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Comparing Speaker Cables

I have accumulated several pairs of speaker cables that I have never tried to do careful A/B comparisons of because the time it takes to swap them is longer than my audio memory. But my speakers are bi-wired and it occurred to me that I could hook two different cables up and then only swap them at the amp which would be much faster. Is there any sonic downside to having a pair of unconnected cables hanging off one of the sets of inputs while the second set is connected to the amp?

pinwa

Showing 2 responses by mrklas

mrklas
441 posts
 

I don’t know.  And when I did comparisons using a few songs there differences where clear. And there was song variations based on dynamic range of music and number of sounds within a bar. 

mrklas
441 posts
 

I'm a bit fan of testing speaker cables.  I tested Canare 4S11 vs Rocket 33s vs Kimber 12TCs.  I liked the Canare 4S11 - there was mudiness in comparison with the Rocket 33s and there was harshness in treble at times for the 12TCs.  Ultimately, I auditioned Kimber Bifocals and they provided a large soundstage with beautiful clarity and resonance on bells, symbols and bass guitar with sharp and clear kickdrum and tom toms.

How much it depends on system and user I don't know.  And I had a friend listen as well and we were changing things who came to the same conclusion on the 12 TCs and the bifocals truly were obvious (the cost is the challenge)

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