I was having trouble with my amp and while troubleshooting i thought it was the cables or spades. i went to radio shack and got cheap wire. OMG the radio shack sounds much better to me than my audioquest bedrock. hmmmm
About your question regarding solid core thermostat wire; use the 18-5 version. The individual strands of wire are colour coded and insulated and you can buy the stuff for about 50 cents a foot. Make up two ten footers. Select two of the coloured wires (your option) and make them the positive side; use the remaining three strands as the negative side. Double check that the two cables are matched regarding the colour coding of joined strands.
You can terminate them with lugs or bananas or whatever, but to test them out just feed the strands into the amp and the speakers. Be very careful here. The strands are not terribly flexible and it takes some care to feed them in. After tightening the screws on the amp and speakers, double check that they are tight as they often work loose as the strands soften. Turn it on and listen.
I spent one whole winter investigating cables and I can tell you that this simple approach will change your listening life. Of course, you can do better; Audio Note Sogon cable (silver litz) at about $3000 is a shade better. But I use thermostat wire with everything, including my Audio Note Oto SE amp and JM Renaud Bliss speakers. I even make them up and give them to friends.
Clarity, detail and focus are central to me and only solid core delivers that to my ears. The more strands there are in a cable the more tizz there is in the output. Some people like that and think it is exciting and therefore believe it is automatically better. It certainly is one thing; fatiguing.
For the guy who used solid core thermostat wire was it the 18-5 or 18-3 wire? Also did they say what they did with the extra wire? Was it just snipped or wrapped around positive wire?
If anyone else has used thermostat wire and want to share their thoughts as well I'm curious.
I tried the White Lighting Moonshade speaker wire from extension cords but had mixed results with it. Depending on the amp or speakers I used with the extension cord wire the music seemed a little more bright.
I have to give credit where credit is due. I gat my audioquest gibraltar cables today (which i ordered before i tried the radio shack) and now these live up to the hype. Sound is amazing and make a big, big difference. These are 1000.00 cables. I got them from hong kong on ebay cheap!!!!! these are worth the money.
I have just been a Radio Shack Mega cable convert. These replaced Modded Kimber 8tc and Elco Silver for my Revel F52's. I have one word to say CLARITY. These cables openend my speakers up from top to bottom. Crystal clear highs and cymbal. Bass thats acurate and defined. MIdrange that just jumps, horns volcals everything sounds better with these $25 cables that I used to bi-wire from my Pass X250 amp
Other cables I had Cardas Neutral,Mogami,monster and audioquest and some others over the years. Nothing more than a grand, but these beat them all
I do have Audio Magic interconnects which are silver ribbons. These don't coverup anything. I am hearing the truth. Wasn't that Audioquests slogan for a while.
tHis has been two days and I am listening to a linn cd of baroque music. The instruments sound clearer, the violins sound like violins the only thing is there seems to be less bass but this is amazing. Unforunately, i ordered new speaker cables but i now know what the music should sound like. I have modified sacd 1000, sony es integrated amp and canton ct 1000 speakers with a 12" woofer and a magnesium tweeter. hese are very revealing. Maybe i should send an email to audioquest.
I was using Supra cables which are very reasonable cost. I was captivated by all the rave reviews and noise being made about Audience AU24 cables. I just had to have a pair to run with the "Real Audiophiles". I forked out a lot of money for the speaker cables and one set of IC's for my CD to preamp. After 2 months of break in and lots of listening I am pleased to tell you I am back to the Supras. I sold the Audience at a small loss and learned my lesson.....
Alway thought this myself except certain cases when I sold Krell to friends and though our shop didn't have them got them some Cardas to tamp down mettalic nastiness in mids.But you can find some really good reviews of cheap stuff like Anti-Cables or even cheapy wire from Blue Jean and others.So many disagree but when you think of componets or room treaments to break up waves or dampen sound where it needs it or heavy bases/stands for wood floors spending money on cables is dumb.Always though of the major Kimber didn't insult you with product or prices but hey Home Depot 16 guage extension chord might work better than what some folks have hooked up.Like those Shakti Stones and other products not so much subjective B.S and self delusion as in cables.Given that I might want to try some sanely priced Zu cables if I had maybe Zu speakers.But they are not even the frosting on th cake they are the sprinkles.I will still try but buy on cheap an flip if they don't better the speaker wire,IC's and PC's I have.Really and insulting pat of high end if you look at some of the prices.A huge number of 'Gonner's would say I don't know crap though. Chazz Chazz
IF you can't hear the difference (s) DON'T pay the difference.
I think there's a decided difference between listening to short term A/B testing of cables, and long term testing/listening to cables, for one thing.
I feel the recent interconnect cable version that RS offers for $20 @ 6ft. are great. Not the last word in ICs for sure, but definite no brainers in the < $100 MSRP. Maybe it has something to do with the 'coaxial' build... I don't know.
They aren't as articulate as my Micro Pearls and are closer to the Audio Art cables in resolution, but a bit firmer overall.
They are definitely not close to the HT Magic II, nor SR Resolution Ref x2 active or any other upscale cabling I've encountered.
But for modest to mid level HT... a second or third system, or office rig, they are slam dunk wires. No kidding.
The truth will make you richer! Well known in the hobby is that in double blind tests, few if anybody can tell the difference between cables. And yes, there are some bad cables out there but the price has little to do with there being 'bad'. Are there differences in cables that you can hear? Yes, but until you put them in your rig, little can be known from there price. Twelve gauge speaker wire from Home Depot has worked well for me. Enjoy the music.
I tried the Bedrock a few years back and could have saved money by placing pillows over my speakers. But it really wasn't the sound I was looking for. Thankfully I was able to return them.
Also, audioquest cables, and I've had several, are generally overpriced and unimpressive. Although, I'm amazed that radio shack cables bested the audioquest, you can easily do way better than either without spending a fortune.
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