I have a pair of 805 Diamonds with the stock jumpers in place.Has anybody replaced these with upgraded jumper wires and got better sound?Do you think it would make a noticeable improvement?Factory jumpers look pretty wimpy for expensive speakers.Thanks!
jumpers without replacing the internal wiring will do nothing
jumpers and replacing the internal wiring will do little
non 'wimpy' is only needed if you are moving a lot of current - even current hungry magneplanars need only banana connectors for adequate flow at the highest SPLs
if you have a need to tweek work on room treatments
I heard a definite difference when I replaced the stock jumpers on my Harbeths with Audience AU24 jumpers. In my case, it cleaned up and defined the bass much better. But in a different room or with a leaner amp, the stock jumpers may have worked better. So the answer is - aftermarket jumpers may sound different, but are they better? That's what listening is for. It's got to be in your home with your system if you really want to get it right.
I have the B@W Martrix 800 I replaced all of the stock jumpers (3 sets per speaker) with High Fidelity level 2 jumpers and improved the sound greatly. Before that i changed the stock jumpers for some older Transparent Ref. XL jumpers and only in the mid and tweeter did i get a small bump improvement. But with the High Fidelity level 2 jumpers it was a very good improvement across the board. Base was tighter mids and highs where much more detail, but relaxed sounding no hard edge. Room treatments are a big plus too. enjoy Pete
IMO; it's a crap shoot and could be very system and listener dependent. You have to try it for yourself and determine what sounds best. With that said, the vast majority of the time when I espermiented with different systems and speakers (although I have not listened to the 805 Diamonds) good quality speaker jumpers won the contest.
the engineers certainly know how to build great jumpers, but the manufacturer often doesn't want to add the cost, and figures you might change them anyway, so some are junk, some are decent...I prefer jumpers identical to my speaker cables...
Just to add to the internal wiring response,I had a pair of def tech some time ago.The sub went out and had to open it up to replace.I couldn't believe how cheap the wires were inside of that speaker.I was trying to use decent speaker wire,only to fine super thin wire inside!Hope my B&Ws have better wire than that inside!
There is one speaker designer---Magnepan’s Jim Winey---who uses steel jumpers! So yes Randy, at least one designer does not know how to build them. Steel---can you believe it?!
Speaking of steel, the fuse holder in the Tympani-IV and IVa is made of that metal. Does anyone know of a copper (or at least brass) fuse holder?
Not only do some speaker companies give their customers poor jumpers, but also some manufacturers of integrated amps include poor jumpers. There are not many easier and affordable upgrades to equipment than replacement of jumpers.
Just as itzhak1969 relates, the results are so profound that it surprises people. Congratulations to those who have tried and found a simple, but effective way to improve the system.
At the least I would use the same cables as your speaker cables, just buy an extra length or cut some off the ends of your current cables. Anything fancier doesn't seem like it would offer a benefit. I did notice an improvement when I replaced my flat gold plated brass jumpers with short lengths of speaker cable.
It all depends on what is there now, really. And what you plan on replacing it with.
You can always use audioquest silver links. it is 16awg solid core wire and it provides good contact area in the binding post. $25. I do not believe a second that upgrading such a short connection (minuscule resitance) can make a difference, but I hate to say it... i feel like they did compared to 16awg copper wires...
chrisr, Conductor material makes an audible difference, as anyone who actually works with cables knows - and now you know. Theoretically it doesn't, but in real world system building it does. Just wait until you start working with power cords, if you haven't already! Then you'll really face a conundrum!
Relative to the length of many connections in components the jumper is not very short. Why do you think component builders are always touting the short signal path? It's not just the length of the signal path, it's the quality of the signal path.
Now you will have people trying to talk you out of trusting what you heard, even though it was obvious. But, it's repeatable and all the theory in the world will not cause it to go away. :)
This begins to read like any of the other cable conundrum columns that roil on and teeter into personal jabs and trolling. They look like soccer scrums, a lot of energy expended with the crowd divided over who will prevail.
Funny for awhile, dissipating into boredom over the SOS.
One side offers empirical evidence and it's met with insults, derision and mockery, and when called out on it, claim 1st amendment rights to their "opinion". Talk about weak tea.
Yes,I did consider bi wire,but got the chance to order a new pair of AQ rocket 44 regular cables for almost free!(Using AQ type 4 now).Going to see how new cables sound when I get them and go from there.I appreciate all the responses!I am getting good sound now,don't get me wrong, but I can never seem to leave well enough alone!
I tried all kinds on my Gamut and ended with silver solid but the movers lost them. Could not find the same ones again so now am using some VDH. It does make a difference. Rewired the internal cable once and and it did make a difference but the Gamut comes with good internal wiring. OCD a little but who cares?
replacing speaker jumpers improved the sound on both of my sound systems. i agree some stock jumpers are better than others, but most speakers can be further improved with better aftermarket cabling- the trick is to find the right ones for your speakers. if unable to sample a few different ones to experiment, try using the same cable as your main speaker cable. like most forums, ask 10 different people, and you'll get 10 different answers- dont expect any solutions, just more questions to ponder... :)
Replacing stock jumpers make a significant improvement. Best to use same wire as main speaker wire if possible but many companies make quality jumpers ie nordost. There is also a belief that rather than running a bi wire set run a quality main set and the jumpers to the other set of speaker terminals- nordost now believes this provides better sound. I was running a bi wire set to my b&w 800d and are now running nordost Valhalla single run with Valhalla jumpers to the other terminal set. The stock jumpers provided with many speakers are junk.
Almost all stock jumpers are brass. All inexpensive audio equipment wiring, connectors and inputs are brass. Which is a main reason why they are inexpensive and sound like crap. You should at least upgrade to copper jumpers. And even a *single* strand of minimally thick 99% copper wire will improve the sound and clean current flow 100 fold. A single strand!
I just went through this about two weeks ago. I have a pair of Sonus Faber Amati Futura's and just tried Transparent Audio's jumpers and to my ears they were worse. I'm sticking with the ones from Sonus Faber.
On my 805's and 803's I was happy with the stock jumpers and very inexpensive cabling throughout until my mocking "audiophile" friend loaned me some Nordost speaker cables. Different, not necessarily better, but certainly different. So now I have several thousand dollars of Nordost cabling everywhere, and the results.... different, I'm unsure if necessarily better. Now I ask folks what kind of cabling they own before I ask them over, and please, no offers to loan me magical power cords, interconnects, or whatever. My clarity on better and different is a sliding resource and it's better for me to know that than going to the bank.
The typical plates we've all seen and used. I'm not sure of the metals used but I doubt they are anything special. To my ears I get better imaging with the SF jumpers. Not a significant difference, but measurable. BTW, I was using the best jumpers TA offered. (There are two different models and I believe they are called the Performance and the Premium)
I'd also like to add that I'm a true believer in Transparent Audio cable and have been for years. I'm currentl'y using TA Reference MM2 speaker cable, along with TA Ultra MM2 interconnects, and TA Powerlink MM2 ac cable. The jumpers were disappointing IMHO.
This may sound crazy, but several months ago I was able to obtain a mint pair of Martin/LoganSL-3 speakers, but without jumper cables. By chanch I had a one foot pair of 6-7 foot paif of the top of the line Shunyata speaker wires, which I have been using as teir jumper wires. Anyway they work superbly. It does not hurt that I am using an Audioquest Niagara 1000 strip, along with three quality Audioquest power cords as well forthe SL-3's. Needless to say but they sound simply increadible. From the very top to the bottom base it sounds like one seamless audio experience.
I am using Audioquest Gibraltar single bi-wire on my B&W 805 d2. It sounds fantastic. On the other hand,
B&W 805 d2 needs a powerful power amp to drive it. I use Mark Levinson ML 11 (50 W) to drive the speakers. ML 11 is a high current amp. The result is more than satisfaction.
Hi, Save yourself money and time, and enjoy your speakers. I own a pair of modest B&W speakers and their components quality is very good. Otherwise you can also question the connectors, the speaker cables, the preamp to amp cables, wall connectors, and so on, all the way to the transmission lines from the power generation plant. Invest on the basic components that speakers, amp, and reproduction sources. Cheers
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