Speaker cables with good timbre


As the title says, i would like to hear recommendations on a pair of speaker cables, copper, that have a very good midrange, imaging and truth of timbre or faithful reproduction of instrument sound. As i get older i started to realize i value those characteristics the most when i listen to recorded music. Thank you in advance.

128x128audiogabby

I highly recommend Belden 5T00UP 10AWG speaker cable. Transparent, nice details in high and low notes. I diy it with Nakamichi banana plugs. BJC uses them too but you save about 50% with diy. Just a quick comparison on the critical parameters here with another DIY cable mentioned above:

- CHeLA OCC, 11 AWG, capacitance (230 pF/?), DCR (0.00135 ohm/ft). $43/ft.

- Belden 5T00UP BC, 10 AWG, capacitance (26 pF/ft), DCR (0.00103 ohm/ft), $1.89/ft, twisted geometry.

Although CHeLA uses OCC, its capacitance is much higher (despite the unit length) compared to Belden. Note again, high capacitance in speaker cables can negatively affect audio quality by attenuating high-frequency signals and resulting in a loos of treble details and clarity.  Both have reasonably low DCR (note that you want to stay under 0.01 ohms for speaker cable resistance in general). Part of the high unit cost stems from three factors: (1) copper material purity (OCC: ≥99.99% vs. BC: 99.9%); (2) OCC’s larger, more linear crystals; and (3) CHeLA being shielded, whereas the Belden 5T00UP is unshielded. Whether the significant price difference for copper purity, longer copper crystals, and shielding (which is unnecessary for speaker cables) is worth it is ultimately up to you.