Speaker wire, help my laid back sound??

Gosh, looking at your equipment list I'm thinking that your sound shouldn't be so laid back. Musical yes, but not lifeless.

In what way is your system too laid back? Small, distant soundstage? Lack of punch, dynamics? Rolled off top end or bass? Recessed midrange, i.e. vocals, solo instrumentals? Does it lack PRaT?

Could it be that your room is on the "dead" side? Maybe you need MORE reflective surfaces? Or are the long runs of cable restricting your signal through put?

What's the tonal balance of your system and are there areas you'd like to improve?

Hey Steve,

I don't have any experience with the Goertz MI2, but have read good things about it. Unless you go to a drastically different type of cable such as one composed of silver I think Newbee is right and you may not get the big, positive change you're hoping for by changing to a more expensive speaker cable.

In my experience gear such as speakers, preamps and amps have made the kind of changes you're hoping for. I just finished comparing five preamps, and it was amazing how different they sounded both in character and dynamics. One tube preamp sounded small and distant, while another tube amp sounded big, bold and in-your-face.

That being said, I still suspect the long runs of speaker cable might be part of the problem.

How big is your room? I'd think the Simaudio W5 would be able to power the Reference 100s quite well, unless the room was gigantic.

Hmmm, the room doesn't seem overly large. It could be the surrounding furniture, rugs, bookcases, etc... deadening the sound.

My guess is the open space on the side may be sucking the sound out. That and/or the long cable lengths. I suspect it's an acoustic phenomena.

We need to have Rives chime in.

I agree Greh, as I mentioned earlier probably the only way a cable change would make that much of a difference is if Steve changes to a silver cable. It seems it worked for you.

I just think it's better to make sure that there are no acoustic issues before dropping another $2000 on cables.