educate my **** on buying speaker cables

Hawkeye

PFB, Since you're running ML, I would suggest either the Signal line in either copper or silver. My preference runs to copper since I thought the silver was overly bright to me.

A second choice would be the Mapleshades golden helix. Not much to look at but the sound is impressive on ML. Any of these suggestions are a fair trade for your dollars. I probably wouldn't go overly esoteric until some of your electronics are upgraded over time.

Gordon

polkfarmboy

I see you have spires .....nice

Would you have a suggestion on a good pre and amp , used and under a $1000 for the source?

fbm211

Adcom GFP-750 preamp

Radridd

I made my own from canare s411 purchased from blue jean cables.

polkfarmboy

Radridd wrote: »

I made my own from canare s411 purchased from blue jean cables.

Have you compared these to other brand quality cables?

jaxwired

I used to use AQ speaker cables and then I tried some British cables from The Chord Company. The Brits know hifi like nobody else and over there the demand for mainstream hifi products is still very strong. My cables are called Odyssey 2 and you can buy them on the ebay UK site for less than $200 or from a US retailer for $450 (lol). They literally blow away the AQ cables I used to have. The AQ cables were decent, but I'd never switch off these Chord Company cables ever, period. Their entry level IC is unbelievable also. It's called Crimson and they just updated it.

The Chord Company is the number one hifi cable company in the UK. Google them. Highly recommend...

I've also tried Signal Cable speaker cable and Anticable speaker cable. Neither one worked in my system like this Odyssey cable.

Clicky

Radridd

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Have you compared these to other brand quality cables?

No point.
#1 Can't afford them.
#2 If I could, rather spend the money on something else.

Face

I've also built cables from Canare 4S11, but used Vampire gold plated copper spades/nanners from Sonic Craft. They have a nice sound to them and don't really do anything wrong. I would say they've neutral to slightly warm.

reeltrouble1

trigg its been a while

RT1

Jer.War

I just ordered a pair of PNF symphony cables from Steve at PNF. Heard nothing but good things here in the forum and while surfing the web. PNF even offers a discount to the Club Polkers (he gave me 20% off and free shipping w/ a simple name drop) I should be picking them up this weekend and I will list my initial impressions

There is definately no shortage of cables (and cable technologies) out there. The trick is to sift through the marketing and hype to find a cable that is both decent and affordable. My 6 ft pair of cable terminated and shipped came to $150. I am replacing Monster XP wire. I did ALOT of reading about cords, but you must consider the gear being used in the test. I was looking seriously at Audioquest stuff (I like the solid conductor concept). Right now there is a ton of AQ gear on E-bay that "fell off the truck", and is going for CHEAP!!!
Cheers

Jer.War

One last note...
When it comes to termination, nothing beats bare wire, but that is quite inconveinient. Banannas are the most easiest to deal w/; however, w/ my polks I elected to use spade on the speaker side otherwise those nanners would be sticking straight up in the air, w/ the cable sagging down (the better cable is quite thick, and less flexible than the cheapy stuff)

heiney9

Radridd wrote: »

I made my own from canare s411 purchased from blue jean cables.

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Have you compared these to other brand quality cables?

I made the same cables for my office rig, except mine are double run shotgun style. Not bad, but my MIT's blow them out of the water.

285exp

What speakers do you have?

285exp

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Next time you post try start a sentence by saying " I think...... In my opinion ...... this simple step can help you get along with the good folks at club polk

I notice that you have exempted yourself and the other Magic Wire True Believer Club members from this, since you don't start your posts that way nor do I see you admonishing them for failing to qualify their opinions as such. Let's be honest; all the posts here about premium IC's and speaker wires have an implied "In my opinion.." disclaimer, since nobody seems to be able to show any scientific proof to back up their claims, and are always giving dubious excuses why such proof isn't possible. Lecturing only the people you disagree with is a wee bit hypocritical, don't you think? Or are "the good folks at club polk" just the ones you agree with?

kevhed72

285exp wrote: »

I notice that you have exempted yourself and the other Magic Wire True Believer Club members from this, since you don't start your posts that way nor do I see you admonishing them for failing to qualify their opinions as such. Let's be honest; all the posts here about premium IC's and speaker wires have an implied "In my opinion.." disclaimer, since nobody seems to be able to show any scientific proof to back up their claims, and are always giving dubious excuses why such proof isn't possible. Lecturing only the people you disagree with is a wee bit hypocritical, don't you think? Or are "the good folks at club polk" just the ones you agree with?

Let me break out my white lab coat, goggles, and oscilloscope and see where this thread goes.....

heiney9

285exp wrote: »

I notice that you have exempted yourself and the other Magic Wire True Believer Club members from this, since you don't start your posts that way nor do I see you admonishing them for failing to qualify their opinions as such. Let's be honest; all the posts here about premium IC's and speaker wires have an implied "In my opinion.." disclaimer, since nobody seems to be able to show any scientific proof to back up their claims, and are always giving dubious excuses why such proof isn't possible. Lecturing only the people you disagree with is a wee bit hypocritical, don't you think? Or are "the good folks at club polk" just the ones you agree with?

Do you have anything productive to add, or are you just trolling to start fight? I don't believe anyone was talking to you or about you.

H9

steveinaz

Audio Advisor still has AudioQuest Slate speaker cable at 52% off---that's a LOT of bang for the buck.

285exp

heiney9 wrote: »

Do you have anything productive to add, or are you just trolling to start fight? I don't believe anyone was talking to you or about you.

H9

And you don't think I had a point, that the OP jumped all over the guy for daring to say something without identifying it as an opinion, when he doesn't do it himself or expect other like-minded people to do it? Face it, premium ic and speaker wire threads are fact free zones, they're all opinions.

The OP really hasn't given enough information to make a decent recommendation because he hasn't listed what equipment he has. I asked him three days ago what kind of speakers he's running, and he never responded. He's never told us what electronics he's running. How can you seriously recommend he buy premium cables without knowing whether they would be even potentially helpful? The smartest money, where the greatest benefit for the dollar is, is in the speakers. Bad speakers will still be bad, even with the finest cables known to man. Perhaps he will provide us a picture of his gear and a list of components so we can make informed recommendations. Or maybe he's just trolling to stir up another cable war.

steveinaz

The OP didn't ask us to analyze his system, we was looking for cables he could "grow" with.

shack

steveinaz wrote:

The OP didn't ask us to analyze his system, we was looking for cables he could "grow" with.

Agreed. He asked a very generic question (ie: what are some nice cable recommendations that won't break the bank) and he has received quiet a few generic recommendations and opinions.

Some however, seem to want to take the opportunity to bash the opinions he was given.

maximillian

kevhed72 wrote: »

Let me break out my white lab coat, goggles, and oscilloscope and see where this thread goes.....

DarqueKnight has done quite a bit of this testing on this forum. There are many other similar type analysis done by various people on the net. So someone (not speaking of you) saying that there is no "scientific proof to back up their claims" hasn't really looked into the matter.

cstmar01

285exp wrote: »

And you don't think I had a point, that the OP jumped all over the guy for daring to say something without identifying it as an opinion, when he doesn't do it himself or expect other like-minded people to do it? Face it, premium ic and speaker wire threads are fact free zones, they're all opinions.

The OP really hasn't given enough information to make a decent recommendation because he hasn't listed what equipment he has. I asked him three days ago what kind of speakers he's running, and he never responded. He's never told us what electronics he's running. How can you seriously recommend he buy premium cables without knowing whether they would be even potentially helpful? The smartest money, where the greatest benefit for the dollar is, is in the speakers. Bad speakers will still be bad, even with the finest cables known to man. Perhaps he will provide us a picture of his gear and a list of components so we can make informed recommendations. Or maybe he's just trolling to stir up another cable war.

also he did ask in another thread what speakers he should look at for 7K. but you know that requries searching. I don't really see the OP troll as much as how your post can be taken. You are stating they are just opinions and that cables won't a difference. This can be taken as "trolling" or trying to start something seeing the OP is just asking for advice of what to look at getting but then you are saying don't even bother. I understand the idea of making sure that the other items are also in line and has decent gear, however if someone is still putting their system together and wants serval recommendations before he goes and buys it, then maybe he doesn't have all the gear picked out yet and wants an opinion on one item.

285exp

steveinaz wrote: »

The OP didn't ask us to analyze his system, we was looking for cables he could "grow" with.

That's an idiotic way to build a system. The smart way is to put your money where it does the most good, and since there is such a controversy about whether fancy cables provide any benefit at all, it's pretty clear that the improvements are subtle. Telling people to buy premium cables without knowing what they're going to hook them to is like telling people to buy super high performance tires without knowing what kind of car they're going to put them on. You spend money on insignificant improvements that would be better put on the equipment that you can really benefit from.

shack

285exp wrote:

That's an idiotic way to build a system.

So now you are calling the OP an idiot?

steveinaz

285exp;
..and that would be your opinion. It never hurts to have good cabling in your system, even with entry level components.

phuz

285exp wrote: »

That's an idiotic way to build a system. The smart way is to put your money where it does the most good, and since there is such a controversy about whether fancy cables provide any benefit at all, it's pretty clear that the improvements are subtle. Telling people to buy premium cables without knowing what they're going to hook them to is like telling people to buy super high performance tires without knowing what kind of car they're going to put them on. You spend money on insignificant improvements that would be better put on the equipment that you can really benefit from.

The people here are very nice and willing to listen to anyone's opinion, but using words like idiotic and stating that your way is the smart way and implying that everyone else is wrong will not go over very well here.

You may want to at least make an attempt to be a little more tactful and respectful until everyone here gets to know you, and feels comfrotable discussing more heated topics with you.

heiney9

285exp wrote: »

That's an idiotic way to build a system. The smart way is to put your money where it does the most good, and since there is such a controversy about whether fancy cables provide any benefit at all, it's pretty clear that the improvements are subtle. Telling people to buy premium cables without knowing what they're going to hook them to is like telling people to buy super high performance tires without knowing what kind of car they're going to put them on. You spend money on insignificant improvements that would be better put on the equipment that you can really benefit from.

I don't think anyone has recommended premium cables. Actually all the recommendation's are at the "minimum" level of the scale and are basically entry level for any system.

H9

shack

I have Z rated tires on a Ford Focus. I would highly recommend them to anyone who asks because they improve the performance of MY lowly vehicle. I could get by with less...but choose not to.

Oh well...why even bother...:rolleyes:?

IL here I come.

heiney9

shack wrote: »

IL here I come.

When and where?

shack

heiney9 wrote:

When and where?

The other I L.