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Speaker cables |
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Chris Firth
Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2013 Location: Rossendale, UK Status: Online Points: 1532 |
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Probably nothing, other than the dealer maybe trying to sell you new ones. Are the ones being proposed meant to be spiked to the floor? Many folk have the idea that spiking speakers to the floor tightens up the sound, which in my experience is not the case. In my experience spiking speakers to the floor causes all sorts of problems, usually an unnatural and forced midband being most prominent. If you have suspended floors the floor becomes a sympathetic resonator too. The castors on your current stands probably provide decent enough isolation from the floor. |
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Aussie Mick
Senior Member Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Location: Bendigo Aust. Status: Offline Points: 1091 |
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I agree that the active components have the biggest impact, and that passive components (including cables, stands and room treatment) are there for refinement. Unfortunately, and I don't have any experience with your speaker stands, sometimes what we site our gear on can actively work against the system. Turntables too close to speakers, speakers sighted on wobbly, uneven stands, etc.
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Rega RP8 - Apheta 2 - Accession MC Enigma PS -Solo ULDE (Focal Utopia) - PS Audio M700 - Fical Kanta No2
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Baflar
New Member Joined: 29 Jul 2017 Location: Leeds Status: Offline Points: 39 |
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Thanks greatly for all these comments. I think I'm convinced anew that proprietory cables will probably be better than my unbranded 'parallel vanilla', but it appears necessary to do a lot of in situ testing to settle on what sounds best.
I think my scepticism was in the taken-for-granted thought that the 'active' components in the system (e.g. cartridge, amp, speakers) are what really determine the sound experience, while the 'passive' elements (interconnects at all stages up to the speaker terminals) introduce relatively minor tweaks. I'm changing my mind slightly! I see that, in a sense, there is an active aspect to speaker cables - primarily towards degrading the sound in subtle ways. Which just leaves that (rather extreme) comment from the hi-fi shop 'not a million miles away' that there'd be no point in getting speaker cables before changing my speaker stands. As I said in the first post, these are of the open platform type, firmly supporting the speakers at the edge, with acoustically absorbent material between. Now, what the blenge is so wrong with these speaker stands?! |
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Richardl60
Senior Member Joined: 04 Nov 2014 Location: Yorkshire Status: Offline Points: 1468 |
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Whilst a branded cable is no guarantee of a good cable, proper engineering (research, design, materials, plugs etc) do matter. Cable diameter and screening does make a difference though as already stated big is not necessarily beautiful. Trying a small number of home demos should be possible and in my experience finding a speaker cable that is 'the best' in all areas can be quite rare so may be a compromise.
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Aussie Mick
Senior Member Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Location: Bendigo Aust. Status: Offline Points: 1091 |
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You're also making the assumption (I think) that thicker cable is better. There seem to be so many variables! I tend to think of it more as, "I fundamentally enjoy what my system does, but in my room there's too much bass", and then think about why. Is it speaker placement or room dimensions or is it a warm and fat sounding system in a room that's too small? In that scenario, a cable that isn't "accurate" but is bass shy might actually give me a much better result IN MY SYSTEM. Room treatment might be another option, or moving rooms, or changing the speakers, etc.
Which route do you take? I use Slee cables in my primary system and they do the job I need them to do. However, I use a different brand in the TV system and they do the right job there. If I swap cables around my primary system suffers and my TV system gets a bit of glare. The old system matching chestnut? There's no substitute for listening in your own home with your own gear. Here in Australia there some dealers happy for you to take demo gear for a few days with a credit card swipe. Do you have that option for trying the other speaker stands? Mick. |
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Rega RP8 - Apheta 2 - Accession MC Enigma PS -Solo ULDE (Focal Utopia) - PS Audio M700 - Fical Kanta No2
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Graham Slee
Admin Group Retired Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Location: South Yorkshire Status: Offline Points: 16298 |
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No, but wide spacing increases inductance. Try entering some figures here: https://www.eeweb.com/toolbox/parallel-wire-inductance |
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That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps
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Baflar
New Member Joined: 29 Jul 2017 Location: Leeds Status: Offline Points: 39 |
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Wow. I'm amazed, but I believe you! I guess the question remains as to whether branded cables are likely to be clearly superior to the 'ordinary' big parallel wires that I currently use. I agree that the ultimate proof of the pudding lies in a home test, but would you (and the other experienced ears around here) really think it likely that even Graham's speaker cables could significantly improve clarity, detail and soundstage beyond the current set-up? I've just measured the width of my current cables, btw, and find that the insulation holds the two cores 1cm apart, so there won't be much capacitance effect. Or (gulp) would there? ! |
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