wow.... ratshack wire made a difference!
nadams
Posts: 5,877
Just "invested" in a spool of 16 gauge wire from RatShack.... total came out to just under $10.
Surprising to me (it was a pleasant surprise) it actually made a difference in the sound of my system. It was an overall improvement. I listened to it with the old stuff on while I was making the new cables, then switched them around as quickly as possible and listened to the same stuff as before. The bass is a little sharper... less muddled, and the highs are just clearer.
Before, I was using a nasty mix of gauges of RatShack wire of different lengths all spliced together and creating a wonderful nest of cables behind my receiver. For this job, I made sure that the runs to the two MAs were of equal length, and the runs to the Polks were equal. The MAs and the Polks are very, very close to being the same wire length, tho the Polks are slightly longer. I figured it wouldn't matter since the two pairs of speakers are on different outputs.
Overall, I'm impressed.... I didn't think I'd get much of a sound difference. I only did it because my system looked horrible. I guess the wire quality was just bad overall.
nadams
Surprising to me (it was a pleasant surprise) it actually made a difference in the sound of my system. It was an overall improvement. I listened to it with the old stuff on while I was making the new cables, then switched them around as quickly as possible and listened to the same stuff as before. The bass is a little sharper... less muddled, and the highs are just clearer.
Before, I was using a nasty mix of gauges of RatShack wire of different lengths all spliced together and creating a wonderful nest of cables behind my receiver. For this job, I made sure that the runs to the two MAs were of equal length, and the runs to the Polks were equal. The MAs and the Polks are very, very close to being the same wire length, tho the Polks are slightly longer. I figured it wouldn't matter since the two pairs of speakers are on different outputs.
Overall, I'm impressed.... I didn't think I'd get much of a sound difference. I only did it because my system looked horrible. I guess the wire quality was just bad overall.
nadams
Ludicrous gibs!
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on
Comments
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You got all that from Rat Shack!!!!! Whatch out Marketeers.
I'll bet all the quality you put in was the big difference.
HBomb***WAREMTAE*** -
Heh.... I'm not saying that RatShack is the best there is or anything.... I know there's wire that's prolly 100% better out there. However, for the money I paid, I'm happy.
I've never been one to look at wire in home audio... In my car, I make sure I have heavy enough gauge for power and signal to the subs, but in home audio, it's always been whatever I had around. This is the first time I spent some time making sure all the lengths were about equal all the way around. Lemme tell you, it paid off.
I was just listening to "Storms in Africa II" off of Enya's "Watermark" CD (track 12), and lemme tell ya.... :eek:
If you know what I'm talking about... crank it up at the beginning of the song for the thunder crack. Wow... I can feeeel it :-)
DooDLudicrous gibs! -
nadams, all I was implying that you have made significant improvements to your rig without spending a ton of money.
Good for you!
HBomb***WAREMTAE*** -
I'd wager your improvement came from getting rid of the splices and getting rid of any smaller gauge wire that was mixed up in there. More power to you for making the runs the same length and stuff like that.. but I don't believe that contributed to the success of your operation. We've been down this road concerning resistance and lengths.
I bought new cables this year.. dandy AR closeouts from PE and a couple of Dayton cables. They all are, by any measure, better than what I had, and I like knowing that I've done something to alleviate interference. But I think the greatest 'improvement' is that my entire setup is just neater and less messy.
Radio Shack gets a lot of **** for.. well.. just for being Radio Shack. But when it comes right down to it, a certain quality and gauge of wire is wire is wire is wire, whether it comes from Lowe's or RS or Goonter's House of Esoteric Overpriced Audio ****.
A major advantage of RS is that, for most of us, they are right down the street and you have product in hand *now*. A major disadvantage compared to PE, for example, is that the average worker in RS doesn't know much about electronics or audio. Ask the average hourly in RS a question about a Zobel Network and you'll get a very nice deer-in-the-headlights stare. -
A what?
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yeah, the RS people kinda pissed me off 'cause they were these two 20-something guys making fun of me because I told them I was buying the wire for a home system.... they're like, (sarcasm-rich) "yeah, you should be running 4 gauge Monster wire for those puppies"..... I just paid for it and walked out, quietly laughing at their naievity.
They treated me like I knew nothing about wiring.... Prolly just 'cause I'm 16.... bah
Bet my system sounds better than theirs, tho. Ludicrous gibs! -
Originally posted by HBombToo
nadams, all I was implying that you have made significant improvements to your rig without spending a ton of money.
Good for you!
HBomb
Okay, i misunderstood your original post.... no harm done
Burdette- Yes, I think the difference came from the fact that I removed the splices and odd gauges. But while I was doing it, I figured I might as well do it right, so I made them the same length, too. They're all very short runs, so even if length did make a difference with impedance, it wouldn't make a difference in my case.
nadamsLudicrous gibs!
