What about these Cables?

xandra

does anyone know anything about these cables

(Audioquest Type 6" - via AudioAdvisor
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQT6

And exactly what are "PK" bananas? is this just a brand name?

I've just purchased a Parasound 2 channel x 250 Amp, will need something decent - but don't want to break the bank.

I'm tempted to also get the 5x125 since it's on sale today -- your thoughts please...

ben62670

They are great cables. Parasound is a very good amp. Fancy nanners.

dorokusai

What length of speaker cables do you need Xandra?

vonnie123

Having a separate 5 channel and 2 channel is very convenient for both Home Theater and dedicated stereo listening. I have a 7 channel/2 channel setup myself controlled from the same pre/pro. Works great. If you are on a 15 amp circuit, don't fire the amps up simultaneously due to the start up current draw. Both amps on at the same time is fine, except for the initial turn-on draw.

Early B.

They are excellent cables. Buy 'em.

xandra

If you are on a 15 amp circuit, don't fire the amps up simultaneously due to the start up current draw. Both amps on at the same time is fine, except for the initial turn-on draw.

- Vonnie

What about Amp + Reciever? The Parasound I ordered is 10A, Reciever I'll likely purchase might go up to 9.5A. I'd planned on putting the Amp on a second circuit, but was hoping to use Auto TurnOn option via Recievers Trigger to activate. -- is this likely to trigger issues? (pardon pun)

Phasearray

xandra wrote: »

does anyone know anything about these cables

(Audioquest Type 6" - via AudioAdvisor
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQT6

And exactly what are "PK" bananas? is this just a brand name?

I've just purchased a Parasound 2 channel x 250 Amp, will need something decent - but don't want to break the bank.

I'm tempted to also get the 5x125 since it's on sale today -- your thoughts please...

Try regular cables that doesn't cost triple digits. If copper wires are good enough for the US millitary and Nasa's most expensive equlpments, it's probably good enough for you.

Phasearray

Electrical and magnetic interaction between strands in a conventional cable is the single greatest source of distortion

False. Magnetic fields are perpendicular to the direction of electron motion. This is how inductors work. Since strands run parallel to each other, there is not magnetic inteference between them.

Any single size or shape of conductor has a specific distortion profile.

Distortion(Noise) are caused by heat. Do these magical cable come with heatsinks in case you were passing an ungodly amount of low level signals through them? Oh wait, are they talking about skin effects. RF engineers who deals with very high frequencies in the GHZ have to worry about skin effects, but 40KHZ max? You got to be shitting me.

The relationship between conductors defines a cable's most basic electrical values (capacitance and inductance).

Yes this is actually true, but this is only a problem as the cable gets longer. This is why DSL speed is a function of your distance to the phone company. It takes miles and miles of phone cable before the signal degrades. If you plan on running several miles of audio cable, you should then seriously take this into consideration.

But heck, don't just take my word for it, I know a B.S in EE doesn't mean much to anyone these days, so here's a wonderful write up I found on the web with 100% more smart than me.
http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/the-truth-about-interconnects-and-cables
http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/speaker-cable-gauge

And of course, AudioQuest's VIce President himself responding to these charges.
http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/top-ten-signs-an-audio-cable-vendor-is-selling-you-snake-oil/audioquest-responds-to-top-10-snake-oil-article
Of course, audioQuest would have no part of the engineering discussion despite throwing around plenty of the fancy words on their website.

Face

Phasearray wrote: »

Try regular cables that doesn't cost triple digits. If copper wires are good enough for the US millitary and Nasa's most expensive equlpments, it's probably good enough for you.

The military and NASA are audiophile associations?

broncsrule21@

Interesting article...

candyliquor35m

There are some AQ cables for sale in the flea market if you wanna save some money.

vonnie123

xandra wrote: »

- Vonnie

What about Amp + Reciever? The Parasound I ordered is 10A, Reciever I'll likely purchase might go up to 9.5A. I'd planned on putting the Amp on a second circuit, but was hoping to use Auto TurnOn option via Recievers Trigger to activate. -- is this likely to trigger issues? (pardon pun)

Hi xandra, with my setup, I am sure I would blow the breaker. I have an Adcom GFA-555 (2 channel 200 WPC), an Adcom GFA-7607 (7 channel, 125 WPC), Emotiva pre/pro, a 40" LCD TV, and source devices all on the same circuit. My only concern firing it up is at startup. I will likely install a second breaker in the future. For now, I use a Belkin PF60 power center, which monitors current draw: EACH OF the AMPS use about 5 - 6 amps at startup (startup only) which then calm down to around an AMP or so of current. If I sequence everything on in order - stereo AMP first, 7 channel amp second, pre/pro, and then the sources one at a time, It draws 2 -4 amps with everything on (sans the startup spike). I suffer a bit of voltage drop due to the distance from my circuit breakers, but all in all, everything works pretty good. I also use an APC H15 power center, for the sensitive electronics (TV , DVD. pre/pro, e.g., sensitive equipment). The H15 has voltage and current monitoring, and ALSO has auto voltage line boost and trim should voltage change from 120v. Reason being, I live in SOCAL, and the consistency of power delivery here is very poor. If you trigger everything on at once, you may overload and pop the breaker on a single breaker. With the equipment on two separate breakers, this may not be an issue to be concerned over. Your house main circuity should be able to handle that load fine if the two devices are on separate circuits. Sequencing has worked best for me with only a single circuit. My two cents from personal experience. Other Polk Club members have discussed wiring issues in the past. A search of the old posts might prove useful. Hope that helps. Good luck.

xandra

Vonnie: thanks for the response (like you, power delivery here questionable at best: I get to listen to audibly while my CPU's Battery backup beeps erratically.)
I think I'll take your advice and go with 2 circuits. I bought a Panamax 4300 to help with line conditioning but some local audio "pro's" thought this unit would actually hinder rather than help my setup - dunno why electricity is voodoo to me.

vonnie123

xandra, take a gander at these....this is an excellent unit...I have both the H10 and H15 models. These are through the APC factory overstock site. Very solid price indeeed.

http://buy.apc.com/commerce/storefronts/factoryoutlet/product.aspx?storefrontcode=apcfo&countrycode=us&product_id=H15(APC_US)&catalog_name=VC_APCFO_us

ben62670

Phasearray wrote: »

Try regular cables that doesn't cost triple digits. If copper wires are good enough for the US millitary and Nasa's most expensive equlpments, it's probably good enough for you.

I used to believe like you do. I actually picked on some of the senior members here for spending big money on cables, but then I opened my mind, and tried different cables. They can make a big difference in SQ when your equipment is better than Theater in a box. I highly recommend the AQ's for speaker wires, and there are a bunch of real good IC's. Who cares what NASA is using. Last I checked they didn't have HiFi in outer space.

PS Some engineers should stick to driving trains;)

zingo

I would also agree with Ben here. I think our ears are more sensitive than we give them credit for. Just because you can measure the resistance or inductance on a piece of wire, doesn't mean that there isn't more going on there, and our ears are a more highly tuned device than a DMM. If electricity travels 99% the same way through a speaker cable, why wouldn't that 1% make a difference?

dcmeigs

ben62670 wrote: »

Some engineers should stick to driving trains;)

My new bumper sticker!

ben62670

Engineers have also said bumble bees can't fly:D
Some things just can't be explained yet.

WilliamM2

ben62670 wrote: »

Engineers have also said bumble bees can't fly:D
Some things just can't be explained yet.

Using one myth to support another myth? Classic.

Phasearray

ben62670 wrote: »

Engineers have also said bumble bees can't fly:D
Some things just can't be explained yet.

The burden of proof should be on the ones making the claim.
these voodoo cable companies throw around voodoo engineering terms to market their product, then at the same time say the performance improvements can't be measured when asked to quantify their supposed discovery. You can't have it both ways. What's next? Introduction of Fung Shui into audio cables?

tonyb

Phasearray wrote: »

The burden of proof should be on the ones making the claim.
these voodoo cable companies throw around voodoo engineering terms to market their product, then at the same time say the performance improvements can't be measured when asked to quantify their supposed discovery. You can't have it both ways. What's next? Introduction of Fung Shui into audio cables?

The burden of truth lies in your own ears. Marketing has always been a stretching of the truth,so to speak.A dog owner can pick out his dogs bark from a pack of dogs as a mother can tell her babies cry from all the others in a nursery.Does this mean the difference in sound doesn't exist?Try different cables,thats the only way to tell.Measurements don't give you the whole story.And I am not talking comparing 2 or 3,50 buck cables either.

ben62670

Phasearray wrote: »

The burden of proof should be on the ones making the claim.
these voodoo cable companies throw around voodoo engineering terms to market their product, then at the same time say the performance improvements can't be measured when asked to quantify their supposed discovery. You can't have it both ways. What's next? Introduction of Fung Shui into audio cables?

If they haven't figured out how to measure what sounds best how can they show proof what sounds best? Different people have different tastes too. That would be like saying that you could measure a car's ride quality, and telling someone that they would like a certain car over any other car out there. Your point is mute. It certainly is true there are a bunch of companies out there selling fancy crap with a bunch of bigs fancy words that isn't up to snuff. You don't have to spend a fortune to get real good cables. BTW I never said you could measure the quality of cables WTH did you mean by having it both ways:rolleyes:

Those who know know. Those that don't know don't know they don't know.

WilliamM2

A dog owner can pick out his dogs bark from a pack of dogs as a mother can tell her babies cry from all the others in a nursery.Does this mean the difference in sound doesn't exist?

What in the world does that have to do with cables?

dorokusai

My cables are AKC registered.

Face

I wish all cables sounded the same. It would have saved me a lot of money.

ben62670

Face wrote: »

I wish all cables sounded the same. It would have saved me a lot of money.

True that. I am not well off by any means. I would love it if WalCheese cables sounded just as good as my AQ's, Silver Star Quads, or silver IC's, but they don't!

Road Runner

I think this is most important of all:

The key to manufacturing a great cable is to first choose the best (fastest) available dielectrics, then adjust the signal propagation of the conductor to match the speed of the dielectric. This is achieved in a Golden Ratio, Constant "Q" conductor. A solid or bare stranded conductor propagates an audio signal rapidly on its surface, then at progressively slower speeds towards the interior. This is a function of change in signal and conductor diameter. A Constant "Q" conductor reverses this process. Conductor strands are insulated from each other. The smallest strands are placed in the interior of the conductor. They progress, in Golden Ratio by cross-section, to larger strands at the surface of the conductor. The idea is to remove the tension between the conductor and dielectric by slowing the dynamic transition time of the conductor.
Cables with Constant "Q" conductors have a very constant current transfer characteristic and exponentially lower resonance. Golden Section Stranding mathematically eliminates resonant multiples in conductors. Like in music and nature itself, Golden Proportion lends its elegance to the proportioning of conductors and dielectric.

Thank God for the Golden Ratio. :rolleyes:

ben62670

Road Runner wrote: »

I think this is most important of all:



Thank God for the Golden Ratio. :rolleyes:

There are a few key points there.

A. Dielectric is very key with quality wires. I use Teflon exclusively. Cotton is better, and air is the best
B. Solid conductors have had the best results in most of the conductors I have tried.

Until you actually try some good cables with a good system you are just pissing in the wind. Try some used cables, and if you don't hear a difference you can sell them at, or near the price you invested. Copy and pasting doesn't go far here. Anyone can find arguments on both sides.
Ben

Road Runner

Copy and pasting doesn't go far here.

In my opinion, it served the legitimate purpose of making a humorous post. And you have to admit, it is pretty funny. "Golden Ratio"? I mean, it just sounds so goofy. This is even better:

Golden Mean forms the mathematical proportions nature uses to shape leaves and sea shells, insects and people, hurricanes and galaxies.

It almost sounds like mysticism or something. Like you said, some of it may refer to actual properties of the cable that actually do something, but it seems like the company's just trying to dazzle people with BS.

ben62670

Whole heartedly agree with you there. A lot of BS companies out there give the reputable guys a bad name. Some of the wild ideas they use for marketing is just whacked.
Ben