Cable Shootout - BJC VS AudioQuest Sidewinders.

McLoki

I received the cables from stereo55 - well packaged and delivered pretty quickly (thanks stereo). Unfortunately I did not have time to hook them up right away.

Here is my overdue quick comparison of the sidewinders against the Blue Jeans Cables (beldon 1505f cable) that I currently run.

As I have stated in other messages the cd playback of my toshiba 4900 really blows. While cleaning out the basement, I found my old Yamaha C-85 pre-amp and more importantly for this discussion my old Dennon dcd-910 cd player. While not awesome, it sounds really good when you are used to the sound of a crap toshiba 4900.

Anyway - I hooked it up to my current system (cd input on my AVR), put the AVR in stereo mode with my LSi7's (still crosses over to the SVS at 80hz), and pulled up a chair.

I am running BJC (beldon 1505f) from my Onkyo 777 to my Cinepro amp. The test was done replacing the cable from my Denon CD player to the CD inputs on my AVR.

I did not sit down for hours with each cable. I played 1 or 2 songs with one cable, played them again with the other cable. Then repeated for about 40 min. I am not saying that these are the only differences between the cables, but these are the most obvious differences I heard on my system right away and it was reenforced with every song I lisened to.

With the Blue Jeans Cables hooked up the sound is pretty laid back with fairly thick bass. (not boomy, but definately strong). The Blue Jeans cable must present a pretty laid back soundstage because the LSi'7 are usually described as being a very forward speaker.

I hooked up the Sidewinders and the bass reduced dramatically to the point of sounding thin. (I could have compensated for this by turning up the sub - if I ran the sub hot for movies the sound from the CD would have been almost perfect. Since I run the sub very flat for movies the CD sounded thin) The soundstage also moved forward much more than with the blue jeans cables. (not overmuch, but more like what the LSi7's are described as when you read reviews of them. They did not seem more bright or anything like that, but the sound seemed to come from in front of the speakers (and to the sides) rather than from between/behind the speakers (and to the sides). The background instruments sounded a little more clear with the sidewinders, but not much. It could have been the combined effect of less bass and the instruments seeming closer to my sitting position.

For my setup (LSi7's with SVS sub set as close to flat as I could get) the BJC cables fit in with my system and preferences better.

(the sidewinders are now in place on my VCR replacing a very cheap (as in free with the VCR) set of cables. I am sure they will sound much better than what they are replacing.

So is this similar to others have experienced with these cables?

I would say that if you have laid back speakers and run a sub hot for HT (or the speakers are bass heavy) the sidewinders would be your ideal cable.

If your speakers are forward already and bass shy or close to flat, I would give the cables from Blue Jeans cables a try.

Michael

steveinaz

The Sidewinders will sound a little lean in the bass region at first, give them a couple hours then listen again. I think it's better accuracy in the bass, not leaness. The midrange will also settle in, though Sidewinders/Copperheads have a slightly pronounced midrange, no doubt.

Let'm run for awhile and check again, I think they'll grow on you, and what may appear to be an absence of fullness, is really a lack of "hash."

Willow

I would agree with Steve, I let mine run with 2 cd's one jazz and one rock. I then satdoen to listen to Ben Harper and found the cables to be quite detailed and smooth no lack nor over whelming in any of the ranges, very good cables. I was using AR pro II and the AQ cables sounded better not a huge difference but enough that I'd buy more.

Thanks again to Stereo !!

Conradicles

Just won these today on the bay. Hope I got a good deal.:)

Should be an upgrade from my current cable running from my AVR to my power amp.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=170305009512

Erik Tracy

I'm totally confused now.

I've got a set if 'high grade' component video cables from Blue Jeans Cable. Terminated with Red Green Blue RCA and the cables are labeled on the jackets as "HDTV High Brilliance" AND Belden 1505F.

So BJC sells HDTV video cable as audio cable, which is also supposed to be as good as RJ6 for digital coax.

I guess if wire A connects to wire B it's "all good"??? :eek: