Biggest Baddest Audio Cables

The funny thing is that it is harder to make a large guage cable sound good because the frequincy balanced gets scewed towards bass with the larger conducters and the skin efect goes up creating a grainy and splashy extention in the highs.

I'm glad to see that someone ( Charker ) finally mentioned the original "biggest, baddest" speaker cable i.e. the "original MONSTER" cable. That is, the old Fulton Gold's. These were 4 gauge and pretty rigid. The rigidity did not come from the size of the conductor so much as it did the type of dielectric that they used. As far as physical size goes, these were 7/8's of an inch across the two conductors.

Tireguy: Cornfedboy was not "banned" or "kicked off" Agon. He voluntarily "retired" as he is now working on an as needed basis for Agon. As such, he publicly declared his his affiliation with Agon and decided that his continuing to post in the forums could be construed as Agon trying to demonstrate favouritism to specific brands, subjects, etc... when Kelly responded. As such, he did the ethical thing and decided to lay low. This speaks volumes about Kelly as how many other "ethical lawyers" do you know ? : )

Duane: It is not the gauge of the conductor that creates the problems that you mention so much as it is the geometry of the conductors and how the conductors are made. If a cable is "all skin" i.e. a wide & flat solid conductor, it will not suffer from skin effect and strand jumping. Both of these are what i consider to be major problems with "most" heavy gauge stranded wires that are lumped together in one dielectric jacket. Sean
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I would love to have the money you guys are throwing away on speaker cables. But don't take my word for it, just pay a visit to the following link and included is Gordon Gow's opinion. That's McIntosh for you who are not familiar with his name.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rogerr7/wire.htm

Hugh_campbell, all the money were throwing away?

Either you have not made listening tests on a high end system or don’t own a system capable of the resolution necessary. If your goal is sound quality equal to the best available in the 1970’s, then your link has value.

However, if you have a system pushed to the limit, high quality wire (both speaker and interconnect) is just as important as the rest of the components. As with all things in life, one’s perspective is relative to where they are.

Many Audiogon members treat this hobby with passion and commitment, exploring every detail in an attempt to get closer to the live event. It took me many years to evolve my system to it’s current state and I assure you I did not get there by “throwing away” money on my purchases.

Most other passions cost more than audio. Luxury automobiles immediately come to mind, as do boats, motorcycles and high rental fees to live near an exclusive area or landmark.

On the other hand, many products at Audiogon, including wire, may be found at prices that allow trial and resale without loss.

Oh, and by the way. I ran a high end store that was the number one McIntosh dealer in Texas. So I am familiar with their products and how the company operates.

Hawaiikid:

I am in the process of upgrading cables. I use 2 sets of ICs. CD to Pre and PRe to amp. I see that you have Jaden cables. My budget is very tight and I can only go about $300 each for cables. And I don;t know what to do for speaker cable. My system is resolving enough that I need better than what I have DH labs BL-1. I was wondering if you had heard Ric's standard ICs? They are about all I can afford. I would also liek to ask if you had heard anything that comes close to them or the Signatures for less.

System FWIW is Cary 303.200 cd, dehavilland UltraVerve pre, Bel Canto Evo 2 (coming) and Thiel 1.6s.

Your comments, thoughts, and ideas are appreciated.

Keith