Best speaker wire

K_M

tonyb wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

Everyone has there own opinion.

AQ Type 4 has been the best speaker I have used. Is there better wire, most likely yes. Can I get 3 sets for $50 like I did off CL, doubt it.

If someone wants to send me some wire to try I have no problems doing a blind test on my kids. They use my system as much as I do.

If your only criteria for wire is cheap, then your spot on. My question to you would be....do you hold the same criteria for your other components ?

You can get a Pre amp for a 50 too on Craigslist, why spend more ?

When we start treating cables as a component in our systems, that's when thinks start to click. Too bad some don't see it like that.

There are literally hundreds of connections and wires within a system. They are links from one part to another, not technically a component.
The only goal from a connection or link is to not degrade the signal.

The ideal wire will not degrade the signal.

BlueFox

K_M wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

Everyone has there own opinion.

AQ Type 4 has been the best speaker I have used. Is there better wire, most likely yes. Can I get 3 sets for $50 like I did off CL, doubt it.

If someone wants to send me some wire to try I have no problems doing a blind test on my kids. They use my system as much as I do.

If your only criteria for wire is cheap, then your spot on. My question to you would be....do you hold the same criteria for your other components ?

You can get a Pre amp for a 50 too on Craigslist, why spend more ?

When we start treating cables as a component in our systems, that's when thinks start to click. Too bad some don't see it like that.

There are literally hundreds of connections and wires within a system. They are links from one part to another, not technically a component.
The only goal from a connection or link is to not degrade the signal.

The ideal wire will not degrade the signal.

And that is the whole problem. All wire degrades the signal. The issue is trying to find the wire that degrades it the least, and that costs money.

K_M

BlueFox wrote: »

K_M wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

Everyone has there own opinion.

AQ Type 4 has been the best speaker I have used. Is there better wire, most likely yes. Can I get 3 sets for $50 like I did off CL, doubt it.

If someone wants to send me some wire to try I have no problems doing a blind test on my kids. They use my system as much as I do.

If your only criteria for wire is cheap, then your spot on. My question to you would be....do you hold the same criteria for your other components ?

You can get a Pre amp for a 50 too on Craigslist, why spend more ?

When we start treating cables as a component in our systems, that's when thinks start to click. Too bad some don't see it like that.

There are literally hundreds of connections and wires within a system. They are links from one part to another, not technically a component.
The only goal from a connection or link is to not degrade the signal.

The ideal wire will not degrade the signal.

And that is the whole problem. All wire degrades the signal. The issue is trying to find the wire that degrades it the least, and that costs money.

That is where I and many disagree. Unless you are going hundreds of feet, a normal length of wire say 10-20 feet will degrade it hardly at all.
But you are welcome to your view, I just see no evidence supporting it.

Not trying to argue, but we are not talking NASA here, just audio signals.

Clipdat

Kelly is 2019 the year that you try an aftermarket power cable?

gdphoto

There's a pair of Analysis Plus Oval 9 8 foot pr cables w bananas yellow/black w box for sale here. Geppy1 is asking $295. Would that be a good set for my system?

F1nut

tonyb wrote: »

When we start treating cables as a component in our systems, that's when things start to click. Too bad some don't see it like that.

Give that man a ceegar!!!

joecoulson

F1nut wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

When we start treating cables as a component in our systems, that's when things start to click. Too bad some don't see it like that.

Give that man a ceegar!!!

By the looks of his Avatar, he probably has one going at all times.

pitdogg2

gdphoto wrote: »

There's a pair of Analysis Plus Oval 9 8 foot pr cables w bananas yellow/black w box for sale here. Geppy1 is asking $295. Would that be a good set for my system?

are they good cables ?? Yes.. A match for YOUR system? That is only for you to decide. you could always flip them if not. A lot of folks do like them.

gdphoto

I stumbled upon these earlier today.

https://www.amazon.com/KK-Cable-Speaker-Banana-8banana/dp/B07DLBGRYJ/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_clickstream_1_dp#HLCXComparisonWidget_feature_div

The price is right and they are OCC, but I don't know what gauge they are and I never heard of this brand. Any body have experience with these?

motorhead43026

^^Dude, stick with name brand proven manufactures. I am sure these are some freakin junk cables. You asked for suggestions, why don't you check those out?

PSOVLSK

How long of a run to each speaker? I have a pair of Doug's that I'm no longer using. (8ft I think, but they may be 10ft. Possible issue is that they are bi-wire on both ends.

gdphoto

I need a 10 foot pair not biwired. I have a bid in on a pair of Zu cables.

verb

^^^^^ What Skip said. For 2 hundie you can find a set of MIT Terminator 2's (which I did). I immediately noticed a performance improvement over my home-made ones. Baby steps for me, but made me a believer!

gdphoto

Thanks DSkip! Great advise. I learned a lot here about quality cables. I now realize that if I expect to hear a difference I need to up the budget and that's what I'll do. I will stick with one of the brands mentioned in this post and search for the best deal. I am willing to be patient.

rooftop59

If you’re patient, zu audio cables can be won for a very good price. I have noticed that they go cheapest on Friday nights (I followed months before I grabbed a pair). I got my libtecs 10 ft for $81 shipped...

halo

If the OP wins the auction for the Zu Audio cables, he may want to invest in some Zu Audio IC’s as well. Just my $0.02.

marvda1

the zu libtec is pretty good, remember it retailed for 1k+

pitdogg2

Yes you can't get carried away in a bidding war they will come along again.

halo

I like the Zu Audio speaker cables on eBay but you cannot buy bi-wire cables on those auctions

mdaudioguy

K_M wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

K_M wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

Everyone has there own opinion.

AQ Type 4 has been the best speaker I have used. Is there better wire, most likely yes. Can I get 3 sets for $50 like I did off CL, doubt it.

If someone wants to send me some wire to try I have no problems doing a blind test on my kids. They use my system as much as I do.

If your only criteria for wire is cheap, then your spot on. My question to you would be....do you hold the same criteria for your other components ?

You can get a Pre amp for a 50 too on Craigslist, why spend more ?

When we start treating cables as a component in our systems, that's when thinks start to click. Too bad some don't see it like that.

There are literally hundreds of connections and wires within a system. They are links from one part to another, not technically a component.
The only goal from a connection or link is to not degrade the signal.

The ideal wire will not degrade the signal.

And that is the whole problem. All wire degrades the signal. The issue is trying to find the wire that degrades it the least, and that costs money.

That is where I and many disagree. Unless you are going hundreds of feet, a normal length of wire say 10-20 feet will degrade it hardly at all.
But you are welcome to your view, I just see no evidence supporting it.

Not trying to argue, but we are not talking NASA here, just audio signals.

For mid-level systems, no need to outspend your speakers and other gear. The improvements won't likely be drastic. As you start climbing the ladder with more refined gear, you can hear the differences that better cables (power, interconnects, and speaker) bring.

I totally get that one person's mid-level is another's final stop, and that's ok. But, those people should recognize that said improvements may not be apparent in their system, but that's not proof that cables don't matter, only that it doesn't matter to them, in their system.

My Polk RTi 9-speaker HT is strung together with budget zipcord. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have upped that budget a little, however, I'll probably never upgrade now, since most of it is in-wall. My return on that investment (mostly my time) is just not worth it to me.

My hybrid 2-channel/5.1 HT is a different story. The main left and right are getting the full treatment with incremental cable upgrades, from power to source to speaker, and each swap has had a positive, undeniable effect on the overall sound. Still, the surrounds in that system are connected with standard 14 gauge wire, because it just doesn't matter to me for that application.

txcoastal1

No such thing as best

I've had the good bad and the ugly make both positive and negative audible differences in my systems.

Years ago I had a pair of **** that worked great on my Usher MD2's at LSAF. We put them on Skips system on another pair of his Usher 6800 series and they were very flat.

Switched his back to his PNF's I believe and his system was alive again

....

I own a pair of MIT S1.3 shotgun interconnects that have failed in my systems but were the bomb with the Thresholds Modwright pre

Synergy

gdphoto

I found a pair of 15 ft. MIT AVT3 Speaker Cables for $175 plus S&H. Unless I'm missing something I should grab them. Any reason why I schouldn't?

rooftop59

gdphoto wrote: »

I found a pair of 15 ft. MIT AVT3 Speaker Cables for $175 plus S&H. Unless I'm missing something I should grab them. Any reason why I schouldn't?

Considering the length I think that’s a pretty solid deal. Others probably know pricing better. But yes, a good cable for the $$$

K_M

[/quote]
For mid-level systems, no need to outspend your speakers and other gear. The improvements won't likely be drastic. As you start climbing the ladder with more refined gear, you can hear the differences that better cables (power, interconnects, and speaker) bring.

I totally get that one person's mid-level is another's final stop, and that's ok. But, those people should recognize that said improvements may not be apparent in their system, but that's not proof that cables don't matter, only that it doesn't matter to them, in their system.

My Polk RTi 9-speaker HT is strung together with budget zipcord. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have upped that budget a little, however, I'll probably never upgrade now, since most of it is in-wall. My return on that investment (mostly my time) is just not worth it to me.

My hybrid 2-channel/5.1 HT is a different story. The main left and right are getting the full treatment with incremental cable upgrades, from power to source to speaker, and each swap has had a positive, undeniable effect on the overall sound. Still, the surrounds in that system are connected with standard 14 gauge wire, because it just doesn't matter to me for that application.[/quote]

System price and subjective impressions...huh? Maybe my hearing is bad.....forgot that one...lol

Still does not change the fact that with short runs of wire, audio is very easily sent with very little degradation.
There is very little room for improvement.

[Deleted User]

I made my own cables with 12g OFC and sleeved with braided nylon/sst. They're terminated with wire pants and Sewell BP's. I just didn't feel the need to spend a grand on speaker wires but I wanted some decent quality. I'm happy with the ones I made and I'm fairly certain the average listener will not be able to tell the difference between mine and a much more expensive set. And, imho, they look pretty good.

tonyb

K_M wrote: »

Still does not change the fact that with short runs of wire, audio is very easily sent with very little degradation.
There is very little room for improvement.
[/quote]

No offense here, but you'd be very wrong to think that. Maybe in terms of signal strength vs extremely long runs. More to cables than just signal strength though. Most cables made today, lose very little of the signal even on runs of 20+ feet.

Sound...is a different matter than signal degradation. A 5 ft. pair of monoprice cables vs a 5 ft pair of Wireworld eclipse, MIT, Acoustic zen, Kimber, even Audioquest, would not be subtle. Most tend to compare cables within the same criteria, cheap, gauge, ofc. Then you'd be correct about little room for improvements.

Much of this cables thing is trial and error, as already said, not everything is going to be a prince and synergize with your system or ears. Which btw...is also said for every other piece of gear in your system, and why we say to treat the cabling in the same manner.

That said, many are turned off by the higher costs of better cabling. I have a hard time with it myself as my own wallet is not bottomless. This is why I suggest buying used cables at roughly half of those retail prices. Sometimes even less. Even the budget minded can then experience what better cabling can do for your system.

Heaven knows, I sure as sheet ain't the only budget conscience guy on the forum.

EndersShadow

I've tended to look at spending ~10% of the price of my gear on associated cables.

Meaning if my entire HT is about 10k of equipment, I should have about 1k TOTAL in cables connecting everything.

In general that gets me to the mid-fi level of my stuff. Then looking for used results in good deals on cables that are for what I have now as "end-game" as my wallet can afford.

I've spend years acquiring cables of all sorts as they went on sale and my wallet didnt take nearly the hit it could.

Some examples:

Powercables: Stock -> Pangea AC-9 & AC-14 -> PS Audio AC-3's
Interconnects: Stock ->Signal Cable Analog 2 -> MIT EXp2 -> Kimber Kable Hero
Speaker Cable: Monoprice 12 gauge -> MIT EXp2 -> Kimber Kable 8VS -> Kimber Kable 8TC (front L/R/C only)
HDMI: Stock -> Monoprice -> Audioquest Cinnamon

In general I've found as I moved up each provided a benefit, however moving higher up than I am now has a higher cost to benefit ratio than I AM comfortable with. Everyones wallet is diff, so someone else may go for it and thats cool, or someone else may not want to spend what I have either, which is ALSO ok.

In general it doesn't cost a LOT to get into better cables. You just have to be super patient for deals and slowly upgrade over time. The upgrades noted above have all been works in progress since I became a member hear over YEARS.

My fav brands for most to start with are:

Signal Cable*
Douglas Connection*
Blue Jeans Cable
Zu Audio (ebay only)

Moving up to the next mid-fi tier IMGO gets you to:
Wireworld (purchase from @Dskip)
Kimber Kable
PS Audio
MIT

*members here get 10% off with each vendor

Hermitism

I just want to make one comment about cables and synergy. This example has to do with power cables. Not trying to invoke a debate, just sharing my experimentation. It's nice to experiment once you finally have different stuff to experiment with. I use RTi speakers for my HT. They're bright and I've done a lot of stuff to bring some warmth to that system. Panels, cables, Dynamat in components. When I bought my LSiM speakers, which everyone loves here, and tried them in my HT system, I didn't like them or I didn't like the loss of the top end. The brightness had gone from one extreme with the RTi to the other extreme with the LSiM. Since I have more stuff to mix around since I'm building a two channel system, I tried out PS Audio AC5 power cables in my HT with the 703s; I had Pangea cables there originally which have a very warm sound (in my opinion). The AC5s did something magical to the top end. Even though I still don't really understand how a power cable could change the sound, it did. Power, IC, speaker cables... that's a lot of flavoring or neutrality that you have to get right for each person's system. So I have to amend my former opinion on LSiM speakers not being good HT speakers. It was just bad synergy. Or an ear wax build up. I think there is already a nasty thread here on ear wax.

rpf65

I personally thought that those that said cables matter were completely insane, when I first read it. Others who said it only matters with a long length of cable, I thought were a little bit more sane, but still in need of professional help.

Then I tried a little bit better cable, Canare 4s11. I don’t know what I first had hooked up to the front three, still have it for surrounds, but I heard a slight improvement. So I started reading.

Looking at the pricing of I couldn’t, and still can’t believe the price some will pay, but it’s there money. Anyway I was looking and found a good buy on Analysis Plus Black Mesh Oval 9.

Switching from the Canare to the Analysis Plus made my speakers sound completely different. I honestly couldn’t believe how much better they sounded. Most here, myself included, would not consider LSI M705’s high end speakers, but the improvement was very evident. I heard things in various songs, that I’ve been listening to for over 30 years, that I didn’t know were there.

Bad part was that the center channel was extremely isolated. So much so that people who could care less about such things asked why my system sounded a little weird. So I bought a pair of 4 foot Clear Ovals, and tried one of them on the center. No more isolation issue.

Some may consider an 8 foot run long, but in no way is a 4 foot run of speaker cable even close to being considered long. Was pretty happy that I didn’t have to buy the more expensive version to get good results.

I don’t understand it, and have no interest in finding out why, but different materials, construction techniques, and other things cable companies do will influence the sound of the system. I’ve also heard this on interconnects.

For the skeptics; No, it isn’t all in my head. I’ve had people over who use their tv speakers, and only listen to music, in their cars, with stock radios hear a difference.

Even heard a difference when I pulled the RTI A5’s out of the closet and hooked them up. Although it wasn’t as profound as the LSI M’s it was still very noticeable.

So, to the OP, there is better cable out there than what you’re currently using. It will cost a little, but it doesn’t have to be rediculous. My advice is go to The Cable Companies web site and check out their lending library.

halo

A question about these Audioquest speaker cables:

What is the hierarchy between these two models:

Type 8

Rocket 33

It seems, to me, that the Rocket 33 & Type 8 are very similar to one another as both feature long grain copper and perfect surface copper combinations. You have to step up to the Rocket 44 for a straight perfect surface copper cable.

The Type 8 & the Rocket 33 are similarly priced at Audio Advisor for a no frills bi-wire cable (actually, the Type 8 is just a little more expensive than the Rocket 33). @mantis ?