What kind of speaker wires do you use ? (1 Viewer)

[Chu Gai]

oy! the void is Mohel!
[c} [/c]

 

[jason willder]

Vat a mashugga!? I should have looked in the Yellow Pages for the spelling.

 

[Pete Jennings]

I use Canare 4S11 Star Quad. It's relatively cheap, sounds fine to me, and after dressing it up with heatshrink and Tech-Flex it looks cool as well.

 

[Ben Jordan]

I use and recommend KnuKonceptz Karma 10 and 12 AWG cable. It's twisted pair. Looks really nice, too.

 

[Jerry Parker]

Another vote for the Soundking 12awg...

I use the 12awg to all of my speakers, and like how the wire is flexible, doesnt oxidize, and looks nice. I terminate them with the Dayton screw Banana plugs.

 

[Keir H]

I've got AQ Everest all around...works pretty good moved up from Monster 16 Ga. and there's a difference.



Come on now guys, someone had to do it, right...just a little humor.. I do happen to have Aq Type 4 on my rears. and Tributaries SP4 on my center bi-wire..(Linn 5120) and Linn bi-wire on my mains.

Seems that most so far have not plunged crazy $$ on wire and are satisfied with high quality less expensive brands.

 

[Michael R Price]

Keir,

All these jokes are great, but I agree with you that high end audio cables are not a complete hoax. Maybe mostly a hoax, but not a complete hoax.

 

[Martice]

Ask the same question on this forum and you may get different answers.

Also, look on this forum as well.

I think that the whole audio game is very subjective and really based on perception. With that in mind, I think the best advice that you've received in this thread is from Cliff Olson.

Everyone's system is not the same nor is the recorded music that they listen to the same either. All of us don't have the same room or setup skill level and we all don't have the same ears. Do cables in my system make a difference? Yes they have and they do. However, at what price point cables stop justifying the price of ownership varies from person to person so the short answer to your question is
to listen for yourself and see if it's worth the price because it is likely that none of the people who've responded to your question will be listening to your system anytime soon and I doubt if you will be listening to theirs.

** However, I do think before you go out and spend money on more EXPENSIVE cables you should feel confident that your system and room have been setup to play at it's best. Your system should sound pretty good with the cheapy 12ga. cable if your system has good synergy and your room has been acoustically treated. If your system is not put together properly to where all of the components are supported by the accompanying components and if the room has bad acoustics, I feel safe to say that no cable is going to help you much and you may even feel that you hear no difference in the cables that you use.

Hold on to your wallet and get the cheapo 12ga. cable FOR NOW. Go to the below site and type in "room acoustics" and read up on this most important but often ignored aspect of HT and then when you feel confident that you have addressed the most serious aspects of your system and room's performance you may want to try some more costly cables. It is the only way to really guarantee that what you are hearing is infact, what you are hearing.

Good Luck

Ecoustics

 

[Thomas Nichols]

FWIW, I use Monster XP. It was cheap. It sounds good. I am happy.

 

[Sihan Goi]

I'm using generic 12AWG OFC speaker cable too(spade/banana clip terminated), except I biwire them to look more "audiophile", haha.

Anyone tried braided Cat-5 cables?

 

[Michael R Price]

Sihan,

Yes. They are better. Depending on how much you care, it's worth the time.

 

[Sihan Goi]

Well I've read some articles on some DIY designs like the UBYTE-2 and FFRC, which are speaker wire based on normal coaxial cable and Cat-5 cable, and they make comparisons to the Kimber 4TC, which is one of the entry level boutique cables. I just haven't seen any motivation to upgrade from my generig 12AWG cable.

 

[Michael R Price]

Sihan, try this one: http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html

Basically, get 9 or 27 pairs of the wires and braid three at a time... then braid the braided constructions together. (It looks pretty neat.) I did this using standard Cat5 cable and the result was no good. With teflon insulated (plenum rated) wires like Belden 1585A and 1701A (which I used), the wires made high frequencies sound a bit better (less "tizzy" distortion, I think)... the sound also seemed cleaner in general; nothing to blow me away, but it's a difference I can appreciate. That particular method of making the wires is recommended by Jon Risch and I think most people compare it to Kimber 8TC as a baseline ($10 a foot or something).

If you have a couple of hours, go ahead and try it as long as you're sure you have teflon insulated wires. If it doesn't help the sound noticeably, at least they're not too expensive. I bought a 220 foot spool of the 4-pair wire for $16.

 

[Sihan Goi]

Thanks, I think I came across that site before.

 

[Martice]

I just haven't seen any motivation to upgrade from my generig 12AWG cable.

Ultimately the object is to hear a difference as opposed to reading about it. If you are waiting to hear someone say that this cable will fix YOUR systems sound or that cable will improve YOUR systems performance then you are walking down the wrong street in the wrong direction in regards to hopefully upgrading your systems performance to YOUR taste. The only way to know for sure is to experiment first hand.

Since you are not motivated to upgrade your cables then I guess you are happy with your systems performance after all and that's all you could hope for right?

 

[Sihan Goi]

I guess you could say I'm lazy

Well, if I did have a couple hundred feet of plenum Cat5 cables lying around that might help the motivation bit, but I don't

Anyway, I guess I'm not too passionate about upgrading the cables. Its in the "nice to have" list rather than the "must have" list. You are right to say that I'm happy with the way my system is performance, and sometimes ignorance is bliss I guess

 

[KyleRoussel]

I use tsunami 10 or 14 gauge, I forget. But I know the brand name is right.

 

[Martice]

You are right to say that I'm happy with the way my system is performance, and sometimes ignorance is bliss I guess

It takes some people many years and a lot of money to come to that realization when dealing with audio. Regardless of how good your system may sound, there is always some guy with a $599.00 system that is in nirvana while listening to his favorite music.

Before you spend any more money on anything, you should ask yourself what type of listener are you and if the term 'critical listener' can be applied to you.

If so, follow the links that I offered above for starters and if not, enjoy what you have and happy listening.

 

[Michael R Price]

Well, you may be happy with your system with normal wires, but that doesn't mean you can't be happier.

 

[Chu Gai]

Having a sip or two of this makes me happy

[c] [/c]