To Solder or Not to Solder, That is The Question.

transmaster

I am fixing to send off an order to Monoprice for speaker wire and end connectors. I searched this forum and this question did not come up. Monoprice has soldered , and non-solders banana plugs. Which should I get? My own inclination is non-soldered, a tiny amount of Caig DeoxIT Gold on the copper ends cinch them down in the connector and go for it. What are your thoughts on this.

heiney9

Get Canare 4S11 from here

http://www.performanceaudio.com/buy/Canare/4S11/535

Nicer cable, sounds better too.

Soldering the ends would be my choice.

H9

thsmith

What H9 said, I like the vampire bananas that sonicap sells.

transmaster

I was reading over at Blue Jeans Cable he also has Canare 4S11 cable but his favorite is the Belden 5000 series. An interesting question in another forum was what interconnect cables where used a EMI's Abbey Road Studio to record the Beatles, and it turned out it was Belden.

heiney9

transmaster wrote: »

I was reading over at Blue Jeans Cable he also has Canare 4S11 cable but his favorite is the Belden 5000 series.

Both are very good, I have only used the Canare 4S11 and compared to regular copper stranded "zip cord", it's a much better sounding cable. I suggested it because you get good performance without breaking the bank. I use a double run of Canare 4S8 in my office rig. I even bought tech-flex to make it look better. The Canare is a star quad configuration and based on that I's choose it over the Belden.

I believe Performance Audio has the best price on Canare. I have bought from them a few times. Great company. But so is Blue Jeans.

H9

transmaster

Well today is Polk Monitor 10B day. On my work bench I have four 12 uf 200V Sonicaps, for the high pass, two 33uf 250V Axons for the low pass, plus two Mills 2.0 Ohm 12 watt, two 2.7 Ohm 12 watt, and finally a pair of 0.5 Ohm 12 watt resistors to replace the polyswitches. When they are hooked up again I will use the 22 year old Monster Cable they have always been connected with.

This is the real thing I am looking for is a cable that will stand the test of time. Because of Monster Cables business practice of trying to run competitors out business with threaten patient suits they are not getting my business. I think I will see what is out there is cable that fills the above criteria.

heiney9

Do you have a budget in mind for cables, because honestly for the meager cost of $1.22 per foot the Canare Star Quad 4S11 is about the best going until you start to increase the cost by a lot.

H9

transmaster

I am not going to spend an inordinate amount on cable 1.22 per foot is not bad, cheaper then Blue Jeans. That is going to be most of the fun deciding what to get.

heiney9

transmaster wrote: »

I am not going to spend an inordinate amount on cable.

Sorry, have no idea what that means as far as a budget. But I'll stand by my recommendation until you indicate you want to go to the next level. In my own personal comparison's the Canare is a great performer even against the next level up. Great bang for the buck, that's why I continue to use it in my other (2) secondary rigs.

Have fun doing the x-overs and be sure to do one at a time so if you make a mistake or forget something, etc you have the other one to look at.

H9

transmaster

Inordinate means I will decide when I purchase it. I do like your suggestion The one thing that does occur to me the twisted conductors in the Canare cable will help keep RF out of the these cables. My sound system is in my Hamshack and at times there are RF fields in the Mancave.

RickTfromAZ

transmaster wrote: »

Well today is Polk Monitor 10B day. On my work bench I have four 12 uf 200V Sonicaps, for the high pass, two 33uf 250V Axons for the low pass, plus two Mills 2.0 Ohm 12 watt, two 2.7 Ohm 12 watt, and finally a pair of 0.5 Ohm 12 watt resistors to replace the polyswitches.

Search the threads. DK did a review of replacing the polyswitch with a resistor and his results were not positive. I have jumpers installed.
If you would like to try out the Belden 5000 series cable, I have about 80 feet of the 10 AWG cut into 10 foot lengths. I would be more than happy to give you some (you can have all of it, if you like). Just let me know what you need, if you are interested, and PM me your address. I also have some of the bananas that Blue Jeans sells that I'll thow in too.

Drenis

That's a great price for the Canare cable. A local audio shop here charges about $1.20 per foot of your standard stranded 12 awg cable.

I know right?

Face

Go with the Belden.

As for termination, something copper based such as Vampire nanners from Sonic Craft. The crap from monoprice is cheap brass.

decal

post #13 spammer reported

F1nut

RickTfromAZ wrote: »

Search the threads. DK did a review of replacing the polyswitch with a resistor and his results were not positive.

And many others, including myself, have had extremely positive results replacing the polyswitch with a resistor. I found too much treble energy with the jumper.

I have jumpers installed.

Have you tried a resistor?

Toolfan66

I prefer the resistor over the jumper, try it both ways it's easy and cheap to do. I agree with Jesse as far as the treble energy..

headrott

I feel the need for a resistor versus the jumper is very dependant on all the equipment used in the audio chain. I have used both a resistor and a jumper. I feel with my current setup, it is not necessary to install a resistor. I am using Clarity Cap ESA's and Duelund resistors on the SDA crossovers. I also have some Amperex 7308 and Mullard long plate 12AX7 tubes in the chain which "tame" the brightness. As Jesse and Larry suggested, try installing a resitor and listen for the differences. You should find you prefer one over the other. As I said, it depends on the gear you are running.