Audio cables

dudeinaroom

Well in a short while here I will be receiving and adcom gfp 555 to go with my adcom gfa 555. I will be using a kenwood tuner, and a sony cd/dvd/sacd player as sources. I'm really tempted to try different cables as I am using the cheapys tha come in the boxes. You know the ones that are the thickness of dental floss. I am tempted to try monster, acoustic research, rca(the beefier ones) philips etc. I'm not looking for the ulimate cable, just to see if I can here an improvement. I guess I'm asking for some suggestions for something on the cheap,cheap of cheap. Or even if their is some one in eastern central MI who would let me audition some for about a week to see if I can hear any improvements. Also if I am to buy a single pair, where does one thing I would hear the biggest improvement, between source and pre or between pre and amp?

any info would be great.

I know there are a lot of post on the subject, and it has been beaten to death, I have read alot of them and am just kinda looking for a starting point. If some one could recommend something on the really cheap it would also be awesome.

Thanks all,
Dude

VR3

!0 dollar cables dont make much difference - 50 dollar ones do though...

ND13

Of the cables you listed, the ARs are the ones I'd choose. Pay the little extra and get their higher ended ones. I think they call them Pro Series.

zombie boy 2000

ND13 wrote:

Of the cables you listed, the ARs are the ones I'd choose. Pay the little extra and get their higher ended ones. I think they call them Pro Series.

I think it may be the Master series, but I might be mistaken...

ND13

zombie boy 2000 wrote:

I think it may be the Master series, but I might be mistaken...

You're probably right.

I do remember them being fairly salty, si one could probably get some Signals for around the same price. Or better yet, get some Cobalts or similar, pre-owned, from someone you can trust to have not abused them.

surfntomm

how can one abuse cables, other than cosmetics? is that possible?

ND13

surfntomm wrote:

how can one abuse cables, other than cosmetics? is that possible?

Yep, I've seen people pull the connectors loose, stretch out the prongs on the connectors, break the strands inside the shielding by pulling on them , etc, etc.

If it can be broken, people will eff it up.

amulford

If I were you, I'd just go with SignalCable. Frank Dai makes a solid product at reasonable prices. If you tell him you are a member of Club Polk, you'll get a discount.

Personally, I like the Analog 2's. The Analog 1's are any slouch either. I also like the silver, but only for certain types of music.

If you go with all Signal (ie IC power and speaker), you will get a synergy going that will be VERY noticable and quite pleasing.

John K.

Dude, the first thing to keep in mind is that the "cheapys" that came in the box are doing the rather simple job of guiding the audio signal down the outside of the wire as well as anything else in most cases. The thickness is irrelevant and losses are insignificant at the distances used in home audio. If there's heavy electromagnetic or radio frequency interference present(not usual in most homes), then heavier shielding than was present in very thin cables would be a benefit. Nevertheless, if you want to try some heavier cables there're sources such as MonoPrice which offer them at a fair price. The area of audio cables is a quagmire of misinformation and outright rip-offs and there're some who like to pay as much as a thousand times more than this.

F1nut

I'll say this, Johnny's advice is always BS, but always good for laugh.

reeltrouble1

As with each part of your rig the cables matter, just let your ears tell you when to stop.

The Signal Cable advice is excellent. Some others of note are BlueJeans Cable, Cobalt and usedcable.com., also known as fatwyre.com I believe for new stuff. The MIT terminator series although out of production offer value and excellent build quality with sonics.

Tweaking with the cables is just part of the fun of audio.

RT1

dudeinaroom

F1nut wrote:

I'll say this, Johnny's advice is always BS, but always good for laugh.

+1 on that. I can hear a difference. I bought some philips cables that are about 3 times the thickness of what I was using and the bass seems to be more real, and the sound stage has opened up a touch. Now for the big improvement. I got my adcom gfp 555 in the mail today and oh my god what a difference.

halo

amulford wrote:

If I were you, I'd just go with SignalCable. Frank Dai makes a solid product at reasonable prices. If you tell him you are a member of Club Polk, you'll get a discount.

Personally, I like the Analog 2's. The Analog 1's are any slouch either. I also like the silver, but only for certain types of music.

If you go with all Signal (ie IC power and speaker), you will get a synergy going that will be VERY noticable and quite pleasing.

+ 1 on going with all the same (brand) cables. I was using BJC Ten White Speaker Cables with all Signal Cable Analog Two IC's. When I switched to all Signal Cable (IC's and Speaker Cables) I noticed an immediate improvement in SQ. Frank is a freat guy to deal with too.

steveinaz

Cheap & good performance = Audioquest Sidewinder (handle w/care however)
Best IC under $100 (IMO) = Kimber PBJ

The only Signal Cable product I've owned was the AES/EBU digital (very nice), so I can't speak about Frank's IC's.

Lowell_M

dudeinaroom wrote:

+1 on that. I can hear a difference. I bought some philips cables that are about 3 times the thickness of what I was using and the bass seems to be more real, and the sound stage has opened up a touch. Now for the big improvement. I got my adcom gfp 555 in the mail today and oh my god what a difference.

Not trying to highjack your thread (I guess i did though), but I would be interested in your impressions of the sound through the GFP-555. I will be building a 2-channel system in the spring and looking for another GFA-555 or 545 and a pre-amp of some sort.

dudeinaroom

I absolutely love it. I had made kind of a passive pre to match the output of my surrounds to my sda's. It consisted of a potentiometer and rca jacks from radio shack. I was using it as a pre after I took the ht down and went to 2ch. This combo sounded better than going through my avr.

The Adcom made a world of difference. It lifted a veil from my setup. The sound stage has become wider, and more distinct I can pick out the location of instruments, and singer to a tee. The bass is much more refined, and no longer boomy, which I though was room gain. It also seems to dig even deeper and is also a lot faster, it can be scary how quick a note will start, and then stop. Treble is very very clean strings and horns sound life like. I am also hearing more in music than I ever had before. On my Boston sacd the guitars sound soo good. You can actually tell that they are picking the strings in parts of the song. Cymbals have no harshness to them. The music just sounds nice, full and rich. With the Moulin Rogue soundtrack cd Ewan McGregors voice is amazing the mids are very nice through the Adcom pre. Dynamics seem to be the best I have heard yet in my house. It can go from soft to loud and back again with out any thing trying to hang on, the ringing is gone. I am very pleased with it. I would say it is worth a listen.

Get out their and do some listening, see what you like.

candyliquor35m

I'll be glad to mail you my 1 m kimber pbj's to demo which are just sitting in a box right now. I would upgrade both the source and the amp cables or you'll still have a weak link. pm me your address and I can mail them tomorrow no charge unless you live in china. It will probably cost $2 to send them parcel post.

carl

dudeinaroom

sweet. I'm on it, pm being sent.

dudeinaroom

just got them today will post more in a separate thread. Thanks again, you will see them back to your door with in a month(unless they some how get lost in the shelves somewhere - just kidding).

dudeinaroom

just wondering what it cost to send them?

Music Joe

Are your pre-amp to amplifier connections about a meter or less?
Do you live in a high or low RF area?

dudeinaroom

no high rf, pre to amp is 1 meter would like to a get half meter.

candyliquor35m

dudeinaroom wrote:

just wondering what it cost to send they?

$1.59

Music Joe

You could buy a few meters of Cat5e Plenum and make up some really nice short meter or under unsheilded twisted pair cables. The solid 24ga in teflon makes a good value "do it yourself" cable.

dudeinaroom

might have to try that only problem is I would want to use wbt 0147 rca's and at $16.50 a pop the pbj's seem better than hoping cat 5 will sound good.

ben62670

The adcom use a fairly high amount of current to operate. i have the GFP-500, GFA-585, GFA-555,GFA-7500, and GFA-5400. I had factory's to start, and I upgraded to AR's from best buy (stop laughing). If you are doing short runs buy short cables. Mine are nicely insulated, shielded, low loss cables. If you are rich and you want to show off your Fancy cables to your friends spend $100 or more per set. All that travels down that wire is a low voltage signal. If there is no loss of signal going from 1 unit to another you will get the same sound. High dollar cable does not manipulate sound, no loss is no loss. Plan your wiring is better advice than spending high dollars. Don't run signal wires parallel with speaker wires or power chords. Some of the retarded S#!t I see in high end magazines makes me sick. Are people really stupid enough to believe that if you freeze cables down to 270 below zero it makes your system sound better? Keep your connections clean, runs short, routed properly, and the shielded cables like the AR's will work for you. If you are running long distances, or near alternating current, through a wall with speaker wire then I can see justifying the slightly more expensive wire. I was actually thinking of making custom cables for rich dummies, create some story why my cables are so good, how the earths rotation and magnetic field affect sound quality. Maybe even through in a bit about how my cables are impervious to alien communication, and navigation signals. I just don't have it in me to rip off rich dummies. If I upset anyone hear with my comments I will be making a custom set of .5 meter alien proof patch cables for you that only cost $549. Have a nice day Ben :-)

reeltrouble1

It is always a pleasure when someone come's along and sets everybody here straight regarding wire.

Two instruments playing the same identically tuned frequency sound different, amazing.

Two piano's one made in the Far East another Stateside have the same characteristics yet one sounds detailed the other more laid back, amazing.

RT1
just another dummy

zombie boy 2000

Oh, I don't know RT... I think I finally see the light. I mean, aliens are stupid and vicious lil' buggers and I don't want their telephathic, slimy appendages anywhere near my rig as they smell like sour milk. So sure, if this guy can build it , I'll buy it.

What can I say? I'm just a good ol' fashioned, down-home, banjo-pickin' and/or lickin' Artard.

dudeinaroom

ben62670 wrote:

High dollar cable doesn't not manipulate sound.

Your right. Low dollar cables manipulate sound. A lot of the low end cables use wiring with higher capitance, and inductance which will muffle highs and lows, and capitance will actually allow the wires to store energy and muddy up the sound as well as hinder transients. They also use cheaper terminations which do not hold as tight, and are made of less conductive mixes of metals with a single sided plating. Thanks for the advice just the same, but I'll stick to what my ears like. No disrespect meant

Later,
Ted

SLOCOOKN

I would like to offer my competition cables aginst ben's...My cables will keep Santa from spying on you. How they work...They are made of moon rock ground down and heat is added to molt the rock and then put through an extruding machine that covers stranded, yes stranded moon core cable covered in wolf dung. Santa has been able to spy on us using ulf "ultra low freq" from his reindeer jumping up and down. the sound leaves the north pole and travles all over the world. The ulf then enters most all cables and wires stranded or solid core (except ours). The ulf will pass through the cable with all the information contained in the cable back to the north pole. the deer will put their ears to the ground and communicate back to Santa what you are listening to.

This breach of ulf will not happen in our cables because of the propritary process of molten moon rock (decrease vibration) and wolf dung (sworn enemy of reindeer). we also sell whole building kits..call for prices Christmas is almost here....still not to late to order 3,000,000 per linear foot. call before 2025 and the price will be double!!!!

Just kidding it is all fun even when when we are having problems

ben62670

I'm glad to see humor in these post. All kidding aside wire routing does make a huge difference with cheapys, and less with the better ones. Its easy for me poke fun at the well to do, because I am so broke! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and you find a full set of SDA's under your tree this year.


And dude I would be interested in your findings with those fancy plutonium modulating cables that are on the way(said with a hint of sarcasm). I have a very similar setup with the Adcom GFP-500, GFA 555, GFA-7500, GFA-585, GFA-5400, and an HK reciever used as a HT preamp(the output is good, I just don't know how I feel about the HK yet).


And does anyone know where to get short decent patch cable's for the 6 channel direct from dvd to reciever input. They only need to be 1 to 2 feet long?

Thanks Ben