Speaker Cables? why all the hype for expensive speaker wire?

Nope because the Astronomers can prove with science what they see. 

Ok genius, you see a light in the sky, I don’t. Prove to me “scientifically” you’ve seen it. 

" I wonder if the astronomy folks get the same anger from their visually impaired members?   "
 Nope because the Astronomers can prove with science what they see.

" Wow, now that’s a heaping bowl of word salad! "

  Well in an alternative universe my doppelganger writes clap trap for fine audio gear. Sometimes we have a partial mind meld.
  By the way, inquiring minds want to know why you left the word solipsism out of your quote

A shout out to Peter at The Cable Co. for the guidance and recommendations.

...ah, yeah, we need names here.  I upgraded to Synergistic Research Foundation cables for speakers and for power to Golden Ear Triton One speakers with powered subs from standard Transparent 12-2 cables with bricks at the speaker end.

I have no dog in this fight (debate), but I'll simply say that, in my recent experience, a change in cables in my system has been transformative by every measurable listening metric:  range, soundstage, imaging, etc.  We are very active listeners, virtually daily, so we are very tuned into to the sonic dynamics we've come to expect from our 2-channel system for the last four+ years from our originally installed (reputable) cables.  Our recent upgrade to new speaker and power cables has been the qualitatively best investment we could have made.  In short, I now know that cables matter!

@mikelavigne

i have my most expensive cables for my phono cables and phono preamp; that is where i find the best ROI and the biggest 

Thanks for the tip Mike.  I had my speaker cables sorted out, mostly determined my interconnects and Ethernet cable targets, guess I’ll have to determine and budget for phono cables…sigh…

"After listening to many speaker cables, I am listening to basic 14 Gauge, high purity copper speaker wire and find myself shaking my head.  Does this basic speaker wire sound better than cables many times the price?  I am really starting to ponder that question.  I think I am hearing things on my records I never heard before and better balance of sound.  What are your thoughts?"

Perception is reality.  It is inevitable that some type of expectation exist prior to the experiment.  If you felt like 14 gauge wire from Parts Express might sound better than 14 gauge wire from Home Depot, it will.  Audiophilia is a kind of religion.  All it takes is faith.

You hear what you hear when i first started in the hobby i could not tell the difference due to gear and speakers but as my system got better and i had logged more hours of listening i definitely could hear the difference that better wire made.

I have the Pinetree Audio Kinietic Bi Wire 9AWG stranded pure copper c/w locking banana connectors, 10 foot length  12 feet was $125 USD
Excellent build quality, and most importantly they look really cool!!

How else will they ever sell?

It is a sort of religious cult where the secret keys to the audio kingdom are possessed by oracular golden ear pontiffs who disdain the idea of blind tests because mere science and physics can't hear what the "educated golden ear" can. Solipsism.

I wonder if the astronomy folks get the same anger from their visually impaired members?   

If you believe you hear it, fine.
But don’t lay your alleged superiority on all the rest of us.

I have a much better idea. How about the hearing impaired not frequenting an audiophile forum?

Sparing your feelings isn’t a valid reason to dumb down the forum. 

@millercarbon where are you located? I would love to come by for a listen!

bigkidz-Sorry, only just now noticed your question.  

I am just east of Seattle in Redmond. A long trip to be sure but worth it, we have one from NH and another from TX coming in August. Krissy and Rick, both of whom have contributed greatly to the wonderful sound we have been able to achieve here. They are each bringing some things, and together with what we already have on hand it is sure to be an ambitious few days of critical listening. You are welcome to join us. Or for a more relaxed experience with everything nicely settled in you are welcome any time. 

Wow cleeds you are right, that really is a heaping bowl of word salad! Plebian! He threw "plebian" in there! "Oracular golden ear pontiffs"! Shouldn't it be "oracular golden eared pontiffs"? Either way, I resemble that remark!

Still ANOTHER vote for the Fidelium.
Guess my ears are defective.......

I've always paid special attention to anyone that calls me an idiot, that's always a good start. Couple that with a strong opinion on what I should or should not do with my own money, obviously a winning combo.

mahlman

... If you could toss a vibrant word salad with the same ingredients and taste qualities as the plebian described one, and you could convince people to spend 100 times more for the privilege of digesting your words, why not ...
 It is a sort of religious cult where the secret keys to the audio kingdom are possessed by oracular golden ear pontiffs who disdain the idea of blind tests ...

Wow, now that's a heaping bowl of word salad!

I think there are two issues, taste and science.
Taste is subjective like in comparing a Guarani to a Stradivarius violin, musicians have their preference as to sound. Maybe same with cables and if you like one cable does not mean others have to feel the same and vice versa.

Science is lacking if the user is not comparing cables without knowledge as to what cable one is listening to in making a preference.

Oh boy.....another cable thread!
63 responses in, and the only clarity is that once again there is no clarity.....shocker!
Listen to your system, buy some cables if you want, or buy a bicycle.
Either way, don't forget to enjoy the music, and stay safe on the road.

Easy to answer. If you could toss a vibrant word salad with the same ingredients and taste qualities as the plebian described one, and you could convince people to spend 100 times more for the privilege of digesting your words, why not. There are tons of products and people who buy on hype but would run like scared chickens if a true blind test was available.
 It is a sort of religious cult where the secret keys to the audio kingdom are possessed by oracular golden ear pontiffs who disdain the idea of blind tests because mere science and physics can't hear what the "educated golden ear" can. Solipsism.

Now, what I've just stated is an hypothesis. It should be testable. Meanwhile, Blue Jeans Cable represents roughly the point of diminishing returns for me (at $1.90/ft. for Canare 4S11, 14 AWG, unterminated speaker cable). More power to you if you can hear an improvement from a much more expensive cable with the same length and gauge as well as correct, equally secure connections

Now I will agree as I have conducted with experiment using my Moon 600vi and SF Olympica Nova 3. Using Transparent Cable Gen 5, Raven Audio Soniquil Cable and Blu Jeans 4S11.

all properly burnt or run in and then switched out cables and at no time did any of these cables diminish the sound quality or out right out perform the other,  to point of saying cable X is a giant killer or cable Y was worth the $800.00 more it cost.

I think if it works for than use it and if $5000 cables make you feel good then buy them.

“@millercarbon where are you located? I would love to come by for a listen!”

Follow The Yellow Brick Road....Follow The Yellow Brick Road

As I see it, about all that should matter very much is the length, the gauge, and having a good secure termination. However, when people swap cables, they invariably introduce some collateral change. For example they tighten a connection that was loose or they eliminate RFI simply by rearranging the wires. Then they attribute the SQ difference entirely to their new, expensive cables.  

Now, what I've just stated is an hypothesis. It should be testable.  Meanwhile, Blue Jeans Cable represents roughly the point of diminishing returns for me (at $1.90/ft. for Canare 4S11, 14 AWG, unterminated speaker cable). More power to you if you can hear an improvement from a much more expensive cable with the same length and gauge as well as correct, equally secure connections. 

Lptocd - yes, active speakers is one way to go. Not always, though. I did an experiment the other day. The 'master' speaker of my Elac AM 50 no longer drives the 'slave' speaker.  I wondered if the slave was broken, and connected it to my main amp, Atmasphere MA-1. It worked OK. And not only did it work OK, but it sounded *amazingly* much better than I have ever heard it driven by the amp in the master speaker. Of course the MA-1 amp is in another league. Even so, I was surprised. And this was even with a short lamp cord, to the speaker!

Moral; if you go for active speakers, the quality of the amplification (not just the speakers themselves) means a lot. Check the passive speaker driven by a good amp - then you will know if the internal amp is good enough to match the best the speakers can do.

I like my audioquest type 4's...they were not expensive and sound great to me. I use two pairs as I bi-wire. They have been a favorite for years at stereophile. If I had my way, I'd buy two pairs of auditorium 23's....however, that would set me back 3k. 

Don't waste money. Get decent quality cables and play your tunes. Blue Jeans Cable is economical and very good quality for us mere mortals.

Can’t beat lamp cord. 

Different sounding isn't always the same as better sounding, or more detailed, or... etc. Expectation bias expecting differences doesn't guarantee superiority, it just means not the same as what it's replacing.

If you believe you hear it, fine.
But don't lay your alleged superiority on all the rest of us.

Really. Look, rather than spending ridiculous money on an intrinsically dubious item, invest that money in top quality active speakers. Then run any decent professional quality balanced cables to those speakers. I promise you that you’ll never look back. For several reasons, modern active speakers almost always give one significantly more "bang for the buck." Part of that is because they require significantly less gear (no amp or fancy speaker cables) as well as much less fiddling and fooling around. Then spend the time and money you save enjoying the music. Or is that not what this is all about?

How times have changed … now it’s the deaf who call the folks with perfect hearing dumb. 😂🤣

It’s Amazing That there can be such a controversy on the price of cables and then inevitably ends up to what you may or may not hear as a difference. it’s a lot of BS, and rather insulting. I’ve been privy to experimentation and now use equal length good quality 12 gauge sometimes referred to as lamp cord by the demeaning Stupid !! My system is large, powerful, in a well set up Studio. There have been many a seasoned well trained listener with few negative opinions. I hate crap, cheep, Gimmicks, Snake oil, and BS. 

Sorry guys my mistake that's the silversmith fidelium cables.

Got a scoop for all you guys on here, go check out silversmith filadium ribbon wire speaker cables, these things have gone up against cables up to $29,000 and beat them, check out what Greg Weaver has to say about them. And they're only $1,195 for 8 ft pair.

My thoughts are ; there is no point in spending money on anything if you cannot hear an improvement. If $5 cables sound as good as $5,000 cables to you, stick with the $5 cables. 

+1 mglik: the Fideliums were probably the best single upgrade I made, and comparable to the improvement in jumping to a LTA zotl amp.

Terms like "expensive" and "basic" how relative, but I can give my experience.

For years I just use the basic Amazon speaker wire for all my stuff because it was nice and cheap. Then I got some tinned copper speaker wire from Jupiter condenser. To say that it was more detailed is to give a false impression. It was much more rich in all the microdynamics of all the individual instruments. Made the music so much more engaging. The kind of engagement which makes you forget about your gear and simply enjoy the music. Absolutely lovely. 

Isn’t that the same stuff Nelson Pass uses in his videos?

Someone hit the nail right on the head a few answers in. If noise is gonna enter any system, it will be on the input side of your system. As a club DJ Audio Video engineer of some 40 years now, I often laugh at the specs quoted by companies. I use high quality RCA cables to connect components to my amplifier which is a Primaluna Dialogue HP Integrated Valve driven amplifier. For the Phone stage I use a Cambridge MM pre-amplifier and my turntable is a brand new Technics SL1200 MK2 fitted with an Ortofon cartridge. To put things in perspective, I turn everything on and with everything at idle, I turn up the amplifier flat out. All I hear is a tiny bit of hiss. Naturally I'm hardly gonna play some vinyl at that level. I can't get much past the 10.o.clock position before it becomes painfully loud. I use 4 gauge high quality speaker cable on all the systems I own and any noise that occurs is never on the output side. If you wanna spend 30 K on speaker cable, it's your wallet, not mine. My CD player is a Pioneer CDJ and sounds wonderful using  its on board DAC. Just remember that the shorter any cable you use the better. Cheers. 

DIY cables!  Let's twist again, like we did last summer.....*ouch*g*

'Expectation bias'....well, no more than listening to different wired by different playing into different....

To NOT expect a 'difference' and Not be 'rewarded'.....

...what's left of a mind boggles....;)

I think better speaker cables matter. Maybe not as much as your power cables do.

I just bought Townshend F-1 Fractal speaker cables. Should get here in 2 weeks. Big upgrade from my Straight Wire Crescendo’s.

I was thinking about upgrading my speaker cables for awhile but couldn't pull the trigger as I could differentiate them. But the Fractals are a different ballgame.

This cables all sound the same BS comes up so regularly you can set your clock by it. 

"Expectation bias, if you expect to hear something you will."

Oh gee patrickorlando! Did you make that up all by yourself?
It's been said many times, and it sounds good, but it's not usually true for several reasons, the most important being that cables do sound different, and some better (to a given listener in his system) than others.

This 14 gauge wire does not seem to embellish anything.  lol

Why is that funny?

To me it’s all relative to the system! Why would you buy 30k speakers and then want to cheap out on the speaker cable and claim that it doesn’t make a difference! It obviously does or it wouldn’t matter on the quality of wire inside that 30k speaker imho!😎🎶

Well, different cables may sometimes *sound* different, but "do they sound better" is a separate question. If one has just spent mega-bucks on a length of wire one is going to be strongly inclined to *think* they sound better. In any case, de gustibus...

Expectation bias, if you expect to hear something you will.