Can cables of any cost and quality provide bass response missing in my B&W speakers?


I'm sure variants of this question have been offered previously, but let me ask in light of the following:  I have a very modest main system powered by an Adcom 555II amp, Adcom GFP-750 pre-amp, and run into a pair of B&W CM-4 speakers (6.5in woofer, 6.5in. woofer/mid. and tweeter, and bi-wireable).  Any music with a moderate-to- heavy bass component (organ, bass fiddle, etc) just doesn't translate to my ear.  I'm using a mid-range pair of Monster cables, and in fact tried a second pair of Z-Series to no audible difference.  On the other hand I have a legacy pair of a/d/s 1090L tower speakers (2x7.5in woofers, 6in. mid-range, tweeter) that deliver thundering bass when needed regardless of cabling used, and powered by the same system.  Even tried passive bi-amping for the B&Ws by using an old Carver M-500t amp for HF input, and Adcom amp for LF input...no diff.  Is there any point really in looking at higher-end speaker wire of, e.g., thicker gauge, or exotic geometry, or multi-conductor "shotgunning", whatever, in order to induce greater LF response from the CM-4s?  Thanks for your patience.
compass_rose

Showing 5 responses by auxinput

Uhm, your B&W speaker's bass response is going to be a limitation on the design of the woofer (i.e. xmax, free air resonance, etc.) as well as the design of the cabinet/port.  That being said, you can get stronger bass when you use speaker wire with larger solid-core conductors.  You could try looking for some older Audioquest Midnight speaker cable.  This is often available on ebay or usaudiomart. 

http://www.audioquest.com/archives/speaker_cables/spiraled_hyperlitz/images/midnight_c.jpg

The Midnight is a 10awg cable and uses three 17awg conductors for each leg and has very strong bass transmission.  Alternatively, you could also try something like Audioquest Type 8 if you want something newer.  Type 8 may give you better resolution overall, but maybe not quite as strong bass.

@compass_rose - my point is not really to just get a larger cable.  It's to look for solid-core conductors.  I had a Beldon 5T00UP speaker cable, which is a larger 10awg cable, but it used a stranded bundle of copper.  When I switched to the Audioquest Midnight, which is also a 10awg cable (but used large individual solid-core conductors), I had a significant increase in bass power, definition and quality.

In response to the idea of using 10/2 romex, there are one or two companies that are doing very large awg solid-core speaker cable like this.  However, in my testing, I have found that the awg of the solid core will dictate the frequency response.  Smaller conductors (such as 22awg) will transfer high frequencies but not low.  Larger conductors will transfer low frequency waveforms well, but not higher frequencies.  When I tested using conductors down to 18awg and 16awg, I found a roll-off of high frequency response.  It become very "low fidelity" and I also found that there was a boominess or "blare" in the lower midrange.  (solid-core silver may be different, but then again, silver has it's own problems).

If you look at the Audioquest Midnight, you can see that it uses a combination of 3x17awg, 2x19awg and 2x21awg conductors to support the full frequency range.  The Type 8 uses four different conductors (16/18/19/20) to support the frequency range.

One note, if you get the Type 8, I would not recommend doing a bi-wire configuration because you are splitting off two of the conductors away from the woofers.  With this cable and your speakers, you want as much conductor for the woofers as possible.  You could, however, get two sets of Type 8 speaker wire and use one set for the lower/woofers and the second set for the mids/highs.

I have read a lot of "raves" about the Duelund 16awg.  I did take a look at it.  It uses oil/silk fabric wrap, which is excellent for dielectric, but it's still just stranded copper.  I haven't tried it, but I would suspect that I would still like the Audioquest Type 8 better than the Duelund.  I have used very expensive OCC copper STRANDED Furutech cabling, and it still doesn't sound as good as low end solid-core (it just doesn't sound right in my opinion).

kost - please don't enflame this conversation as you have done with many other conversations.  We have already determined and stated that bass is a limitation of the speaker's woofer characteristics and box design.  OP is simply asking if there is any way cables can improve things.  While I agree that cable has somewhat of a limited effect here, it can make the existing bass signals a bit stronger.

roberjerman - see my statement.  Obviously, as stated before, OP speaker is limited on woofer/cabinet design.

Just so that you know, I took a look at the Furez cable and they do not seem to be anything more than just normal stranded 12awg conductors.  It does use foamed polyethylene insulation, which will be a much better coating than plastic/PVC of the monster cable or monoprice stuff.  It may be sounding better, but I would not expect a whole lot.  I just replaced another system with Audioquest rocket cables and it also made a significant improvement.  Nothing really compares to solid-core conductors in my experience, even the radically expensive Furutech OCC copper stranded still doesn't sound quite as solid and natural as cheaper solid-core.