My Pending speaker cable upgrade

fbm211

Well I knew it would happen sooner or later but Ive got the speaker cable upgrade bug and since I have upgraded all my power cords its time to get something better for the 2Bs.
I was pretty set on the neotech NES-3003 cable that soniccraft sells and Im thinking that this UPOCC stuff is pretty damn good from what Ive been reading about it not to mention I just upgraded to zero crystal Accoustic zen mc2 AES/EBU digital cables and got one nice SQ improvement over the D-110s

Until I saw something on audiogon that got my attention.Clear Day Cables Solid Core 8ft silver shotgun.Also available in double shotgun.It has some pretty good reviews and Id like to know if any of you have tried it??
Link to more info>>http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?cablspkr&1273253803&/Clear-Day-Cables-Solid-Core

fbm211

Nobody?...I guess Ill just go with the NES-3003 then.

Erik Tracy

fbm211 wrote: »

Nobody?...I guess Ill just go with the NES-3003 then.

Sorry, but I don't have any experience on the cables you are looking at.

That's not to say they won't work for you, and I'm sure your fellow CP bretheren would be keenly interested in your evaluation and opinions!

Let us know how they work out for you - maybe others should put these on their radar screen.

NJPOLKER

I am not an expert on the subject but will share what I have learned.

Silver tends to be very revealing so be prepared to hear all the good and bad. I hope I said that correctly

Silver is not "better" than copper just different performance.

If you make a good purchase you can always flip them if you don't like them after awhile.

Size does not really matter unless your a woman :eek:. With cables is is more about quality than anything else.

fbm211

I have a pretty revealing system now so I know what your saying.I only need a pair of 4 footers and the guy at clear day offered me a pair of 4 ft unterminated for 100.00.Not to bad considering the banana plugs he uses are garbage.They contain brass and nickle.>BAD. I plan to terminate whatever I get with Furez silver plated pure copper nanners.I dont know what kind of solid silver he uses so Ill try the neotech stuff first.
Thanks for the reply guys. I Hope to have the cable and nanners next week.Now to see if I can get jeff to give me a discount if I order cable,3 pair of copper binding posts,deoxit and a good furutech wall plug.

NJPOLKER

What do you mean by a revealing system?

fbm211

Poor recorded CDs sound very bad.I notice the difference between well recorded and poor recorded on my 2 ch gear.I dont notice any difference through my PC which uses the Xfi soundcard and the Klipsch v2 400 4.1 promedia speaker system

NJPOLKER

Are you a Penn State guy by the way?

F1nut

I use and recommend MIT cables. You should too.

Polkitup2

I second the MIT recommendation. In fact, every now and then I swap out my MITs with Audioquest or Straightwire cables just to reaffirm my conclusion that I prefer MIT.

hearingimpared

Thirded. I don't switch out because I like what I hear and it is a major pain in the arse to swap out 5 ICs and a set of speaker cables behind my 350 lb shot loaded rack.:eek:

fbm211

Well now, I knew the MIT suggestions were going to come up at some point.And I admit that after being a member for 2 years I find myself checking the audiogon listings a few times a day and lately looking at the MIT offerings more often.I even missed out on a good deal on a pair of S1 ICs by a few minuites last week.
However I never see any 5 footers of S3 speaker cables listed which is the longest I will go.It just wouldnt do to have a few feet of cable coiled up behind the speakers.Not to mention the fact that I am not willing to plop down 500.00-700.00 on a pair of speaker cables without an in home audition.Ill shoot joe an email later and see if a pair of 5 footers is possible and if I can auition them for a couple weeks to see if I like them.And I will say this now...If they are flat,laid back sounding in any way I will not like them.A-lot of you know I like my sound a little tipped up,,, so there.
And I wont settle for anything less than S3s for the speakers and S1s and 2s for ICs.

Face

I'm almost curious to pick up some NES-3004 to compare it to the Canare 4S11 I have here.

Their NEI-3004 interconnect wire has a nice sound to it, but may not have enough high end tilt for you.

fbm211

I bet it would be better.I know the NES 3003 would blow away the T-14 I use now.The reason Im cosidering it that is has some silver in it.

thuffman03

I have been playing around with these:

http://www.rivercurrentcables.com/1.html

They sound pretty good.

F1nut

However I never see any 5 footers of S3 speaker cables listed which is the longest I will go.

You never will, the shortest MIT makes are 8 foot.

hearingimpared

F1nut wrote: »

You never will, the shortest MIT makes are 8 foot.

. . . and that is for a good reason. Short speaker cables (under eight feet) sound terrible. I was first turned on to this concept by Pierre' from Mapleshade Records, being skeptical I tried this test using Monster Phase Aligned Time Coherent Cables. I cut two differnt lengths; two four footers and two eight footer and went about the task. After several tries I found the four footer to be shrill and lifeless. I put the eight footers on and they sounded just right. I tried switching them back and forth a few times and listened to each for at least an hour taking notes.

Sure enough eccentric (IMHO) Pierre was right.

I've found the same to be true with ICs under 1 to 1.5 meters although Pierre claims under 2 meters is a no, no.

I know, I know it makes no sense scientifically because of the added resistance etc but take into consideration I would rather pay for a shorter run than pay more for the longer run but I've found the above to be true and stand by it.

fbm211

Now im really confused.There seems to be two schools of thought on the length issue.
Ive read numerous opinions on this and I did read that mapleshade article over a year ago.There was also a thread on this here in the cp and most of the posts were on the side of keep the length as short as possible.
I dont have the cash to try a 4ft pair and an 8ft pair.
I have been getting my read on about this tonight and also found an opinion that longer ICs with shorter speaker cables is better.What a crazy hobby Ive fallen back into.
MIT supports the longer speaker cable length so I will trust thier judgment.For now.
I wonder what DK thinks????

Face

How many powered monitors have you seen with 8' of speaker wire coiled up inside or hanging out the back?

fbm211

I just bougt Q-10 signature speaker cable direct from DH Labs at a great price.I decided on this after reading a couple dozen reviews as well as the fact that it is made with OCC.And it will be easy to sell if I dont like it.In a few months I will also get the neotech 3003 to compare.
I also ordered the Furez banana plugs.
Thank you all for your input.

fbm211

Wow,You were right joe.Thanks for the advice.I got my Q10 signature cable the other day as well as the furez banana plugs and terminated the cable and got it all hooked up and right away it sounded better.The upper mids were a little harsh at first but after a couple hours the cable started to settle in and began to open up and the harshness went away.
The cable is a nice step up to the T-14 I was using.Overall,better SQ.Much improved clarity and resolution and I never expected it but the soundstage is even wider.
Im sure the OCC added to the better SQ as well as the added length.
Now Im itching to add an upsampler between the Theta and Dragon for some 96k processing....................Does it never end??

hearingimpared

fbm211 wrote: »

Wow,You were right joe.Thanks for the advice.I got my Q10 signature cable the other day as well as the furez banana plugs and terminated the cable and got it all hooked up and right away it sounded better.The upper mids were a little harsh at first but after a couple hours the cable started to settle in and began to open up and the harshness went away.
The cable is a nice step up to the T-14 I was using.Overall,better SQ.Much improved clarity and resolution and I never expected it but the soundstage is even wider.
Im sure the OCC added to the better SQ as well as the added length.
Now Im itching to add an upsampler between the Theta and Dragon for some 96k processing....................Does it never end??

No Bro, it never ends, that's what makes this hobby so much fun . . . when you have the funds that is.:(

acmf74

I picked up some Audioquest type 4's for my fronts....I hope to see an improvement over my corroded 16 ga wire....

fbm211

Well I just got off the phone with mel over at camelot tech and screw the 96k.He is going to upgrade my Arthur DAC,, which means that any input connected into the Arthur will automatically be output'd to the upsampled rate of 24/192 resolution.

zingo

I just saw this thread, but hopefully this will help with the Clear Day Cables!

http://www.affordableaudio.org/aa2009-09.pdf

fbm211

A good read.Thanks Jake.I will have to get a set of the double shotguns to eval against my new Q-10 signature in a few months.He offered to sell me a unterminated set at a reduced price last week.

zingo

Paul is a good guy and I have always enjoyed our interactions.