cables for B&W (1 Viewer)

[kanian]

What speaker cables whould you recommend for my system: receiver H/K AVR 525 and mains B&W DM 603. Do you think I should bewire the speakers? Thanks for help. Adam

 

[Philip Hamm]

I would use generic 12G, from Home Depot, Radio Shack, or an online supplier like Parts Express. It works great for my 602s.

 

[John Garcia]

If you don't have a separate amp channel for each set of posts, your next best bet is just to replace the jumpers with a very short piece of quality wire.

 

[MWestyn]

I went by the reccomendation of a trusted associate...at least bi-wire the mains and center. After all, B&W put the crossovers in there for a reason.

You can get quality cable at most HT stores...I believe I paid about $0.45/ft. I talked them into throwing in the terminations for free (Linn banana plugs, silver solder, you get the idea). I think mine is 14/4 (14 guage, 4 wires)...it's well shielded and is about as thick as coax.

I will say that this solved some sound issues (hissing) that I had before I upgraded from home depot/lowes wire.

By the way, I use bi-wire on my mains 604's, and center lcr600. The rears (601's) are not bi-wired but I have some good shielded "2-wire " cable running to them. Also supplied by HT store; again, looks like coax, cost about $0.33/ft.

Hope this helps.

 

[Brian L]

I went by the reccomendation of a trusted associate...at least bi-wire the mains and center. After all, B&W put the crossovers in there for a reason.

Can you elaborate on that for me?

IIRC, the crossovers are always used. Life would be very unpleasant for the tweeters and mids if not.

When you remove the jumpers and bi-wire, your jumper is now the two pieces of speaker wire, connected at the speaker terminals of the amp, rather than a 1 inch piece of brass at the speaker.

How this can "improve" the sound is a subject of debate. I tend to subscribe to the view that vendors put dual posts on their speakers so as to appeal to the tweaks.

And new speaker wire cured a hiss problem? I sure would like to understand how an inert piece of copper could cause/cure hiss.

But, if you got good reults, then why ask why?

BGL

 

[David Judah]

When I had 604s as Fronts, I was originally using the free 12g wire my dealer gave me. Because I'm a tweaker, I tried several different brands on loan to see if it would make any difference.

Long story short(after much testing--I really enjoy doing that kind of thing)I settled on some Monster Z2 wire. IMO, it really brought out some detail in the treble that was lacking with the free stuff. It wasn't a huge difference, mind you, but enough to warrant the change(and I liked the idea of interchangable connectors).

So I'd say try to borrow some different wire and see how you like them with your equipment and your personal preferences, then make a purchase. Some internet companies give you a 30 day trial, so if you don't mind the wait and possible return hassle, you could go that route as well.

Also, I do biwire my 9NTs and CDMC SE Center because I can, but I don't know that it makes much difference if you have good wire to begin with.

Good luck,

DJ

 

[kanian]

Guys, thanks for all the feedback. I guess I will have to get some cables for testing and then decide.

 

[Philip Hamm]

When you remove the jumpers and bi-wire, your jumper is now the two pieces of speaker wire, connected at the speaker terminals of the amp, rather than a 1 inch piece of brass at the speaker.

Shhh!!!

 

[MWestyn]

Brian,

And new speaker wire cured a hiss problem? I sure would like to understand how an inert piece of copper could cause/cure hiss.

Geez, call me a liar why don't you? It did in fact make a big difference, and yes, an inert piece of copper or silver or whatever material you choose, can make a big difference. Any signal is subject to attenuation and interference, depending on the type of "inert" material used and its type of shielding, the signal can travel at faster/slower speeds or experience significantly less/more attenuation and/or interference. . My rears happened to have a fairly long run (50ft.) and were exhibiting a hiss. After replacing the wires the hiss was gone and the sound was much clearer. If it did not matter what type of wires/cables you used, there would be no market for them. Yes, some companies prey upon the idea of this (Monster for example) and tend to over-charge you. In the same respect, do you use the interconnects that come with your components, or do you upgrade to a better, composite/component/digital/etc. cable? Why have gold coated connectors? Why not use aluminum foil or tin?

While I believe there are differences in wires, I also believe in the theory of diminishing returns...will quality equal cost as they both rise, no...you've got to set a point that you feel comfortable at and don't purchase beyond that. If your point is home depot wire, then fine, but don't discredit the ability of different types of wire to carry a stronger or cleaner signal.

 

[Brian L]

Geez, call me a liar why don't you? It did in fact make a big difference, and yes, an inert piece of copper or silver or whatever material you choose, can make a big difference. Any signal is subject to attenuation and interference, depending on the type of "inert" material used and its type of shielding, the signal can travel at faster/slower speeds or experience significantly less/more attenuation and/or interference.

Nope. Just want to understand the phenomena. If you heard a difference, than there was one, but I would like to understand it, thats all.

Attenuation (due to higher cable impedance) would result in diminished signal, thus diminished acoustic output given the same output level from the amp. But it would not cause any hiss, and a slight increase in amp level would compensate. For a speaker cable of normal length in a typical room, you are talking differences from cable A to cable B of perhaps a few ohms.

Increased capacitance would cause a roll off of the high frequencies, but again, the amount involved from one cable to another should be low enough to be inaudible. If not than the cable that is doing the most high frequency attentuation was certainly a very poor design.

As for shielding, speaker wire is unshielded because the levels involved normally dwarf any RF noise a given run of wire would pick up.

Any hiss issues that I have dealt with normally occur due to poor pre-amp/processor design, or excessive gain somewhere in the signal chain.

But as I said, I never doubt when someone says they hear (or don't hear) something. But I do want to understand why.

I subscribe to the viewpoint that there is no affect without a cause, whatever that may be.

And I would still like to understand your thoughts on bi-wiring WRT crossovers or lack thereof.

BGL

 

[John Garcia]

Yes, some companies prey upon the idea of this (Monster for example) and tend to over-charge you.

I'm not sure why people say this. In the realm of designer wire, Monster is one of the least expensive making a relatively decent product.

As for the hiss, there was probably another reason for the removal of the hiss than the wire itself, unless the wire was damaged or was the incorrect ga. for the run of 50' for the impedance of the speaker it was powering.

Speaker wire CAN pick up noise if it is run right next to high voltage lines. When my friend remodeled, he had this happen with his in wall wiring for his rears. The contractor had to redo the wiring.

I too am of the mind that interconnects and wire influences the overall sound of a system, though they are much lower in the grand scheme of things that should be paid attention to when building a system. They should be of a relative quality to the rest of the system, and be chosen for synergy with your gear, which can be difficult.

 

[Lam Nguyen]

kanian,
I'm using element cable biwire speakercable from my B&W
cdm-7nt to my HK avr510/Rotel rmb1075 combo with great result. They clearly beat my Tributaries and are one of the best looking cable I've seen at this price, no buyer remorse here. Check them out, they are at elementcable.com)

 

[Chu Gai]

Was your hiss coming from your front or back Sean? Also were you running the wire for the backs through the wall? Any idea what the shielding was on the wire you bought?

 

[MWestyn]

Well, I just spent a half an hour writing a reply and the darned computer screwed up "could not find server" and lost the whole thing.

I'll have to get back to you another time. Grrrrrrrrrr.......

 

[Jason_]

I'm using Monster cable 4C in-wall Its the white w/orange stripe. It's 4 conductor 14G and its thick. I have them bi-wired to my 604's and LCRS2 On the back of the amp i put the two pos & neg's togther on each post because my amp is not bi-wiarable.