4 way stereo pair speaker wire shootout.
mantis
Posts: 17,201
Whats up everyone???
It's been awhile since I posted one of these and actually I have had 4 different front speaker wires connected to my sysem to test them out.
1) Audioquest cv8's are my reference wires and everything I test has to be compared to them.
2) DH labs Silver sonic 14-2.
3)Audioquest Bulk 14-2 cl3 rated Custom speaker wire.
4)Analysis Plus Theater 2 14-2 cl3 rated inwall speaker wire.
For the shoot out I used Dynaudio Audience 82's , Dynaudio 42w's and for the sheer hell of it a Polk audio cd400i center channel by itself. Preamp and amp are Rotel rsp1068 and a RMB1095. The IC's are Audioquest Jaguars. It would have been nice to test DH labs and Analysis Plus Ic's with there cables but I also have Audioquest Ita 1.1 custom built(by me) 1m Ic's so I also but them in . Pioneer Elite dv47a and a Ps3 was used for sources.
As usual I listened to my cv8's for awhile to get everything in order. Also warmed up the gear with them and dropped in some music. Detail and warmth is what these cable bright or not take away from my system. It's a perfect balance in my opnion from source to speaker. Audioquest has proven to me that I need not even look into wire anymore. The line has been set in stone and it's going to take Merlin or Kng Aurthor himself to prove other wise. Happy? Yes I am. I have been for year with Audioquest.
Dh Labs silver sonics where up next. I ran these cables for weeks. I burned them in and then some. They where brand new when I got them. They added brightness to my system. I didn't care for that. I had to put in the cv8's to make sure I wasn't hearing something that I made up. Sure enough my sound smoothed out and the extreme brightness went away. I also lost some bass. It was there but I noticed it enough that I decided to remove the sub from the mix as it was mid range I lost. Sure enough it was. In my system these cables made is sound bright and thin. Not night and day but enough to notice. On the cs400i , I ran 5 channel stereo , turned off the rears and disconnected main speakers. It to showed the brightness between the 2 cables. I connected my 42w's as fronts and it was there as well. So for my system these do not work. Nicely built cables and are made from silver/copper mix. If your system is to strong in mid bass and need some help on the top, these cables are for you. It will take some of the deadness out and wake it up.
Audioquest 14-2 cl3 bulk custom cable. I just cut 2 8 foot lengths and went to town. This cable is like 200 bucks for 250 feet or something like that. Incedible value. It sounds almost as good as my 700.00 cv8's. Crazy but very true. It has the ability to be smooth , detailed and clear. I love it. It's ugly plain **** off white color so in the looks department they suck ****. But who really cares about things like that except idiots like me. But after listening to them for a week on my 82's , they have proven there value in my system. I use this cable in my system on my center channel(Dynaudio Audience 122c) and it keeps right up with the cv8's. I was going to order a center channel cv8 which I still may but I feel the amount of money I paid for an entire roll of this wire which by the way is in my walls for my rears(Dynaudio Audience 42w) and I can't be any happier with this wire. It's been 4 years and I still have not built my theater in the basement. So many things have changed and cost me thousands of dollars that I had to put it on the back burner. I plan on getting it going soon but with 2 kids and a wife, they always find ways to spend my money... o well I will enjoy my system in my familyroom untill then.
Ok so just yesterday I received my new wires in Analysis Plus Theater 2's. I had to build them myself which was fun. I do it everyday and I'm still cool with building wires. For this they are brand new and I used Spades at the speakers and bananas at the amp end. The silver sonics I used Bananas from Viennna Acoustics and the Audioquest 14-2 I used bare wire. So After I they where built , I installed them in. I didn't listen to them yesterday but heard it go. I didn't notice anything different but I was not really listening. I watched some tv and played some games. They ran all day and night. I felt the need to make my thead now as I have made a discovery in them. They are nice. They sound clear and warm like the 14-2 . They cost alot more but actually not in the sound I liked , it's the softness of the cable. It's nice to work with non solid core wire. Again this has NOTHING to do with the sound but in the ability to run and manage wire. I find this Important as I hate nothing more then difficult wire to work with. It's the only thing I don't care for with Audioquest. They are a solid core company and sometimes it sucks to work with. I'm sure non of you care about that but being a custom Installer , it matters alot to me.
So back to the Analysis Plus theater 2's sound. I find them to be a equal to the 14-2 cl2 audioquest cables. I have not found anything I like about them better here. Detail , bass response , are almost exact. I switched back and forth and had a difficult time hearing a difference. Both cables are copper. Both claim what they do, Analysis Plus claims there oval design is superior in tranferring highs but I don't hear an improvement or a worse tone compared. So for the sheer hell of it I figured the cv8's should be placed back in and see whats the deal. Well the cv8's are more detailed. They bring a steadyness to the sound. It's like adding space inbetween everything. What you want to hear meaning the voice of Norah Jones when she is singing The Prettiest thing You can hear her take a breath. You can hear the hi hats on the drum kit in the back shimmering. The kick drum is clear and how it would sound if it was in the room. The snare drum you can hear the after ring of the Snare after he hits it beat for beat. Beauty like her voice these cables are. I don't know if they are just a correct match or a superior cable. Unfair as they cost more then all the other combine but it proves to me I made the right choice when I purchased them.
This is the part I love and hate with this hobby. As I sit here having a good time, enjoying my thoughts and mood , I find myself now wanting to go even higher end with Audioquest. Ic's with HDMI lurking in the wind as my system is getting a new preamp as soon as I find one that does exactly what I want it to do , they will not be as needed. Balanced probably will go in and by design is a superior cable anyway . So Jag's will probably be replaced with Balanced Jag's. Who know I'll cross that bridge when I get there . But speaker wire for my front 2 are important to me in the fact that I love to sometimes sit and get into a cd/sacd or what have you. Relax and put my feet up after a hard long day.
Could I be happy with what I own?? Yes. I could sell my cv8's which is going to happen soon and Install 14-2 cl3 Audioquest?? Yes I would but on those 2 channel days I would like to have better. During movies , I don't find any reason to spend the insane amount of money on my wires. Like I said the 14-2 cl3 Audioquest I find to be perfect. Detail and sonic's are all there. Maybe it's a hang up, maybe just knowing that I can squeeze just that tad bit more out when I listen to music that I'm willing to spend more money there. Maybe I should build a 2 channel system and stop trying to do 2 channel and theater in the same system. All may be the case but this isn't about all that. It's about all these cool cables I tested.
To wrap it up , I feel the Analysis Plus theater 2 wire to be the best to work with, it holds it's own in sound quality but I feel it's pricey for little or no gain in sound quality. The Audioquest cl3 14-2 is the overall best cable as it's price to performance is out of this world. The DH labs silver sonic stunk up my system for music and for theater use I didn't notice as it was only wired on the mains. I didn't find watching movies with it to hurt my sound. The cv8's are the best sounding speaker wires I own and won this battle hands down but for movies I find no benefits to owning them. Only in 2 channel do I really notice. Maybe if I wired my entire system in cv8 that I would yield some Improvement but the cost would not equal the performance. I would rather buy a better amp or preamp. Wire has it's limitations on if it can help anything. Once you have the proper guage for the length your going and account for the size of the speaker, 14 guage gets it done for just about everything. Like I said the Audioquest 14-2 really is the winner here.
Dan
It's been awhile since I posted one of these and actually I have had 4 different front speaker wires connected to my sysem to test them out.
1) Audioquest cv8's are my reference wires and everything I test has to be compared to them.
2) DH labs Silver sonic 14-2.
3)Audioquest Bulk 14-2 cl3 rated Custom speaker wire.
4)Analysis Plus Theater 2 14-2 cl3 rated inwall speaker wire.
For the shoot out I used Dynaudio Audience 82's , Dynaudio 42w's and for the sheer hell of it a Polk audio cd400i center channel by itself. Preamp and amp are Rotel rsp1068 and a RMB1095. The IC's are Audioquest Jaguars. It would have been nice to test DH labs and Analysis Plus Ic's with there cables but I also have Audioquest Ita 1.1 custom built(by me) 1m Ic's so I also but them in . Pioneer Elite dv47a and a Ps3 was used for sources.
As usual I listened to my cv8's for awhile to get everything in order. Also warmed up the gear with them and dropped in some music. Detail and warmth is what these cable bright or not take away from my system. It's a perfect balance in my opnion from source to speaker. Audioquest has proven to me that I need not even look into wire anymore. The line has been set in stone and it's going to take Merlin or Kng Aurthor himself to prove other wise. Happy? Yes I am. I have been for year with Audioquest.
Dh Labs silver sonics where up next. I ran these cables for weeks. I burned them in and then some. They where brand new when I got them. They added brightness to my system. I didn't care for that. I had to put in the cv8's to make sure I wasn't hearing something that I made up. Sure enough my sound smoothed out and the extreme brightness went away. I also lost some bass. It was there but I noticed it enough that I decided to remove the sub from the mix as it was mid range I lost. Sure enough it was. In my system these cables made is sound bright and thin. Not night and day but enough to notice. On the cs400i , I ran 5 channel stereo , turned off the rears and disconnected main speakers. It to showed the brightness between the 2 cables. I connected my 42w's as fronts and it was there as well. So for my system these do not work. Nicely built cables and are made from silver/copper mix. If your system is to strong in mid bass and need some help on the top, these cables are for you. It will take some of the deadness out and wake it up.
Audioquest 14-2 cl3 bulk custom cable. I just cut 2 8 foot lengths and went to town. This cable is like 200 bucks for 250 feet or something like that. Incedible value. It sounds almost as good as my 700.00 cv8's. Crazy but very true. It has the ability to be smooth , detailed and clear. I love it. It's ugly plain **** off white color so in the looks department they suck ****. But who really cares about things like that except idiots like me. But after listening to them for a week on my 82's , they have proven there value in my system. I use this cable in my system on my center channel(Dynaudio Audience 122c) and it keeps right up with the cv8's. I was going to order a center channel cv8 which I still may but I feel the amount of money I paid for an entire roll of this wire which by the way is in my walls for my rears(Dynaudio Audience 42w) and I can't be any happier with this wire. It's been 4 years and I still have not built my theater in the basement. So many things have changed and cost me thousands of dollars that I had to put it on the back burner. I plan on getting it going soon but with 2 kids and a wife, they always find ways to spend my money... o well I will enjoy my system in my familyroom untill then.
Ok so just yesterday I received my new wires in Analysis Plus Theater 2's. I had to build them myself which was fun. I do it everyday and I'm still cool with building wires. For this they are brand new and I used Spades at the speakers and bananas at the amp end. The silver sonics I used Bananas from Viennna Acoustics and the Audioquest 14-2 I used bare wire. So After I they where built , I installed them in. I didn't listen to them yesterday but heard it go. I didn't notice anything different but I was not really listening. I watched some tv and played some games. They ran all day and night. I felt the need to make my thead now as I have made a discovery in them. They are nice. They sound clear and warm like the 14-2 . They cost alot more but actually not in the sound I liked , it's the softness of the cable. It's nice to work with non solid core wire. Again this has NOTHING to do with the sound but in the ability to run and manage wire. I find this Important as I hate nothing more then difficult wire to work with. It's the only thing I don't care for with Audioquest. They are a solid core company and sometimes it sucks to work with. I'm sure non of you care about that but being a custom Installer , it matters alot to me.
So back to the Analysis Plus theater 2's sound. I find them to be a equal to the 14-2 cl2 audioquest cables. I have not found anything I like about them better here. Detail , bass response , are almost exact. I switched back and forth and had a difficult time hearing a difference. Both cables are copper. Both claim what they do, Analysis Plus claims there oval design is superior in tranferring highs but I don't hear an improvement or a worse tone compared. So for the sheer hell of it I figured the cv8's should be placed back in and see whats the deal. Well the cv8's are more detailed. They bring a steadyness to the sound. It's like adding space inbetween everything. What you want to hear meaning the voice of Norah Jones when she is singing The Prettiest thing You can hear her take a breath. You can hear the hi hats on the drum kit in the back shimmering. The kick drum is clear and how it would sound if it was in the room. The snare drum you can hear the after ring of the Snare after he hits it beat for beat. Beauty like her voice these cables are. I don't know if they are just a correct match or a superior cable. Unfair as they cost more then all the other combine but it proves to me I made the right choice when I purchased them.
This is the part I love and hate with this hobby. As I sit here having a good time, enjoying my thoughts and mood , I find myself now wanting to go even higher end with Audioquest. Ic's with HDMI lurking in the wind as my system is getting a new preamp as soon as I find one that does exactly what I want it to do , they will not be as needed. Balanced probably will go in and by design is a superior cable anyway . So Jag's will probably be replaced with Balanced Jag's. Who know I'll cross that bridge when I get there . But speaker wire for my front 2 are important to me in the fact that I love to sometimes sit and get into a cd/sacd or what have you. Relax and put my feet up after a hard long day.
Could I be happy with what I own?? Yes. I could sell my cv8's which is going to happen soon and Install 14-2 cl3 Audioquest?? Yes I would but on those 2 channel days I would like to have better. During movies , I don't find any reason to spend the insane amount of money on my wires. Like I said the 14-2 cl3 Audioquest I find to be perfect. Detail and sonic's are all there. Maybe it's a hang up, maybe just knowing that I can squeeze just that tad bit more out when I listen to music that I'm willing to spend more money there. Maybe I should build a 2 channel system and stop trying to do 2 channel and theater in the same system. All may be the case but this isn't about all that. It's about all these cool cables I tested.
To wrap it up , I feel the Analysis Plus theater 2 wire to be the best to work with, it holds it's own in sound quality but I feel it's pricey for little or no gain in sound quality. The Audioquest cl3 14-2 is the overall best cable as it's price to performance is out of this world. The DH labs silver sonic stunk up my system for music and for theater use I didn't notice as it was only wired on the mains. I didn't find watching movies with it to hurt my sound. The cv8's are the best sounding speaker wires I own and won this battle hands down but for movies I find no benefits to owning them. Only in 2 channel do I really notice. Maybe if I wired my entire system in cv8 that I would yield some Improvement but the cost would not equal the performance. I would rather buy a better amp or preamp. Wire has it's limitations on if it can help anything. Once you have the proper guage for the length your going and account for the size of the speaker, 14 guage gets it done for just about everything. Like I said the Audioquest 14-2 really is the winner here.
Dan
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
Post edited by mantis on
Comments
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Good write-up, Dan-0.
I really like AQ as well. Sidewinder ICs are a great value, IMO, and I have some self-terminated SA-20 (or something like that) speaker cable for the front soundstage of my HT. Cost me like $50 for the cable + some naners. . .
Have had Type-2, Type-4, and Type-6 and liked em all as well.Stereo Rig: Hales Revelation 3, Musical Fidelity CD-Pre 24, Forte Model 3 amp, Lexicon RT-10 SACD, MMF-5 w/speedbox, Forte Model 2 Phono Pre, Cardas Crosslink, APC H15, URC MX-950, Lovan Stand
Bedroom: Samsung HPR-4252, Toshiba HD-A2, HK 3480, Signal Cable, AQ speaker cable, Totem Dreamcatchers, SVS PB10-NSD, URC MX-850 -
I too have done the samething with these wires except the CV-8 by Audioquest.
I was looking at getting new wire to properly run in the walls as the DH-Labs I had in the system are not CL-3 rated for inwall use. So the hunt was on for wire and I wanted quality wire and it had to prove itself to me in my room with this equipment.
Rotel 1068 pre
Sherbourn 7-2100A amp
Triad inroom Gold LCR speakers
SVS PB12+2 sub
All speakers are to be and were set at 80hz and small (never Large)
I used 2ch and put in Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me now" this song has a guitar rift at the start that is very dynamic and busy and to me shows just how fast a speaker can respond and still show detail and dynamics with all that is going on.
I already had the DH-Lab T-14 (spades/ speaker and banana's/ amp), and the sound was good, it provided good detail and depth without any harshness or exaggerated tones the bass was fast, clean and detailed without taking away from the rest of the instruments. In my system the cable performed very well and I could be happy with it in there. The down side is that it is not Inwall rated and DH-Labs does not offer an inwall rated wire so you would have to run it in conduit, for an existing room... I think not, for 2ch or the front 3 where the wire will not enter the wall.... yes.
I then put in the Audioquest inwall 14ga (raw) and the sound changed like "right now" Huge differance. The bass came out and almost (for me) overpowered the rest of the tones the song had to offer. The change was night and day through my speakers it was as if I had turned the bass up and the treble down, not completely but enough that the bass was 2fold stronger and did not complement the speakers ability to reproduce what was going on and the song depth was alittle shallower and not as seperated as the DH-Labs. It is really nicely constructed wire I would think that as for inwall wire it is really good for surrounds and probably some systems wired all around, but just not for my fronts they produced too much bass for my taste.
I then placed (not Analysis's Theater2 wire) Oval12 w/Spades, it is the Theater2's bigger brother 12ga instead of 14ga and is not rated for inwall use but the construction is the same and the bigger wire given the 8ft run would yeild no real big differance in sound. Anyhow when those went in things changed again just as the sound changed from the AQ to the DH-Lab, Analysis took the sound that much further again then the DH-Lab's and it to was not hard to tell that something was changed. The sound opened up (seperated) even further then the DH-labs the sound became more detailed and it revieled even more of the dynamics. The bass, mids and treb. fell in line and the depth went that much further also. Like the inwall wire all of Analysis wire is like a cooked spag. noodle (no joke) you just couldn't get it to stand pointing to the ceiling it will just fall over itself.
I then took the test to the wife and asked her to take a listen and without knowing which speaker and just one speaker hooked up with a differant wire from 10ft away she could tell just walking in the room which speaker sounded better and the differance she came up with... the same conclusion I did. With each wire hooked up playing the same song she didn't have to take more then 2 seconds to tell me which one was better and why. In the end, for us, it was the Analysis wire that won the toss.
I feel that the wire in my system showed a bigger differance in sound compaired to Dan's due to the differant speakers they were connected to and the room everything is in. This in NOWAY means that anything of mine is better then his or his are better then mine, just that for some reason in my set-up and room you can hear the change that was made and wheather it was for the better or not. I also feel that if your going to invest in something you should also look at what you are going to hook everything with as there is no one end-all when it comes to anything and that includes wire.
Dave -
Cool. I like my DH labs speaker wires a lot but I have the Q10s. I have compared them to Analysis Plus Silver Ovals, Cobalt Cable and Monster wire and I liked them the best.Sharp Elite 70
Anthem D2V 3D
Parasound 5250
Parasound HCA 1000 A
Parasound HCA 1000
Oppo BDP 95
Von Schweikert VR4 Jr R/L Fronts
Von Schweikert LCR 4 Center
Totem Mask Surrounds X4
Hsu ULS-15 Quad Drive Subwoofers
Sony PS3
Squeezebox Touch
Polk Atrium 7s on the patio just to keep my foot in the door. -
wingnut4772 wrote: »Cool. I like my DH labs speaker wires a lot but I have the Q10s. I have compared them to Analysis Plus Silver Ovals, Cobalt Cable and Monster wire and I liked them the best.
Which kinda supports my point on wire in general. Each system will sound different. Look at Dave S post, he had different results then you and me.
What I also keep learning is once you reach a certain level of quality and guage/length ratio, there is no benefits to going with a thicker higher quality cable. Better sonic benefits can be had with a better preamp and Source . Little gains with alot of money in wire. I have finally learned that the hard and expensive way.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Hmmmm....I missed this one. Nice write up guys. I'm still an MIT man, probably will be 'til I die. There's just something natural about them that I've not heard in other cables.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Thats the beauty of the right wire for the right system. And thanks for the comments.Hmmmm....I missed this one. Nice write up guys. I'm still an MIT man, probably will be 'til I die. There's just something natural about them that I've not heard in other cables.
DanDan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Tru dat.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
