Is it worth upgrading subwoofer IC

samnor

I havent been able to get a clear perspective on this. I can understand folks upgrading their IC's between preamp-amp (lower capacitance, air as a dielectric and the whole 9 yards) but with regard to subwoofer connection from the preamp, is it worth the upgrade to say a bluejeans lc-1 or some other "audiophile" cable or will the monoprice version suffice.

dane_peterson

You're going to get responses on both sides of the fence, here.

IMO, there are better things to spend your money on than cables. Especially if the cable is not carrying powered signal. Stick with whatcha got.

Toxis

if you can see a point of passing a low level signal over a cable from preamp to amp, why can't you see the point of a low level signal from preamp to sub's internal amp?

quadzilla

As with any cable, capicitance is one of the most important things. This is especially true with a sub cable, since when the cable's dielectric discharges, it will tend to smear the bass signal. Some people are sensitive to this, some aren't. That said, you can find close out deals on the Acoustic Research Masters Series sub cables for as low as $10 for the 15 ft version. Try that, and if you hear a difference, then decide whether you think it's worth upgrading further. I went from AR's low end sub cables to the Master Series and heard a difference that I liked better, and it cost me around $35 for two cables with shipping and am pretty happy.

samnor

Toxis wrote: »

if you can see a point of passing a low level signal over a cable from preamp to amp, why can't you see the point of a low level signal from preamp to sub's internal amp?

A sub cable will carry far less info than the preamp to amp and its usually the highs and the mids in my ears that tend to be affected, the sub is handling bass period.. So its not the same comparison... Quadzilla made a point about bass being smeared so sure, low frequencies can potentially be affected by an inferior high capacitance cable but my question was whether the difference is so obvious when you upgrade a sub cable vs upgrading the preamp-amp connection...

Quadzilla, I'll try out the ar cable as you suggested. Thanks....

quadzilla

Some people are also sensitive to low frequencies. I'm one of those people. Even though it's less information as far as the total range of frequencies, the levels are the same as from a pre to a power amp, so the same issues are typically encountered. Any hum, especially in the lower frequencies, will usually be magnified since the sub is only producing low frequencies.

I just checked, and amazon has the AR Masters MS253 25' cable for $20 w/ free shipping and it's in stock, and the 15' is at $10 w/ 8.50 shipping through a seller from amazon's site. Last 15' available though.