Please tutor me on some integrated amp basics.

skyscraper,

I would not be capable of selling a sandwich to a starving billionaire. However, when it comes to speaker wire designs, I have extensive experience. Lamp cord got me through my teenage years and a decade more. I enjoyed it anyway. I am more sophisticated now. At least I pretend I am.

I have nothing against prices of cables being whatever someone wants to pay for them, but selling them does seem like a good business. I wonder how many cables are actually sold yearly. It cannot be too many. To sustain so many manufacturers/sellers, it must be a nice profit margin. I think that is what irritates many opponents. I could not construct a cable myself, short of buying a lamp wire and screwing it in a banana plug, so I have to pay. It is acceptable to me, at least to some extent.

"...he's got..."

I have nothing against it, but it seems that selling cables is a lucrative job. No wonder there is such a competition. At the same time, no wonder that doubters feel it is a highway robbery. Just looking at the business side of cables, not their perceived audible performances.

skyscraper,

As a little entertainment and, I guess, reality reminder, here is the end of your original post...

"Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out the cabling nightmare yet. Thanks for any help."

It went down quite fast. Now, it is on you to decide when you have had enough fun with all of this. Unusual thing about this thread is that everyone is actually trying to help you. Other threads that mention cables in any sense are not this peaceful.

Speaking of cable esoterica and mounting spades in the kitchen vs. factory (how big is the Audioquest factory, by the way?), it is definitely a mystery. I am surprised to read names of all these companies, even only on this thread. Where are they all popping from? How many of them? And their websites seem nicely done and pictures of cables look like everything is actually made with some decent quality and the prices are anything but trivial, even for "cheaper" ones. Their descriptions seem very smart. It appears we need a lifetime or two to pick "the right one". I would feel like a Buridan’s donkey, if I started to be truly invested in it so I am simply waiting for you to make a pick. I forgot why, but at some point I decided something was wrong with Audioquest as a company so I am hoping you will not pick them.

Have fun and remember, it is ok to quit once it is not fun anymore.

"Any thoughts on whether those home brewed Audioquest Rocket 88’s from Audio Advisor might be the same quality as the regular priced ones that come from Audioquest with factory installed spades."

How hard can it be to mount spades? I suspect that Audioquest has someone who does that work wherever their product is finished while Audio Advisor has a different guy doing it in his kitchen, sort of. Could the process really be that much different? It may be different spades, of course, and then the importance will depend on what side of the "believer vs. non-believer" argument you and up falling. I would not be surprised if "full Audioquest" cables get a little more marketing/treatment but, again, importance of it will depend where you want to draw the line of promised improvement. My advice, again, hide the PIN to your bank account once you start spending too much time thinking of this. Hide it from yourself, I mean,

ieales,

I liked the movie, thought the song was cute, but was unaware of other details. It might have been because of the chills at that time as I do remember eyes. Children were not close to the list of desires, though.I will listen more carefully next time. Now I really wonder how many copies they sold.

shkong78,

"...more focus and details with fast sound..."

Is there any way to describe "fast sound" a little better? I get details, I am trying to get focus, but "fast sound" is simply escaping me. I see that written every now and then and this is the first time I asked. Sorry.

"Been to shows as exhibitor many times...…...My impression is people generally have no idea what the heck they’re listening to.

Hotel California and Diana Krall.

ieales,

My copy of Don Juan De Marco is the original one from whenever the movie came out. I have not heard it almost since then and was surprised to find out there is another person in the world who bought it, too. What is your excuse? I did play it last night and, in fact, enjoyed it. Mostly because of nostalgic value, memories etc.

ieales,

"Don Juan DeMarco - Soundtrack - A&M"

Wow! I thought I bought the only copy.

It depends on the wood they are made of and how it was cut.

"OK, it’s better than coat hangers..."

People often, me included, mention wire hangers and I wonder has anyone ever actually tried that. I do not have any but, once I lay my hands on a few, I may give it a try. Is there anything irreversible that could happen to amplifier or speakers?

People tend to prefer spades as "audiophile" for some reason. I am yet to meet a screw that does not get unscrewed over time so I would constantly be thinking it is loose back there and needs to be screwed tighter. Sticking it in and leaving seems easier. Well, all of this may come across as a bad joke, but I am actually talking about speaker wires.

Also, no experience on my part, I read that some amplifiers do not take some spades. Spades are too big or amplifier connectors too crowded, something like that. Luxman does have a generous space back there and, if I remember correctly, they even brag in their promo material what size of spades it can take. I guess they would not be mentioning it if it were not more than others.

I would also like to read about those Luxman cables jafant mentioned.

skyscraper,

They are not giving them away. Luxman pricelist (April 2018) has them as...

JPS-15000

15000 Series Speaker Cable, 3.0m
Highly Pure 7N DUCC* Copper,
Newly Developed Y-lug Connectors,
User-adjustable Branch Length,
Non-twisted Core Structure, Nonmagnetic
Carbon Pigment. (1 Pair)
Vivid Blue
$3495

*DUCC (Dia Ultra Crystallized Copper) is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Cable Ind., Ltd.

I wonder if they would have different lengths. I guess they do not have bananas which I prefer (don't ask why, I am not sure myself).

iaeles,

"Back in the 80’s, we found that dielectric and geometry trumped metallurgy..."

You might have mentioned earlier and I missed it but does above mean you are in some way associated with cable research/manufacturing/etc.? Whatever it is, it gives you at least thirty years of experience, it seems.

One of the brands mentioned a couple of posts earlier (Audio Sensitivity) has nice diagrams of their cables with labels for each part. Does anyone know what is special about "unbleached pure cotton" when placed in an audio cable? Is there a theory behind that? I am afraid to ask on one of the cable threads, I would like to get to #106, too.

skyscraper,

Make sure you let us know once you make your choice. As things are now, I may follow your pick and..."I'll have what he is having". I am not kidding at all. And the sound? What the heck, it will be just fine for the Internet radio.

I will keep mum about the cables I have not heard, which is pretty much all of them. It is the concept I do talk about.

Unexpected names are part of the marketing. That is the easy part. However, once you start reading about suggestions what else you should spend money on to improve the sound, brace for impact and keep the PIN for your bank account safely with someone else. Cables are bread and butter stuff and, comparatively, not even that expensive.

I am not sure if speaker manufacturers have different approaches to cables but, for whatever it is worth, Revel mentions it in instruction manual in very simple terms. They give way more details about speaker placement than wire. Resistance/gauge and that is all.

"Use high-quality loudspeaker cable with a maximum total loop resistance of 0.07 ohms or less for each wire run. Refer to the table below to determine the appropriate wire gauge for your installation.

NOTE: High loop resistances that exceed 0.07 ohms (for each wire run) will cause the loudspeaker’s filter network to be misterminated, resulting in considerable degradation of sound quality."

I also did not get the feeling he wanted to go to a great length about cables so I suggested a shortcut, provided it is within his budget.

If the power is really unstable, that may be a problem, too. Now how unstable is unstable enough to do something about it is on someone else to chime in. Someone other than power conditioner manufacturer, that is.

Everything can count in the end, but for someone just wanting to listen to music in decent quality, it is hard to miss it completely with a collection of good components. He is certainly on the right track.

Yes, it is really a wild card and on him to decide how far he wants to go with it. There are many approaches and none may be superior to the other one. I have a hard time believing that with his set up, which is quite a fine one, cables would be a dealbreaker of any sort. Everything in the chain seems to be really good.

True, some think of cables as components, which they, just like anything in the signal path, practically are. Still, it comes to those who believe they can achieve some impact with them as opposed to the first group who thinks that cables are just, more or less, inert wire. Considering cables as components is much better description of the second group I mentioned. I would not dismiss hearing of people in any of the groups just because they do not agree with what I hear.

My suggestion for skyscraper’s cables was not about what Magico demos speakers with, but rather what he heard the speakers he liked with. The test was done and it would be the simplest way to get as close as he wanted to what he liked. After a long search, and it seems it would be an inconvenient one for him given the location, he may find something even better but he said he has only 40 years to accomplish it so time is also of concern when looking for the best cable for his situation. Following all the instructions from the cable experts, he would need a few months of burn-in, or additional expense of burn-in equipment, for each cable and he would need to try many. By the time he tries cable # 106, memory of cable #66 will be long gone.

 Of course, playing with these things is valuable, too. What else would a man spend his energy on than searching for the Holy Grail of cables for the rest of his life. And just when he finds it, a few years from now, capacitors in his amplifier will change just slightly so and match from Heaven will not be match from Heaven anymore.

skyscraper,

You bought Magicos because you liked their sound there. Why don't you ask what cables they used during your demo? If cables actually do make a difference, those are the cables you want. If they are within your price range, it is the end of the cable road for you and you can consider yourself lucky.

skyscraper,

You might have noticed that, when it comes to cables, there are two large groups.

One considers cables as a Heaven's answer to, more or less, everything although, once you read their reports, they are really using them as tone controls. It may not be that bad of an idea for those who do not own your amplifier. Your set-up is simpler to manage, though.

Second group does not believe in absolutely anything that has anything to do with cables. They barely accept that cables transmit signal, it seems, and stop short of claiming that wire hangers are just fine.

These two groups are two parallel worlds that, on occasions, throw all the verbal ammunition they have at each other. Not much to learn there. You will read some of the statements in disbelief.

You seem to be the kind that will end up in the third, probably the smallest, group which believes there may be something to cables but does not believe they are all that matters and leaves mind open that either group may actually have some point. We will see where you settle.

I am in that third group, probably because I do not have particular enjoyment constantly chasing some sound, etc. My balanced (XLR)interconnects are Shunyata Venom. They are the cheapest that Shunyata makes. The main reason for choosing them was that they look like they mean business while being the least expensive out there. They replaced some much cheaper ($15-20) cables. I have had them for months so, if the burn-in actually exists, it should be settled. The difference in sound is about none. If Spanish Inquisition knocked on my door and I really had to pick one, I would probably have to admit that cheaper ones are slightly better. Someone might say that it depends on matching, but someone else may say it is not the case.

My speaker cables are Monster from 1994 ($30 for more length than I have ever needed). I have never directly compared them to anything else so I cannot comment much. Still, they must be transmitting the signal as I have noticed differences when changing any other component. I am following these threads to get some idea and google whatever people mention until I get to some cable that fulfills my criteria (pleasing to the eye, available in the length I need, and works/transmits signal). No luck so far although Zavfino cables came close. They even say they offer different lengths but it is not that clear how to order it.

It may not matter to you, but it is worth mentioning that some of the more expensive cables are not that flexible. It may become a bit of a practical issue, in case you have some angles or tighter places to navigate them through. Luckily, many seem to be so thin that I wonder where the wire actually is.

skyscraper,

I just realized you are the OP from the DC speaker road trip. I will go back to that thread to see how it went. The spoiler is that now I know what speakers you got.

skyscraper,

It is probably better that you keep the discussion about cables you need here and take a peek at other cable threads from time to time. Here you have a thread about, more or less, building your system and someone may come and give real advice or opinion with names and models they suggest. Cable threads are less useful in that way. They are more about arguing theory vs. practice but nothing practically useful. They are interesting in their own way but nothing you could use at the stage you seem to be at, I think. They get quite energetic at times. Approach at your own risk.

How did the thread with this title end up being a discussion about cables? OP asked many questions and explicitly said he was not dealing with cables (yet).

There are cable threads out there where anything goes. Well, if OP does not mind it here...