2. cables
  3. 184733-96626

Why Do Cables Matter?

To me, all you need is low L, C, and R. I run Mogami W3104 bi-wire from my McIntosh MAC7200 to my Martin Logan Theos. We all know that a chain is only as strong as its' weakest link - so I am honestly confused by all this cable discussion. 

What kind of wiring goes from the transistor or tube to the amplifier speaker binding post inside the amplifier? It is usually plain old 16 ga or 14 ga copper. Then we are supposed to install 5 - 10' or so of wallet-emptying, pipe-sized pure CU or AG with "special configurations" to the speaker terminals?

What kind of wiring is inside the speaker from the terminals to the crossover, and from the crossover to the drivers? Usually plain old 16 ga or 14 ga copper.

So you have "weak links" inside the amplifier, and inside the speaker, so why bother with mega expensive cabling between the two? It doesn't make logical sense to me. It makes more sense to match the quality of your speaker wires with the existing wires in the signal path [inside the amplifier and inside the speaker].

 

 

kinarow1
firstonetallguy
75 posts
 

@elrod

+1

decooney
1,906 posts
 

Find a reputable and experienced audio dealer with a great listening room. Bring a few friends, and a few others with ears to do a real listening session for two hours.

Bring your highly praised and affordable Mogami interconnect cables people like to rave about for recording studios. Arrange to have some other good cables on hand.

Listen for at least an hour. Swap, listen again. Ask the group to report differences.

If you can’t hear a difference, live on with your cables, save $. Watch out for those who can hear a difference with a properly designed set of cables. They are not cheap.  

 

 

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 

^^^

The above is utterly pointless. Any deltas are specific to that system and room and unlikely to translate to an entirely different system.

There are plenty of expensive cables that are demonstrably designed to be 'tone controls' and are by no means an improvement on any but a small subset of equipment.

tonywinga's avatar
tonywinga
844 posts
 

Ieales needs a graphic equalizer- much easier for adjusting the tone of his system.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,228 posts
 

Back in the eighties, I replaced the pair of thin black ic’s that came with a CD player,  from my preamp to my amp with Monsters. I think I paid $160 a pair for them and the difference was more than night and day! It was huge!  

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