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+1, Signal Cable. Punches way above its asking price. I found them to be quite neutral and detailed. |
Signal Cable makes excellent cable products.
Google them.
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Supra, AudioArt, AntiCable, the list can go on but it's a good and fun one.
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You simply have to try different things and see what you like. I have twice tried different Kimber cables and both times I preferred my Canare starquad cheapies to them. But that's my room, my rig and my ears. YMMV.
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Analysis Plus, Kimber, Cardas, Wireworld and many more all make good lower priced cables. I would avoid cables made in someone’s garage, but there are exceptions.
Avoid anybody who says cables don’t make a difference. Just because they can’t hear it they think nobody can. $1 / foot is laughable, guaranteed to make your system sound like crap.
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..another fan of ClearDay shotguns.....if you contact Paul, he'll most likely send you an audition sample for free. Take advantage of his offer.
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though I do agree with Pass Labs advice that cables should cost less than the amplifier... |
the good news is it's free/cheap and easy to decide for yourself. some designers believe in cables, some don't, some don't say...just need to separate opinion from fact, as the line often gets blurred here... |
Not to malign Peter Walker but he also used the absolute worst audio contact ever namely the DIN plug and sockets. The level of hum these things gave drove people to distraction and anyway one could not use any thicker cables in those other than the flying leads they supplied with their amplifiers. I remember in the late 70s a kit came out to adapt the 405 to take RCA phonos and when I did it and used what was audioquest cables the difference in quallity was astonishing. Mr Walkers company was not long in adapting their own production line to take the RCA phono sockets and the current dumping amp then moved up the field to take on later companies like Meridian and Marantz. As Geoff says they did put a big metal grill over their speakers and once when I was cleaning my 57s I left the front grill off and powered them up then had a listen to them . It was night and day the level of resolution flew up and they really opened up. Much as I loved the sound I had to put the grill back on as I had an infant daughter crawling around and didn't want to see her getting fried.
To the questioner I have to say that in my humble opinion there are not many cheap cables the come close to well designed thicker cables with anti RFI screening. I use JPS Kaptovators for my mains and NBS Interconnects for my equiptment and though I have tried other cables in my setup I have to say I am sticking to what I have now as other cables don't give me the levels of detail I get now.
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Peter Walker was one of the most gifted and orginal amplifier designers, designing, first, an excellent for the day valve amplifier, next, one of the first high quality solid state amplifiers (the 33/303), designing very practical tone control and filter systems for these, and next the very clever concept of current dumping for the 405 power amplifier, still used in modern Quad power amplifiers. He was also the designer of the first practical full range electrostatic loudspeaker (the ELS 57 still admired by many) and next the ELS63 with its delay lines, a design that is still at the heart of the current Quad electrostats, viewed by quite a few as the most natural speakers money can buy.
Have you designed something better in the history of home audio?
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Lots of people say cables are technical nonsense. Quoting Peter Walker is not only name dropping but an obvious Appeal to Authority. There are far many well known speaker manufacturers who believe cables ARE important. For those who might not know who Peter Walker is, it was his brilliant idea to place thick metal grills all around the Quad electrostatics.
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Any cheap cable will be good enough. Take a thicker one for greater lengths, and that is it. $1 per foot will do it. Technically, ordinary thicker quality electricity cable is fine, but it helps if the cable has some marking of the two poles, like different colours or different shapes (like square vs round isolation). That is the only advantage of dedicated speaker cable. You do not wan to mix up the polarity. Two famous speaker designers (Peter Walker of Quad and Alan Shaw of Harbeth) are on record as saying the cable craze is technical nonsense. Spend your money where it does some good to the sound rather than the dealer's bank account.
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Clear Day double shotgun. You absolute cannot go wrong for the price. I have LRC as well as 5x XLR. The sound is transparent, very detailed and neutral. I am actually having 1 more set of speaker cables being made right now and couldn’t be a happier client.
Paul also has a 30 day money back guarantee and is fabulous to work with. |
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Cullen Copper Speaker Cables $120 6ft. pr. Best Morrow SP-7, which cost many multiples more, in mid/high's, although the SP-7's are superior in bass performance. So I use Cullen's on mid's/high's and SP-7 on bass. Incredible value, notice Cullen now have a Crossover Speaker Cable, would expect that to be exceptional.
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Clear day. Double shotgun. Good enough for me as I am not rich. |
