Look at what your speaker manufacturer uses to demonstrate their speakers. Power cords and interconnects are different; you can usually can find some boutique brands and diamonds in the rough used for pretty reasonable prices.
What process do you use to purchase cables?
I’m in the process of updating my gear and thinking about what to do for updated cables. Every time I think about it, my head spins as there are so many different cable options & companies. I struggle to even start the process.
I don’t care if it’s speaker cables, interconnects or power cords – Just explain what you typically do to nail down your purchase.
FYI – my past “process” was to simply purchase whatever I found to be the most affordable options recommended by folks on this board. For that reason, I’m currently using Canare 4S11 speaker cables, Mogami Gold interconnects, and Pangea power cords.
Since I’m planning to push my component updates to significantly higher quality gear, I don’t want to fall short on the cable side. If you have a process, let’s hear it! Thanks
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@audiohedgehogs I share your approach and have repeatedly chosen Transparent by direct comparison. Well articulated. Particularly I have found the two cycles of withdrawal act the most telling. I agree about assessing your system before starting. In the past I have had to make up for some shortcomings in my components because of lack of funds. But, my feeling is if your system is fatiguing, you have a serious component noise problem and it is likely much better to put money into fixing that directly. I have to agree that cables and interconnects can make a huge difference… but in a well chosen synergistic system they will only make a relatively small difference. This is why, for me, Transparent only have become the right choice as my system became much better and not in need of correction. Transparent just get out of the way. That is a good thing for my system now. |
In my estimation cables make up 20-30% of the performance of your system. (1) Step one - ask yourself, is any aspect of your system you are unhappy with? In particular, is your system fatiguing, bright, or difficult to listen to? Can you clearly hear the sound and characteristics of the room/ambient space the music or instruments were recorded in. Are you satisfied overall? A cable upgrade CAN be a surprisingly cost effective way to push to the next level. (2) I use only Transparent. However, I approach every cable as if the manufacturer is trying to defraud me of my money with snake oil before I audition. You must audition cables with high levels of skepticism. (3) If you can get an in home audition, do it. If installation requires that any components be powered off for any period of time (a power cord), allow your components to be powered back on for 12-24 hours before listening to the new cable. DO NOT attempt to compare an ice cold amp with a nee power cord to your experience with the warmed up amp with old power cord. You will likely get a false negative result. (4) Once installed and warmed up, listen to recordings you know very well. If the upgrade is substantial the presentation will change quite a bit and you may hear details you did not hear previously. Listen to a cross section of genres and recordings. (5) Stick to your routine. Listen to your system like you normally do. You don’t need to conduct a formal test. If you listen Friday night with a glass of red wine that is how you should test the new cable as well. The system should just be more engaging to listen to. You don’t need to identify the specific changes right away, but you should be able to by the end of the audition period. (6) After the trial period is up, or after about a week of if you bought and can return, put your old cable back in and pull the old one out. Follow the same steps as above and live with your old cable again for a week. (7) If the new cable was truly a significant upgrade over the old cable, you can confirm this readily by putting the old cable back in. Chances are the system is back to its original performance level and if the new cable is really good you WILL miss it. I call this the “withdrawal period”. If you find yourself pining for the new cable, you probably have a keeper and the cable is the genuine article. A lot of times you don’t realize how much a new component brings to the table until you pull it out and put the old one in. Then you miss it. Note: Some cables are meant to be calibrated for the components they are used with. Make sure you are auditioning the right one. I stick with Transparent myself. I always go in skeptical and end up pleasantly surprised. Cheers! |
@ emergingsoul: “…buy on faith and have patience.…” You said it, not me. I went to Catholic schools. I remember one religion class when I was a freshman in HS. The priest was talking about how we know God exists: “Look out there window, at the beauty of nature. Only an Intelligent Being could create it”. At the end of class, he asks for questions. I raise my hand: “When I look out the window, I see physical and biological processes at work. I can’t pretend to know whether or not a God created them”… and off to the principal’s office I went! There was not much they could do about me because I routinely graded at the top of the class and Catholic schools compete for funding from the diocese in part based on student performance. I got a C- in religion class needless to say, but straight A+ in everything else. Yup. I gave up on faith when I was a teenager: science/empiricism for me! And patience is for my child or cat that misbehaves! |
This is how I went about it: - consider my budget. I did not even think of considering anything more than 50% of what I think the budget will allow - read up on stuff - as I regard most of what is there to read is 5% information and 95% marketing, I make a “gut” call. - as I knew of no retailer at the time (10 years ago was when I bothered to fool around with this cable stuff) who accepts cable returns, this meant to err if you must at the low end of the $ spectrum and hope for the best. - As I had a friend at the time who ran through cables like seltzer water, I was able to borrow some from time to time for s-@^s ‘n kicks that were considerably outside of what I would ever dream of spending and see if the extra $s made any difference. |
I love this quote from Nelson Pass, “We have a general recommendation about interconnects, and speaker cables: They should cost less than the amplifier, and contain at least some conductive material.” I think first, is establish a budget. Then experiment. It is one of the fun aspects of this game. The choices are truly limitless. Reviews certainly help to guide you, but in reality you have to hear the cables in your room, your system, and as a whole. At some point decide when your sound is “good to go”. You’ll know. There are tried and true brands and cables from those brands, then there are the fringe brands and then DIY. All can be great in the right situation. |
I think some dealers try and do a pretty good job of being relatively unbiased. You have to know them. But there are practically an infinite number of cable companies and they can only carry a few. Then there is the problem of territories. On good solid well established brands like Transparent they do not support multiple retail outlets in a single area. My primary audio dealer can’t get them… so I have to buy them from a different vendor. |
My dealer has excellent brands that synergise well. Find a good dealer ;How does one find a good dealer that puts one’s interest over making a sale? During my initial foray into high-end audio, a dealer’s salesman pushed me to nail down a $number for my system budget, then tried to sell me a system that sounded meh. |
I look for sonic bargains to stretch my purchasing power like Requisite Audio, Triode Labs, Analysis Plus, Fidelium speaker, etc. Currently I have leads on 2 brands of high end audio cables at 70% discount- awaiting funds to purchase. I also look at some cable shootouts on Audio Bacon including PC, interconnects, digital, speakers. The Cable Company lending library is another great option- sure you’ll have to pay fees, but it’s worth it to dial in your ideal sound which may be your end game for cables. |
Here's my process for cables - a) determine what I'm willing top spend - for me and my system it's been up to $500 new or used. More than this is hard for ME to rationalize. b) see what Music Direct has on sale (usually free returns, which I have only used a couple times). c) consider the Cable Company's lending library. I always consider this but have never actually used. d) search for Acoustic Zen on all the normal audio marketplaces. AZ products have rarely left me wondering "do I really hear a difference?"; others have. e) read read read and read some more. Reading often leads me to search for new brands, but usually the reading and the answer to (a) leads me right back to (b) and (d). Why not (c)? I have no idea. And very much agree with getting your components sorted out first! |
I picked a manufacturer in the northwest near my home. Blue Jeans Cables is their name. Their product is well constructed, low capacitance, and very affordable. My theory is so long as the cable is well constructed you don't need to spend a tone of money on them. I also think cables are one of the least destructive components in regard to good sound. |
Mostly listen. Read reviews and posts and peruse systems to see if there's any concensus for synergy with component brands. Easier to find that between brands like Plinius and Dynaudio or Leben and Devore. Try to ascertain hook up wire used in components. In days gone by, Plinius used Siltech and it was a good bet that would match well. In the end, listen and listen again. I used to to think it was like lightning in a bottle and only by the empirical method would you find the best match. That seemed supported when I put a Stealth Cloude 99 (or was it a Nine?) full on a modded AES PH! DJH and couldn't believe how much more fidelity I heard. That cord cost more than the component. Cables changed context and became components. In the. end, some designers/builders seem to hit my sweet spot and it doesn't seem like there's necessarily a mysterious synergy that has be searched out for each component - that would change with every system and set of ears anyway. Find what you like So, it was listen listen listen. For me, in order of preference: Interconnects: Dynamic Design AE15, Gabriel Gold Infusion v2, Gabriel Gold Rapture r Power Cords: Dynamic Design Titania GS, BMI Oceanic Statement Classic Gold, Dynamic Design Heritage AE15, BMI Whale Elite Speaker Cable: wellllll, I use Duelund 16gax2 (~13ga) tinned copper. |
Quote from the article linked above: With these measures the present work was able to prove through direct psychoacoustic testing that two different analog-interconnect pathways can be audibly distinguished. In plain English yes we can hear differences between wires. Thank you hilde45. For the record I was around back when they were doing the Pepsi challenge all over the place. They were so eager to give away tasty soda pop I was only too happy to swill it down! Every single time they would ask which one do I prefer? And I would say, "This one's Pepsi, that one's Coke." But which do you like? Which they like to phrase it that way because most people prefer sweet, and Pepsi is sweeter than Coke. But all they proved to me was how easy it is to tell the difference. So easy to tell, yet an awful lot of people pay so little attention they had no clue. Same here. |
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The opponent of cable differences has to maintain that *all* testimony regarding differences heard can be traced to unconscious or conscious bias. That is hardly proved and may not even be *provable.* But...thank you for setting the bar so high for your position. If you manage to leap over it, with more than mere assertion or scraps of evidence, it will be a monumental discovery for both audio and psychology! In the meantime, since you like my article posts, here's another. |
The whole cable argument is snake oil. Right. That’s why so many people hear differences and so many companies are in business selling cables. Clearly, everyone has been fooled simultaneously. Most amazing con ever! If only we could get them to blind tests...oh wait. |
Find a widely known brand that is associated with very high end systems, carried by upper end dealers and be willing to spend a few thousand. Also, talk to manuf and describe your system. They may advise beyond cables. Initially try cheaper cables $500 or so for mains and center. I now use these in other systems i have. breakin periods, availability, etc make it diff to borrow and test I have transparent super cables, and they are very good. buy on faith and have patience during breakin period. |
Short of buying cables at the dollar tree, I’d say most are a safe bet. Me, personally I prefer UK built and engineered cables of a modest price. In fact, most of my components are built and engineered in the UK. I happen to think that the UK produces the best sounding gear. Sugden, tannoy, whardedale, Linn, Ear, Rothwell, Graham slee, origin live, goldring, chord, Atlas, qed, ecosse, just to name a few... |
For me the process in which I have the most confidence is to work with my dealer and audition various cables. If I did not have access to a dealer with good cables from which to choose I would take advantage of The Cable Company loaner program. In my opinion the components of a system are like ingredients in a recipe and for me, I have to listen to them to make my decision. |
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I usually measure the distance between the components I am hooking together and add a foot or so as I do not have a cabinet where I can take off the back to run the wires. (We made these when I had my shop--made changing components easy!) I need a little extra length to move components in and out without scratching anything. Then, I make sure they have gold-plated ends as they do not seem to corrode as much as others. After that, I pick a fairly well-know manufacturer--Monster seems to have a fairly good line, but there are others. As for speakers, I run 12/2, and boy has it gotten expensive! BUT, since I only need a few feet--maybe 20 at the most, and since I use Maggies, I only run one pair of speakers on my main music system (as opposed to the A/V system for TV), so not so bad. I know many believe that very expensive cables are "better" and I have no problems with that--as a dealer, I LOVED it! The mark-up is wonderful. For me, normal cables are just fine, but you buy whatever you think is best for you. I have been running Audio Research and Magnepan gear since 1974, and I have never had an issue with any of these cable choices. Cheers! |
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I just buy Audioquest. The cable that I can afford from the line up for a specific task: IC, speaker cable or power cord. Minimum amount of colour, Just increased transparency as you go up the ladder. Allows me to hear what my gear sounds like, so then I could pick what I believe is the right component. I don't use cables as tuning tools and i don't think they should be |
