Speaker cables

[jr83]

What's the difference in percentage terms for cables? I'm using Amazon Basics 16AWG and 12AWG for the longer lengths. What would the difference be to switch to better cables?

Honest question!

 

[pks.k]

Better is to borrow from local FMs and try before you buy

Yes sir! I’m planning to try this way. Thank you

 

[pks.k]

You have good speakers and a great receiver. Tweak the AVR to it's fullest to get the best out of it.

I have rerun the ARC at every time when changed speakers position, on change of SW respectively. Apart from that I don’t know how to play with limited settings in Anthem AVR. I think my previous owned Marantz nr 1506 has facilities like equaliser and many more. But,Sound quality is another area!!

 

[pks.k]

That's why they are there! To induce you to open your wallet.



Seeing as you are a self-confessed newbie (whose mind is yet to be poisoned), here's my thoughts: The reality is that your choice of speakers and its interaction with your room will make the biggest impact on your sound quality. Focus your energies, and your budget, on these two components, first and foremost.

Great. That’s why I’m here to learn from our experienced members like you and all others before a blind buy sir! I know the sky is the limit for budget in every sector at AV WORLD. I want to know that am I spending money in a reasonable way? Thanks!

 

[tuff]

What do you think is missing in your current setup? sometimes the room can have adverse effects on the overall experience. That means getting the placement right, adding some room treatments if necessary. Making sure flat surfaces like glass , marble have to be dealt with.

 

[tuff]

Definitely a very surprise and happy to hear statement for me sir! So a high quality wire alone didn’t make any magic in sound quality ? isn’t it?

In my system, Cables do not make any difference. although i have not tried very expensive cables. But after reading about it a lot, it seems like cables have very basic functions to operate and everything else is perhaps minuscule for most normal ears. Moving things around in my room changes gave me more changes than any cable ever did, hence i recommend people to 'fix' the room first. And also, the biggest upgrade you can get evr is from changing your speakers, then the amp/DAC/ source, in that order.

 

[pks.k]

After a demo with Belden 5T00 Cable’s borrowed from Kannan sir, I have settled with BELDEN 8477 right now!
With the ear level speakers position I hear better dynamics now.
By the way @ Kannan ji such a nice meeting with you sir! You have amazing stereo setup and I didn’t forget your car music system and your home speaker stands! They are simply beautiful design stands!!
Cheers,
PKS.

 

[jls001]

After a demo with Belden 5T00 Cable’s borrowed from Kannan sir, I have settled with BELDEN 8477 right now!
With the ear level speakers position I hear better dynamics now.

I love Belden 8477.

If your speaker and amplifier supports biwiring, use Belden 8471 (16 gauge) for highs and 8477 for woofer. You should hear substantial improvement over 8471 only or 8477 only.

If you have a single pair of binding posts, you can try running your 8477 in parallel with a good copper speaker cable (good here means a cable you already like --- any random copper speaker cable will not work). I have tried paralleling my 8477 with two different copper speaker cables -- the first one is a solid core 18 gauge from the pro audio world, and the second is a 12 gauge multi stranded copper. The "hybrid" sounds better than tinned copper (8477) alone or coppers alone. I have settled with the second option.

This hybridising is a tuning/contouring technique I discovered recently and I am experimenting like crazy with the concept

 

[spirovious]

I have tried paralleling my 8477 with two different copper speaker cables -- the first one is a solid core 18 gauge from the pro audio world, and the second is a 12 gauge multi stranded copper. The "hybrid" sounds better than tinned copper (8477) alone or coppers alone. I have settled with the second option.

This hybridising is a tuning/contouring technique I discovered recently and I am experimenting like crazy with the concept

What I found in my experiment is that ground cable(running from speaker to amp) dominates sound signature.Tried with Audioquest,DAC extreme,Monoprice cables.

 

[rajis141]

Budget upto ₹300/ Mtr. I don’t know many other brands except QED,Chord, Audioquest. If you don’t mind, plz let me know the difference between “branded speaker wire” and ordinary lamp cord! With the branded cable can I hear r feel the music quality well?
I’m interested by the words “99.99 pure copper, lossless energy , etc” in specs of branded cable
Being a new entry to Audio world want to understand the reality. Thanks!

There is a good video on you tube for speaker wires by audioholics:

may help you decide before you spend a fortune on cables.

Regards

 

[Nagaraj S]

Dear FMs,
My speaker wires are 12 years old. Bought them on monoprice.com in 2007. Unbranded 12 AWG.
Do you think they need a replacement since they are pretty old?
I cannot discern any degradation in audio quality though. But that's me.
Thank you

 

[raghupb]

Budget upto ₹300/ Mtr. I don’t know many other brands except QED,Chord, Audioquest. If you don’t mind, plz let me know the difference between “branded speaker wire” and ordinary lamp cord! With the branded cable can I hear r feel the music quality well?
I’m interested by the words “99.99 pure copper, lossless energy , etc” in specs of branded cable
Being a new entry to Audio world want to understand the reality. Thanks!

I have been using lamp cord (good quality electrical wire 2.5 sq mm).
It just works. About 2 years ago bought a spool of 90 meters from Finolex.
Yes, it is 99.9% copper, OFC, and all that.
Used these for 7 speakers in my home and 2 in parents' home.
Have made about 100ft of cables. Cost Rs. 2000/-

If you want to buy "speaker wire" at whatever is your comfort price point, that's your call.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Deleted member 38504]

With things like speaker cables, ICS, plugs, cables, there will always be two schools of thought.

One will say a cheap 100 rupee wire is enough and will go all out and defend this on some science.

The other will say a 100000 rupee wire is also not good enough and will again, defend it via some science or test etc etc.

Then there is me. I believe if my system costs “x” amount of money, I must and should have accessories like wires, plugs, cables and cords for “y” amount of money. So, for every system in a fixed budget, YOU must fix your budget first. And work from there.

Example. If your speakers costs Rs.20000, you think by plugging in a cable that costs Rs.50000 will change your sound? No. Yes. So if your looking for a cable that’s costing 50000, you should have honestly bought a much better amp. So, if u have an amp that costs 20k, go and buy a wire or plug or whatever in the budget of 1-2k or what you feel comfortable is your budget.

If u have a exotic beautiful McIntosh, don’t buy a wire from the local hardware store. Guys from the first school of thought will want to argue on why what again. Ignore

If u have a budget amp and speakers, don’t go and buy a shunyata venom,for example.

Just my understanding. There is no wrong or right. I know people who own systems that cost as much as a studio apartment. And they don’t use havels or Finolex. I also know people who have budget systems and they use very expensive accessories. The terms budget and expensive are relative terms. Define your own.

 

[tuff]

To add to that, most people who have played the swap cables game have done it not only once or twice but tried more than just a few. As it is relatively cheap to change cables and see the difference, ( or not).

 

[raghupb]

On the topic of McIntosh, Roger Russell himself says good gauge lamp cord will do.
So, it's a very open topic. To each is own.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Deleted member 38504]

On the topic of McIntosh, Roger Russell himself says good gauge lamp cord will do.
So, it's a very open topic. To each is own.
Cheers,
Raghu

That’s exactly what I said. McIntosh was just an example. It could have been another brand. And that’s why I said, there are different schools of thought raghu. Sometimes it’s not about what works or what doesn’t. Sometimes it’s about what gives u better sleep. For me, it’s mostly placebo. Hence fix a budget and buy within that. I normally go over my budget because I get excited and i end up buying something I won’t or don’t use.

I again stress. There is nothing wrong is buying a 1 lac set of speaker cables. And there is nothing wrong in buying a 100 rupee set of cables. Whatever budget/comfort levels permit.

 

[Avinash Pai]

Just connected my 12+ year old Jamo speakers to my similar vintage Denon AVR with new speaker wires from Amazon (16 gauge speaker wire 50 ft Rs600). I must say they make a huge difference to the sound. Perhaps because of the earlier wires being 12 years old.

 

[Ebenezer]

Hello All,

I am looking to buy a decent bi-wire speaker cable with insulated terminals (4 Banana plugs on one side & 2 Banana plugs on the other side). I believe decent quality speaker cable prevent any sound degradation / coloration.

I am hearing lot of good reviews about Canare 4S11 speaker cables. I tried in indian online websites, in most websites like Amazon it is currently not available. It is available in Dessertcort.in. I am not sure if it a trustworthy site to buy, pls let me know if any of you have experience with this site.

Let me know if any store in Chennai have good quality speaker bi-wire cable. thanks

 

[Ramanuj]

Chord is better than QED as its more expensive also. Go for QED. Save your money. QED would be enough for QA 3020.

That's a very general statement. It's not Chord is better than QED or QED is better than Chord, it's all system dependent. Both have very expensive cables in their line and QED has proper research & research papers available on the web backing up their cables! But then neither research nor price makes a better cable it's how your system reacts to a particular cable is what it's all about.

 

[yogitashwer]

Hi,
Suggest me a good speaker cable for pair with QA 3020s as Main hooked with Anthem AVR!
QED r Chord?
I’m using basic cables (don’t know brand name) now which are a compliment with previously purchased Marantz nr 1506.
Each Speaker distance from amp 6 ft.

Speaker cable do play important role in setup. U can get a good cables on ebay like monster we'd chord etc.
I bought the monster cable z1 8 mtrs in Rs 2500 from eBay, it changed the sound drastically of my setup.
U can search yr own on ebay, I have also tried electric cables but not much usefull for sound good.