Entry-level speaker cables

What cable did you decide on Jeddythree?

I think there's a point where you start assuming the cables you've assembled are working. You can then stop thinking about them (except wondering when to clean the contacts), and start worrying about needle age, running thick copper wires from your AC plugs directly to a nuclear plant, and having your speakers veneered with Bubinga. I trained some rare African cockroaches to take turns lying on their backs holding up my speaker wires on their tiny feet...took a while, but totally worth it.

Analysis Plus Oval 12 or Oval 9 is really good for the $$.

dnm dnm dnm dnm dnm dnm

Mogami

A fave cable score is a used but new condition AQ VDM5 solid silver S/PDIF cable I bought for peanuts...not sure if it sounds any better than other stuff...hard to tell, and I've tried! (digital cable comparisons...not easy)...but it's silver, heavy, and has groovy RCAs, so there's that.

My "per foot" comment was innacurate and should be ignored (8tc is not AQ Type 8), but the purchase still lacks shabbiness.

Note that after messing around with spades, bananas, Speakon's, guitar phone plugs (which actually do go back to old telephone switchboards...lame!), and otherwise burning fingers and things with soldering devices, I found that the AQ spades and bananas (non solder user friendly ones) are great...easy to find, not too pricey, and well made.

Wolf Garcia,

I have the Type 4 and Neotech 3001 IC on my vintage tuner and I too like the solid core everywhere approach - very nice

also, fwiw,

I do not necessarily believe the Type 4 is inferior to 8TC or Satori. I have owned all 3, not at the same time, and the Type 4 has a direct quality that is appealing. I thought the 8TC was anemic and the Satori thick.

of course ymmv

"Based on the $25 per foot calculation, I saved $340 (68%) on my used type 8 pair. Not too shabby."

Always good to buy used-makes sense. However, even at $8 foot for used 8TC it's almost 3X the price of the 3103. And the Kimber Postmaster spades are hideously overpriced IMO.

I bought the Mogami as a bit of a cheap experiment after having excellent results with some of their other cable.

My 8TC was probably 15-20 years old and I can't actually recall what I paid for it-it probably didn't owe me much. When I did sell it after the Mogami outperformed it the net result was I had about an extra $100 in my pocket. I thought that was not too shabby. ;)

Based on the $25 per foot calculation, I saved $340 (68%) on my used type 8 pair. Not too shabby.

Mogami 3103 terminated with Vampire high copper content spades. Cryo it and burn it in post cryo and it gets even better.

I preferred it to my Kimber 8TC (also cryoed and burned in on the Nordost cooker) and ended up selling the Kimber.

The 8TC retails at $25 ft., the Mogami around $2.75.

The Mogami is mentioned a couple of times at the bottom the page on Salvatore's site linked below:

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-SpkrCab.html

Acoustic Zen Satoris are really nice if you are looking used. Nice detail with very good tonality and soundstaging. If you need new I'd look at Grover Huffman or the Canare recommended earlier. Best of luck.

OK, Mtrot. Thanks. The entry level IC's aren't shabby.

Stick with your current wire and save up for some Harmonic Technology Pro-11 or Pro-9 ($300-$500).
I've been using Pro-9 for more than ten years and love it.

@ Arnettpartners

I am using a set of Morrow SP2 for the high frequency run of my bi-wire setup. Make sure and order them "nude" and when you connect them, make sure to have as much of the cable in contact with the binding posts on the amp and speaker as possible.

I will say, these are pretty impressive in the areas of clarity, soundstage, imaging, and quality of vocals and instruments. Just very nice overall.

I've used Type 4 also (and have MANY other AQ bits in my basement "cable museum", including a pair of old reddish cables packed with 16 individually wrapped stranded conductors and thick as a garden hose) and think they're great. I'm into the "solid core everywhere" sound these days and AQ has lots of that to go around so now my rig looks like it's under attack from a bungee cord factory.

audioquest type 4 or canare/bluejeanscable.com

Whatever Bluejeans propose...
There's no need to spend more. Just cover them with techflex and they will look pretty too.

@Mtrot, JW Audio applies cryogenic treatment to them and that seems to make the difference. I heard the difference (if you search for JW Audio in forum chats you'll find that I'm not alone in my findings) and went for the change.
To my ears, there's a hint of aggressiveness and highs up-tilt in anti-cables that JW Audio doesn't have. Not huge, but enough to be noticed and make the change worthwhile. And JW Audio are cheaper today than the anti-cables too.

Another speaker cable I forgot to mention that I own and I think is really great is Signalcable Ultra.

What about intro Morrow? Anybody compared? I bought intro IC and now I get promo emails almost every day. Very irritating.

I have tried the Canare, Signal Cable, Audioquest and a couple of other entry level speaker cables. All of them have thier own qualities and limitations. You are probably going to get further up the food chain by purchasing used. If you want new my favorites lately have been the Black Cat neo Morpheus, a real bargain.

There are some options from Van den Jul that will fit your budget if you can find a dealer. The Clearwater is a great entry level and the CS - 122 Hybrid is an exceptional performer to step up to.

They are excellent quality and perform extremely well

See http://www.vandenhul.com/

Canare 4S11.

By the way...the 10' AQ Type 8s were less than 200 bucks used, and looked new.

Used cables are AWESOME...I scored a great sounding pair of AQ Type 8 from somebody for peanuts, as well as several pairs of great ICs here and there...you can sometimes get "demo" cables from high end shops also...consider them "pre broken-in."

Signal cable silver resolution is what I like. I've tried tara labs rsc prime, 10 guage blue jeans cable, audioquest rocket 44's and clear day double shotguns. Clear day was my favorite but too much money for me right now, followed by signal cable silver res, followed by blue jeans then tara the audioquest rocket 44's (audioquest rocket 44's were really rolled off in the highs and lows in my system, didn't like these cables at all) but then again, my brother is using audioquest cv4 (non dbs) and they sound good in his rig.

I recently called Audioadvisor and bought a pair of the Audioquest Type 8 A 8 foot pair for $201.00 and at that price it was 40% off. I'm not sure but I think it's the same price if you ask for the pair to be bi-wired. They can be ordered with spades or banana's. I think they are great and I can't how you can do much better at the price for a 8 conductor speaker cable. Best of luck to you.
If the other member above ( Philjolet ) bought the type 4 and likes them and you have $200.00 to spend think how much better the type 8 could be for you.

I recently bought some Audioquest Type 4 cable for $5 ft at Audio Advisor and am pleased by the balanced detailed and musical sound they provide

@ Mihaitaa, how are these JW Audio speaker cables different from Anti-cables? They look to be the same basic design to me.

JW Audio are shockingly good. And I'm not talking only "at their price point", but in general. Absolutely stunning value.
There is a return policy as well, thus you don't stand to lose almost anything.
Give them a try and you may find yourself not looking any further as far as speaker wire is concerned.
I, for one, have replaced AQ type 8 ( @ $500 for 10' pair) with Speltz cables and then moved up to JW Audio. There's no turning back, they're so darn good...

Timrhu is right. Try to find a good deal on a pair of Audioquest. The Type 6 will be perfect for what you need. Unless you need a very long run, you should be able to get something for a lot less than $200.

Signalcable is another choice. www.signalcable.com. Don't disagree with any of the above. Audioquest is always a good value IMO. I'm using Anticable by Paul Speltz. www.paulspeltz.com. I really like it but not everyone does.

Find an older pair of Audioquest cables on ebay. You can get one of their higher end cables at bargain prices. I have a pair of the Canare cables in my closet, they've been there for years.

Agreed. Canare 4S11. I run it on my he-man rig and couldn't be happier. It replaced some very expensive cable.

Canare 4S11, Excellent low cost wire order at bluejeanscable.com

Good Listening

Peter

For your budget, I recommend you try a pair of MAC Cables CuQ's. I've been running them now for around three years and still enjoy how they sound. I'm running them into a pair of Totem Mani-2's.