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Suggest affordable cable options

My current setup is as follows: Bowers and Wilkins CM10 s2 (speakers), Parasound A21 (amp), Cambridge Audio Azur 851D DAC/Preamp connected to the amp via balanced connectors.

I am currently using cheap Audioquest ($50) cables and have been advised by many at Agon that upgrading to better speaker wires would yield considerable results. Now, when it comes to cables I'm admittedly not so educated, so I can surely use some advise here.

I want to stay below $750 - open to both new or used. Someone at Audiogon suggested Clear Day cables which can be had for around $500 for the top option. My only concern is that B&W are already known to be a bit forward/bright, so adding silver cables, which also have a reputation to be a bit on the bright side (feel free to correct me if this assumption is just plain wrong), might not be the most prudent approach.

Unfortunately, the more I research the more I get confused. Some say that it's a waste of money, and that a wire is a wire is a wire. Others advise to stick with name brands such as Audioquest, Tara Labs, etc. While others swear by boutique but affordable options such as Clear Day cables. Usually, the reason given by this camp is that the cables are more affordable because they manufacturers don't have marketing overhead. However, I'm sure the more established companies have higher profit margins that potentially lead to bigger and better R&D.

Regardless, one thing is for sure -- I'm not in the mood to spend more than 30% of what my system is worth.
arafiq

Showing 2 responses by czarivey

czarivey
5,946 posts
 
What you've been advised isn't completely true. Yes, you can change the sound to the better or worse with changing cables, but the budget has little-to nothing to do with that. Higher budget cables are more of the fashion(definitely looking more nicer) than performance. Ideal cable has to match your speakers and amp and since it's hard to match parameters, you can experiment with ones similarly priced to yours. You can also experiment with simple wire that is available on internet with best OFC parameters and make your own cable or keep it as wire.

Definitely and very most definitely you won't need to spend $750 or $500 or even $400 for used cable to hook up Parasound A21. It's called skimming or pitching a product you don't really need!

If you want to feel difference try Signalcable or bluejean cables above recommended (once again not sure which side of sound will it take better or worse or something new you want to have), but most-likely your current budget AudioQuest is sufficient enough. No need for silver cables in most of cases especially with Parasound A21/B&W CM10.

Any cable you try trust me, you can stay within the budget of your current cable.


czarivey
5,946 posts
 
from the posts above i figured it's very cool to have $750 cables with $1,000 speakers and according to trivial math calculations and predictions, the speakers should work totally different and improve the sound to sound twice as good vs. with current wires.

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