Try Black Cat
Excellent cables for the money.
Excellent cables for the money.
Need speaker cable
1. Buy used if you can. Speaker wire doesn't degrade. You'll likely want to upgrade again so buy a well known brand with good resale value. Here are some of the best within your budget. AudioQuest Rocket 11 AudioQuest Type 8 "No Frills" (it comes in a plastic bag) Kimber Kable 8TC - most expensive of the bunch but compatible with the best of the best Kimber Kable 4TC |
I would recommend QED SIGNATURE Genesis Silver Spiral. They are a little expensive when new, but you could get them for about $600 used for a pair. https://www.qed.co.uk/qed-genesis-silver-spiral-cable.html |
lwal2273 posts05-30-2020 5:14am"just did some research on the Canare 4S11. Looks in nearly every detail to be a Japanese knock off of Audioquest type 4...." Two very different cables.... Canare 4S11 = 4x14AWG, AQ Type 4 = 2x17AWG + 2x20AWG. |
Gentlemen - in my experience and I have a lot experience as an audiophile - I'm old :-( For what it's worth, I'm also an chemical engineer. First - a system has to be set up properly. MOST systems are not set up properly. Even most dealership showrooms are not set up well. Second - the quality of a system has to be at a level that is capable of revealing the differences in recordings (in addition to being set up properly). Third - cables make a drastic difference. I'm not going to explain the technical issues - I attempted to explain things a while ago and got criticized by many individuals. Rather than oppose those commenting, I apologized for creating the controversy and dismissed myself from the post. I'm also not going to make statements about a $1,000 amplifier and $500 in cables - each case is unique in many ways (equipment design, electrical power, equipment matching, etc). We have Pass XA-200.5's with Sasha I's and Meridian 800 digital components. I live in the central NJ area, anyone is welcome to visit and listen for themselves. Bring your cables - interconnects are long balanced runs but power cables and speaker cables are very significant as well. I would kindly ask that you post your experience so everyone would get your unbiased feedback. |
@andy2 , Sorry, you are mistaken. Canare is a Japanese made cable that almost every recording studio in the world uses to connect to the studio monitors. Blue Jean uses the Canare cables with a pretty sheath over them to dress them up and they cold weld their terminations. I bought mine from Ram Labs for half the price of the Blue Jeans that uses pure copper ferrules crimped on (sounds better so they say) to high quality locking Banana Plugs. |
I used to have Blue Jeans cable and interconnects and for the price I was generally satisfied. I then I bought some fairly basic QED cables for not that much more than what I paid for Blue Jeans, and there was a marked improvement in transparency and bass response. I think for affordable mid-fi, Canare or Blue Jean may be OK, but for proper hi-fi, I think you probably have to look for something else better. OP specifies a budget of $500, so I guess his system probably closer to hi-fi than mid-fi. |
I'll give you the benefit of my journey over the last 12 months. Note that I am using low power SET power amps and high efficiency horn speakers. Here was my journey: - Bluejeans Cable - Wireworld Mini Eclipse 8 - Wireworld Equinox 8 - Audioquest Rocket 44 - Cardas Clear Cygnus - Audience Ohno III - Nordost Red Dawn - Blackcat Coppertone - Blackcat 3232 - Grover Cable SX - Tempo Electric Pure Silver So here are my thoughts. (1) at the <$600 price level there isn't much difference in sound between the different companies / technologies / materials... with a couple exceptions. (2) at <$1000 there are definite differences that are easy to tell. (3) The cables that worked best in my system and were head and shoulders above the others were in order: 1) Grover Cable SX 2) Audience Ohno III 3) Tempo Electric Pure Silver I ended up keeping both the Grover SX and Tempo Pure Silvers. Hope this helps in some way. |
Didn't see a mention anywhere, but also for reasonably priced good sounding cables (wire) I got to give a shout out for AntiCables solid high quality cable in there various offerings. I'm running the basic 2.1 with bananas with very good result. A number of reviews out there. Definitely worth a look and right in the OP's price range. http://anticables.com/speaker-wires/2-channel |
I am using 12 gauge solid copper core cables.and really enjoying them. They're only 3' long, so that may come into play, as they are connected to two monoblocks very close to the speakers.Equipment used on backend: Krell EV 600 monoblocks and Wilson Maxx II's. I'm also not a member of the camp that believes speaker wire is directional. I'm sure I will get many negative remarks about these opinions. I always enjoy hearing other people's opinions. If you can actually hear a positive difference, then go for it. That's what it's all about. |
The latest Morrow cables were dramically upgraded since late spring 2019, rather then use stranded wire like most which create microarching between strands and eddy currents ,well documented ,morrow uses individually coated strands on the sp6 768then Litz twisted and Aaron cotton wrap and a nylon jacket . Cardas,Kimber, ad Wireworld have proven ,that’s why they don’t use stranded, breakin time is a solid 300 hours. 8 have the sp6 in one of my systems with their ma7 interconnects a very musical presentation with a bit of added natural warmth not enemic like many , I would buy them again . |