone else's, your tastes are different, and a component sounds different in different setups. So, the best thing you can do is buy from a company that doesn't charge a lot to return their products. I wish audio conventions could give you the comparisons you wish but they won't unless you lug your gear into the convention hall with you. :-) 

@oldaudiophile … From the NYT article: ”So given the assumption that there can only be a truly minor difference with speaker cables and the desire to get something inexpensive (but good) from a recognizable source and from a company I’d heard of, I narrowed to potential picks: AmazonBasics’s 16 gauge ($6.95, $0.14/foot), Monoprice’s 2747 12 gauge ($14.68, $0.29/ft), Monoprice’s 2748 14 gauge ($12.87, $0.26/ft), Pyle’s PSC1250 12 gauge ($14, $0.28/ft), Pyle’s PSC1450 ($11, $0.22/ft), and RCA’s AH1450SR 14 gauge ($11.42, $0.23).”

Sorry but this is not a valuable source. This is simply a review of a bunch of cheap cables with reference to a couple of electrical characteristics. Of no value to someone serious about high quality sound reproduction.

I'm anxious to try the Raven Sonoquil speaker cables.

LCR is spatially variable.  To some degree, LCR is also dependent on the input stimulus.  To say LCR per foot is just too much of a blasphemy.  

^^^ ¿Que?

Are you saying LCR change dynamically with program?

Which all distill down to LCR and R is mostly irrelevant

The problem these are all variable.  They are not constant.

The most important variables are: length, guage and quality of conductors & manufacture.

Which all distill down to LCR and R is mostly irrelevant.

Erastof, if you are interested in an objective or more science-based approach to this question, check this out:

The Best Speaker Cable | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)

Excerpt from your URL "In our first round of testing we had a ringer: an uber-expensive “high-end” speaker cable. These don’t come in 50-foot spools, but if they did, they would cost $600."

Enough said.

Audioquest type 4. Buy at audio advisor, no frills option. They do an excellent job at termination. You can pick spades or bananas or combo of each and at any length you may require. A top affordable speaker cable in stereophile magazine for decades now. You cannot go wrong for the price. I run two cables (4m) per speaker, a bi-wire configuration. To me, they are all I need and sound terrific. 

Erastof, if you are interested in an objective or more science-based approach to this question, check this out:

The Best Speaker Cable | Reviews by Wirecutter (nytimes.com)

This article contains links to other articles on this question, including electrical testing or measurements on conductivity and blind testing performed under controlled conditions on speaker cable ranging in price from less than $100 to mucho dinero! There are also links to questions regarding optical, digital coaxial and other types of cables and/or interconnects. As others here have already pointed out, there is no such thing as "the best" speaker cable. If you have GREAT or very acute hearing you may be able (and that's a BIG MAYBE) to detect or sense or convince yourself you can, indeed, hear  tiny differences in different bands of cable but not "better", per se. The most important variables are:  length, guage and quality of conductors & manufacture.

The "best sounding" speaker cables are ones that work well with your system.

Which ones are those?

You'll have to figure that out yourself.
I can however suggestion working with a company that offers in home trial periods.