Thirty Six Thousand Dollar Speaker Cables?

[orange]

Okay, I'll bite...What is THHN? Turbo High Heuristic Noparandic?

I was gonna say my spell checker will still change it to 'fick' but good thing Lee had the answer

 

[laatsch55]

Or precisely----Thermoplastic, high heat resistant, Nylon coated.

 

[fitz43]

Ever heard of Roger Russell?
Here is a link to a White Paper on speaker wire by Roger Russell, of McIntosh Labs. It's really well written, and it's good reading.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

There's a lot of reading at that link. Thanks. Doug

 

[premiumplus]

There's a lot of reading at that link. Thanks. Doug

Yeah, a ton of really good stuff there. Entertaining and informative though.
It makes sense, and it's backed up by solid engineering principles.

 

[speakerman1]

Well I go by path of least resistance. It is like hooking a straw at the end of a garden hose and expecting the same amount of water to come out. Silver is the best conductor. It corrodes faster though. I like locking ICs. I have heard differences. Bi-wiring or amping. Would you rather have a separate conductor feeding the crossovers or a small sliver trace feeding them all. All about the path of least resistance.

 

[Robroy]

I've tried to A/B cables over the years and I can't say I've really been able to hear the differences. Doesn't mean there isn't one, but if it's in-audible to me then I just save money. However, I've noticed subtle differences on quality contacts, such as solid spade vs a loose feeling banana..
but in a blind test I'd probably be fooled.

For me, when I'm most concerned about cable quality, is when I was performing permanent installs where first code requirements need to be met, then secondly the quality of the cable and jacket & shielding concerns. I've seen plenty of installs where "lamp cord" was pulled throughout a home, cracked, turned green & failed.

The most current wire for my home stereo is radio shack,"flat" 14ga, so it would fit nicely under the 901 stands. I soldered on spades to use on the speaker end so they would stay solid and not pull/fall out. On the amp end I use some monster 2pc screw-down banana plugs that hold the copper very tight internally. Easy to take off for bare wire vintage rcvr usage.

I use a lot of mic, instrument and PA cables. And you are exactly right. The quality of contacts DOES matter. It's also easily quantified and qualified. Cables with quality connectors can save you a ton of hassle and worry and are often worth the extra money. But it's rarely about higher quality sound.

 

[Web Police]

As has been said as long as the wires are of a sufficient gauge and quality I look more at the quality of the connectors. I have even used telephone wire with acceptable results, it just doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling though. Look inside your speakers and components and see what size and quality wires are used. If you use something better then those at least your IC's or Speaker wires won't be the weakest links in your system. Anything more expensive then that will fall under Lee's Fool and his money statement.

 

[Phase Linear Phanatic]

As has been said as long as the wires are of a sufficient gauge and quality I look more at the quality of the connectors. I have even used telephone wire with acceptable results, it just doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling though. Look inside your speakers and components and see what size and quality wires are used. If you use something better then those at least your IC's or Speaker wires won't be the weakest links in your system. Anything more expensive then that will fall under Lee's Fool and his money statement.

Agreed. Using water and pipes as the analogy; wouldn't that kind of be like water going through a 2" pipe; only to get to it's source (the binding posts/x-over) and be bottle-necked by a 3/4" pipe to the speakers? I doubt speakers inside the cabinet are using 8AWG wire to connect to the x-over or binding posts? At this point; don't you defeat the purpose?

My personal internal speakers use 12AWG. But that's just because I built them myself that way. I usually overkill. And even then; I used Radioshack 12AWG lamp cord wire. Yes even my father has for 40+ years. Go to the hardware store, buy a spool, connect speaker. He even needed this in a pinch once and wandered into a walmart and bought 14-16AWG what he called "wimpy wire"; to run his 300lb massive speakers. And they sound fine.

Agreed. The weakest link really may be in the internal connections. So unless you are going a thousand feet with your speaker wire where you may encounter slight audio degradation; I do not understand a $32,000 speaker cable. That was the price of my new car. Ridiculous..............

 

[laatsch55]

until there is a setting on my Fluke 179 that says "voodoo capacitance" I'll stick with the output stage in the amp being my guide for gauge sizing....

 

[laatsch55]

It's too bad there is so much contention around this issue as I think they're a lot of people on the fence about this. AB testing can weed out the majority of these claims BuT!!!, If and when you can measure soundstage It's all moot because that is ONE of the differences I hear with better cables and connections, and soundstage can be very subjective. When Joe came out with the fully comp backplane boards the immediate, overwhelming improvement I heard was a better soundstage. Joe confirmed immediately that was his big perceived difference.. Joe remains pretty quiet on subjective subjects because as an engineer if it can't be measured it's pretty hard to hang your hat on statements like that. I was relieved that Joe heard the same thing in about the same difference as if it wasn't totally supportable or him, being cofident about others hearing it he would never have confirmed hearing it.
So, where do we go from here???

 

[Pure_Brew]

I dunno but $32k will buy a lot of government cheese.

 

[Northwinds]

Wouldn't shielded wireless be the end all be all and end the cable controversy? Just eliminate speaker wire altogether? XM Radio sounds pretty kickass to me and it's transmitted via satellite, no wires involved

 

[BubbaH]

Isnt there current involved with speaker connections? And I think the signal that passes into the amp is different than when it comes out... Joe or Lee or someone way smarter than me will have to chime in.

 

[BubbaH]

Thats not to say the idea wouldnt work with self powered units though....

 

[laatsch55]

Ron, wireless is ok when talking RF. You're not going to transmit AMPERES wirelessly.

Bubba, yes amp input, avg-250 millivolt, < .1 amp. Output--50-70volts, 3-8 amps.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Wouldn't shielded wireless be the end all be all cable controversy? Just eliminate speaker wire altogether? XM Radio sounds pretty kickass to me and it's transmitted via satellite, no wires involved

For that matter, I have lately been HUGELY impressed by my Minnesota Public Radio internet connection, and by some (not all) Ewetoob music videos - AND there is no telling how many miles of wire the signal traverses before it actuates my speakers.

On the other hand, audio engineers have designed gear for decades, which has the signal pass through lead-based solder connections, lead being a poor electrical conductor. I have seen a lot of amps in which the signal passes through a stamped-steel piece on its way to the speaker binding-posts, steel also being a poor conductor of electricity. It's just a little ways, and adds little to the total resistance of the whole circuit. It also means that sweating about the wires is needless worry. For you tube guys especially - are the pins on your tubes gold-plated? How about the connections in your tube sockets - are they gold-plated? Muwahahahahahhahahahah...worry now. [insert smiley here, nyuk, nyuk]

 

[laatsch55]

Gibsonian needs to chime in here, he, along with the Larrt make compelling arguments for large cable... Where are ya Scott??

 

[laatsch55]

For that matter, I have lately been HUGELY impressed by my Minnesota Public Radio internet connection, and by some (not all) Ewetoob music videos - AND there is no telling how many miles of wire the signal traverses before it actuates my speakers.

On the other hand, audio engineers have designed gear for decades, which has the signal pass through lead-based solder connections, lead being a poor electrical conductor. I have seen a lot of amps in which the signal passes through a stamped-steel piece on its way to the speaker binding-posts, steel also being a poor conductor of electricity. It's just a little ways, and adds little to the total resistance of the whole circuit. It also means that sweating the wires is needless worry. For you tube guys especially - are the pins on your tubes gold-plated? How about the connections on your tube sockets - are they gold-plated? Muwahahahahahhahahahah...worry now.

That's what I mean by contention, a smiley at the end of that Laz may be a decent thing to do just so we don't think the last sentence wasn't in your face. Don't think I'm jumping your shit because I'm not. It's just that it can go from contructive discussion to garbage soooooooooooooo fast.

 

[Northwinds]

Ron, wireless is ok when talking RF. You're not going to transmit AMPERES wirelessly.

Bubba, yes amp input, avg-250 millivolt, < .1 amp. Output--50-70volts, 3-8 amps.

Ah gotcha

 

[orange]

Wouldn't shielded wireless be the end all be all and end the cable controversy? Just eliminate speaker wire altogether? XM Radio sounds pretty kickass to me and it's transmitted via satellite, no wires involved

You can transmit clean audio through your home power grid and yes, there are wireless transmitters that send a signal to the receivers in the speakers (Magnavox did it YEARS AGO).

However there is a huge difference between that and a satellite audio service like XM.