Cables, Cables


I am sure this was asked many times before, but anyway here I go…
I've been using Home Depot 12 AWG copper wire, bi-wired. It sounded very good to my ear. After reading up some, I've decided to buy some really nice pre-made wire; after all I am always looking for some improvements. So, I bought Audioquest CV-4 not bi-wired. Brought it home, connected and the sound became flat and dull. Am I misunderstanding something here?
moganes
What kind of interconnects do you have between your cd player and integrated?
Moganes, in this situation, replacing the speaker cable is not the first thing you need to do.

I am suggesting you follow this plan if you want to effectively upgrade your cables(and it's completely up to you what to do with the $1400 speaker cable now), but:

First of all, you need to upgrade the Monster Interlink interconnects. This change(the interconnect upgrade), is the one that's going to reward you with most improvement. This is the first and the most important link in your system - cables between your CD player and your integrated. If you return the Nordost sp cable, you can get decent interconnects used here on a-gon for under $300/m with the money you get back for the sp cables.

I am a fan of Acoustic Zen interconnect cables and speaker wires, so my suggestion is a pair of Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference MkII interconnects.

Second is the speaker cable upgrade, since you have no separate amp and preamp.

Last but not least is the power cord upgrade. The one I found works really good on both digital and analog components is Audience powerChord.

Remember though that the speaker cable will only carry the information from your integrated amp to the speakers. The amount and quality of information that gets TO your integrated from your cd player is the most important.
Then all the rest will follow - speaker cables, power conditioners, power cords.
Best of luck.