2. cables
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Would appreciate feedback on logic

I've connected all my speakers with Radio Shack 12 ga zip wire. OK, the speakers make sound and I like the sound. That's all I can say at the moment. My listening room has hideous acoustics with small area, one side wall concrete the other side wall opening onto a larger open space, speakers forced to be inches away from back wall that's concrete block, poured cement walls elsewhere, thin pile carpeting on floor (basement), etc. and to top it off there's a huge steel home gym in the middle of the room. Now, I'm interested in seeing if a change in speaker cables may benefit my system. I reached out to a couple of manufacturers who offered home trials and was very transparent regarding my current environment. No cable manufacturer wanted their products trailled in the listening environment I described. OK, here's the logic question - good or bad, if cables made a real difference, would that difference not be detectable more or less in any listening environment? I have 5 pages of listening notes focusing on a set of reference music from Bach to Judas Priest, describing specific passages or features in the piece and what I'm hearing. If cables made some difference, would not a difference be detectable? I have a $700 budget for speaker cables and am not interested in acts of faith here. I'd rather make my own from Cat 7 ethernet cable than drop $700 on vendor attestations.

I'd be interested in knowing if my thought process on this is in error, and if it is how I should approach speaker cable auditioning.
rg500g
7 responses Add your response
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,769 posts
 
Since you realize the limitations of both the room and the set-up of your equipment, I would also think that you have some ideas as to just how much of an improvement different speaker cables are going to make.

If you view putting together a system as three logical processes ... 1) choosing the speakers 2) choosing the equipment 3) choosing cables, accessories, and tweaking ... you are in process #3. I have found that process #3 enhances to a limited degree the speakers and the equipment and does not make up for huge deficiencies in the sound.

So given your room and speaker set-up situation, any differences you hear by changing speaker cables are most likely not going to be all that major or significant. You may perceive a difference and that perception may be important to you, but that would be about it.

Since you asked specifically about cables, I am not sure if you are looking at other things you might be able to do to tweak the sound. Cables would not be the first thing I would be tweaking. I would look at something like a graphic equalizer or a BBE Sonic Maximizer . I have used a BBE in a basement listening space with success.

Rich
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Given the amount of attention cables get on websites like this and elsewhere, I don't think your thought process is in error. I do, however, feel it would be a foolish move to start playing with cables in your situation, unless you can try them first. Using cables to fix a problem is never a good idea. I would suggest you look at your room first, as well as some different placement options. Also, are you actually getting sound that you don't like, or are you just reading that your system shouldn't sound good in a room like yours? If you like what you hear, I wouldn't worry about it. Due to the amount of variables in play, you can sometimes get lucky with an odd room. It would be a good idea to set your system up, temporally, in another room and see what the results are. Using that as a reference, you may find that your system may not sound as bad as you think. The key here is experimentation. Experiment first, spend money second. If I had to guess, I would say that room treatment/setup, would give the best results in your case.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I like Zd's suggestion to set your system up in a room with better acoustics, if possible, to get a reference point. Once you know what your system is capable of you should work on treating your room to improve the sound. From my experience, just placing some good absorption panels at first reflection points will affect the sound much more than any speaker cable change. YMMV
dkarmeli
334 posts
 
Is this a trick question? You can't seriously be asking about wires with the setup you described.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"03-29-14: Dkarmeli
Is this a trick question? You can't seriously be asking about wires with the setup you described."

My dead grandmother gave me 2 pieces of advice before she died. One of them was this: "Grandson, there are no stupid questions, but there are stupid people.". I don't know why, but it just came to me after reading Dkarmeli's post.
dkarmeli
334 posts
 
Zd542, thank you for sharing but your grandma's advice is probably more
relevant to you than to others. I had my own grandma with her own set of
values.

With that out of the way, I wasn't implying op's question as stupid but
wondering if he's trying to bait someone with it.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"With that out of the way, I wasn't implying op's question as stupid but wondering if he's trying to bait someone with it."

I believe you but your post kind of looks that way. To me, the OP seems genuine.
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