While K-S Realization is in my main system, I won't be spending that for my family room with 30' runs. I currently have double runs of 10g Audtek OFC wire from Parts Express, with nice spades I soldered. I have now purchased 70' of Furutech Alpha FS 36 (OCC copper) bulk wire from VHAudio. I ran the cable last night, and now need to terminate it. I will be using this Alpha 36 run for mids and highs, keeping the 10g copper for the bass. I will post impressions once the project is complete! |
8 awg copper o.f. Standard twist. Real 8 ga wire. Barely fit in my knockoff Nakamichi banana plugs. belden for amp to preamp
main system Groneberg pre to amp, same 8ga speaker wire audioquest cd to pre. the Belden ceased the radio station tweeter interference,as with audioquest it was audible.
audioquest used are topaz and quartz.
have XLR pair. I may test the silver cables, they did slightly boost the treble and upper mids.
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When I had Atma-Sphere M60 mono amps sitting directly behind Quad ESLs I had Kimber make me up a pair of 1' long 4AG (pure silver) cables with Postmaster spades. When moving on to stereo amps I did like @dill and got myself a set of 8' Clear Day Double Shotgun (also pure silver) cables. Good enough for my modest system I still have a pair of 8' Tara Labs Time & Space Phase !! (how's THAT for a trip back in time ;-) sitting in a box, and some cloth-covered Western Electric solid core copper cables I haven't gotten around to trying. |
None. I spent this winter on a failed (lower cost) speaker cable mission. Tried the following: - Blue Jeans 12 AWG - my existing wires - Mogami 3103 - dark, slow - Kimber 8TC - nice-ish mids and highs, light on the bass - (Near)dost Valhalla 7N - Similar to Kimber I returned to my BJC's for now. They sound good, but I am sure I could do better. One difference with the BJC's is they have locking bananas on the amp end, spades on the speaker end, i.e. a very firm connection on both ends. All the other cables I tested were either standard spring metal bananas or BFA bananas. |
Recently installed Anticables Flex 4.2 Bi Wire speaker cables just to try one more time to improve my sound after a 40 year history of owning and experimenting with just about every type of cable design available. Cost no object to extreme value…extreme technology to simplest design, ultra pure to off the spool hardware store offerings. All I can say is that you must experience the Anticables Flex 4.2 cables in your system for two very good reasons…a hassle free 30 day trial period so there is no price pressure to effect your evaluation of the cables in YOUR system. Secondly, they will most likely re define what you thought was the most stunningly realistic musical connection you have ever heard! They defy criticism and completely suspend that critical part of the audiophile brain that seems compelled to find fault with even the deepest biases and securely held beliefs we have fused into our auditory DNA. The Flex 4.2 cables will completely immerse you and infuse your aural soul with that special thrill and sense of childlike wonder you once felt…that feeling of discovery and utter satisfaction you had when you first experienced true Hi Fidelity Sound. Music becomes so intensely beautiful and pure, so vividly seductive and corporeal, that all artifice is removed and what is rendered before you is pure auditory ecstasy! Everything just snaps into place in all the right measures to create a totally authentic and immersive experience that even my jaded ears thought was impossible to obtain. I am gobsmacked and I am at peace ☮️ |
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Interesting thread here. There are so many brand names that I've never heard of. Maybe someone can make a chart of cable brand/model names and number of recommendations. That would be useful 😀 I own a pair of Kimber Kable 12TC in bi-wire configuration, and have been quite happy with it. I'm a fan of Kimber Kable. Most of my IC cables are from Kimber. I own both their Hero and Select lines on the IC. Anyway, I'm currently home trialing 2 different pairs of speaker cables. At first, I ordered a pair of Bifocal XL from Kimber direct, and I really like the spacious soundstage, and deeper bass comparing to my 12TC. After a couple of weeks, I saw a pair of Shunyata Venom-X bi-wire on sale in MusicDirect at an "Open Box" discount. So I bought it and take advantage of their 60 days home trial. The Venom-X does not have as large and spacious sound stage comparing to the Bifocal, but it has great and tight bass that I really like. I'm having a little difficulty deciding which one to keep, I'm leaning slightly towards the Shunyata Venom-X because of the beautiful bass, but I also like the Kimber Bifocal's spacious and laid back sound stage. Also the Venom-X is $1000 cheaper in MSRP, which I can use towards the Venom-X power cord. I've read mostly positive comments on Shunyata's power products, and I'm curious to give their PC a try. I still have a couple of weeks to decide which one to keep. Anyway, any comments or suggestions will be appreciated. |
I ordered two colors of Cat 8, I needed two pairs of 20 lf, so I ordered 50’ red and 50’ black. this is a quick find for Cat 8 26awg pure copper, color and length optional. make sure the conductor is pure copper, some are only pure copper connectors. you will cut the connectors off. you can search harder and find 24 awg or 22 awg. with at least two color choices if you want different colors. IF you use different colored spades or bananas, it doesn’t matter, I just liked the idea. 8 strands 26 awg = 17 awg ...... 24 awg = 15 awg ...... 22 awg = 13 awg. https://www.wirebarn.com/Combined-Wire-Gauge-Calculator_ep_42.html NOTE: smaller gauge (higher awg#) is more flexible. ................................................................. make black/red twisted pairs (any color you can find). NOTE: length will be slightly less after you twist them, that’s why I used 25 lf to make 20 lf. When not expensive it is easy to buy extra and to keep both runs same length even if one speaker is closer. You never know where you might use them in the future, and can easily make shorter. twist first, then cut length, then strip and add connectors. short runs, you can twist them, tape every two feet or so, then finish longer runs, it’s annoying to have to flip long wires, SO, twist a few feet, tension occurs (patient people would flip the length of wire over), I simply tape there; wrap a few feet in opposite direction, (tension goes away), tape, wrap the other direction .... cut the ends off, strip the wires, add bananas or spades. I like the type with two set screws, also black and red or bananas with two set screws and pin tightening screws ..............................................
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@dadork exactly |
There is no 'winner take all' as it depends on the rest of the system. Case in point: When I first got my EVS 1200 I was using Series 8 WireWorld interconnects, TOL speaker cables. I replaced both the WW XLRs and cables with Ali-X Odin 2 Nordost Knockoffs. While my all SS system sounded much better (@ 1/10 the $$$), it was a bit too sharp, so I ordered Odin Gold speaker cables (at ~ $170/2.5m)! Unfortunately one leg must of had a bad solder joint as it barely sent the music . It took a couple months before they replaced it, which I finally installed 2 days ago: BAM. Even immediately, but of course it needs break in time. HTH |
@grislybutter I'm surprised! You weren't the least bit concerned about what cause your money might be better used for? There's got to be some hungry people somewhere nearby. |
@fastfreight DSS 4.1 is on the warm side, very organic and full body cable, it's the opposite of bright if that's what you are looking for. |
Hello @thieliste tell me about the Furutech DSS 4.1's. I have a family room system where the speaker runs are 33 and 25'. I am currently using double runs of 10g generic copper, but would like to upgrade the mid / treble run at least. Still pricey.... |
@prosdds I've never met a single audiophile who believes in magic. But I met a lot of audiophiles who hear the difference that cables make and some who don't hear it. |
Beldon wire and cable make great Teflon silver plated wire. I had 100’ 18awg 3 conductors with a silver plated shield. You connect the shield a receive ground end and double up wires on the 18 grounds. Do Not connect the shield at both ends proved to increase shield performance. Use excellent connectors and you have great interconnect cables. If you have a large commercial wire reseller in your area they normally have left over from a spool. The spools come 500 and 1000 ft rolls of the stuff and the prices have gone way up and the Teflon is a hassle to strip but worth the effort.
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About a year and a half ago, I auditioned the Silversmith Fidelium, Townshend F1 Fractal and WyWires Diamond speaker cables in my system over a period of 45 days. At the time, I had been using the Cerious Technologies Graphene Matrix speaker cables for the previous 3 years, so those were my baseline for comparison. I found the Fidelium to offer a very airy, detailed sound with nice high frequency extension and imaging. However, the midrange and bass lacked tonal density and weight in my system. Instruments and voices sounded lighter than they should have. The Townshend FI Fractal cables were almost the exact opposite of the Fideliums. The F1 Fractal had great bass weight and extension with a tonally rich midrange. They had slightly better dynamic expression than the Fidelium as well. But, where the Fidelium shined in the upper frequencies, the F1 Fractals were darker and more closed in on the top. While they imaged as well as the Fidelium, the darker top end didn’t afford them the same airiness in the soundstage. I must mention that the first time I listened to the F1 Fractal after only 48 hours of break in, they were so dark and closed in, I thought there might be some sort of gross electrical mismatch with my amplifiers and/or speakers. It literally sounded like thick blankets were covering my speakers. It took about 350 hours of constant burn in on a second system to get them to their full performance. The difference was greater than any break in I have experienced in any other cables or piece of equipment. It was like two different cables. The Fidelium on the other hand required only 100 hours break in time to achieve full performance and even at that, I would estimate the difference as only 5-10 % compared to the F1 Fractal improvement of 30-40%. At this point, I rated both the Fidelium and the F1 Fractal as a significant improvement over my Graphene Matrix cables, but it was a difficult choice between the two. It almost came down to preferring one cable over the other based on the style of music being played and perhaps even my mood. Both had their strengths, but also weaknesses in my system and to my ears. The WyWires Diamond cables were the last to arrive and other than an initial listen when first received, had been burning in on the second system (I actually used nylon screws and nuts to serially connect all three sets of cables together to burn them in at once) while I evaluated the other two cables that had more time to season. After 200 hours or so of burn in, the Diamond proved to be a very nice balance of the F1 Fractal’s and the Fidelium’s best attributes. The Diamond had all the bass weight and extension of the F1 Fractal as well as their rich, tonally dense midrange. The Diamond also possessed the high-end extension, detail and airiness of the Fidelium. The Diamond had a wider and deeper soundstage than either of the other two cables with image specificity better than the F1 Fractal and on par with the Fidelium. The Diamonds had the edge in dynamics as well. Because there were no shortcomings, I found I could relax and become more emotionally involved in the music with the Diamond than the other cables. As you can tell, I kept the WyWires Diamond cables and returned the Townshend F1 Fractal and Silversmith Fidelium cables. As a result of this evaluation, it was very apparent that sufficient burn in (on some more than others) and long-term listening in your own system are necessary to determine the best fit. I should add, all three companies were very supportive and flexible in allowing me to evaluate their products and were a pleasure to deal with. |
