Crap speaker cables
Printed From: Graham Slee Hifi System Components
Category: Cables and Interconnects
Forum Name: Interconnects for Turntable and Headphone
Forum Description: Technical Q&A, hints and tips
URL: https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4657
Printed Date: 20 Apr 2024 at 5:24pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Crap speaker cables
Posted By: Dave Friday
Subject: Crap speaker cables
Date Posted: 11 Feb 2019 at 11:57pm
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Evening all,the living room system has always had a bit of a right Chanel bias...so today I checked the speaker leads resistance Right speaker lead .5ohms left speaker lead 3.4ohms!! It sounds a lot more balanced now!
------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Replies:
Posted By: Ash
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 12:32am
| One advantage of having Proprius. Each channel has its own volume control so small differences can be corrected. |
Posted By: Dave Friday
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 1:09am
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Hi Ash,the tuneramp I'm using does have a balance control (and bass n treble controls!!) but using the balance control to "balance" the sound out didn't realy work as the left Chanel sounded as if the frequency response was different. ------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Posted By: Graham Slee
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 1:53pm
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3.4 ohms!  Yes, without it the sound will definitely be more centered. ------------- That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps |
Posted By: Chris Firth
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 5:24pm
That was my thought too! Sounds like a piece of wet string might be a better bet ......
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Graham Slee wrote:Posted By: Dave Friday
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 5:43pm
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yes! The wire/s were green! And very thin( multi strand ) even so I was a bit surprised . Needless to say( but I will) I'm looking at speaker cables ( about 8 meters!so expensive ) ------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Posted By: Chris Firth
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 6:05pm
Good old mains flex would not cost too much, and you can throw the rubbish you have in the bin. Eight metres of cable should not have a loop resistance of 0.5Ω - shove the decimal point a few places to the left and that would be acceptable.
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Posted By: Dave Friday
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 6:30pm
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Hi Chris,I should have said that I replaced the duff cable and the loop resistance of both cables are around .5ohms. The vocals are central,about a foot higher than the tops of the speakers! ------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 13 Feb 2019 at 6:30pm
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All's well that ends well. ------------- Jon Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC. |
Posted By: Chris Firth
Date Posted: 13 Feb 2019 at 9:03pm
Thanks Dave Half an ohm loop resistance is still high for that length of cable. Is the replacement cable the spindly stuff you mentioned earlier?
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Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 13 Feb 2019 at 9:39pm
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I agree with Chris on this. Dave, this may not apply and/or may be obvious
to you... my multimeter read a bit high on cable resistance so I took
the reading with the probes touching off the reading with the speaker
cables in circuit. Now I have an LCR meter but multimeters are handy
all-in-one tools... ------------- Jon Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC. |
Posted By: Dave Friday
Date Posted: 13 Feb 2019 at 9:52pm
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Hi Chris,the actual loop resistance is .5ohms (for 20 meters) Here is the spec 1.0mm2 3.0x6.0mm It doesn't make much sense to me! The cable looks the same as the other(good) cable,I've thrown the thin stuf away. Ps my meter isn't zeroing!(.3ohm with the prods touching each other )
------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Posted By: BackinBlack
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2019 at 8:01am
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Modern digital Multimeters rarely show 0 ohms when shorted as they are really measuring the probe, lead and contact resistance. On some models this can be "zeroed out", much like the classic AvoMeter. ------------- Just listen, if it sounds good to you, enjoy it. |
Posted By: Chris Firth
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2019 at 9:21am
Subtracting the 0.3 from the 0.5 still leaves 0.2, which is still high in my opinion. The decimal place could do with being a couple of places to the left. If things were 0.002Ω I wouldn't bat an eyelid. I'll have to find my DMM and measure the loop resistance of my speaker cables now. See what you've started?
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Posted By: Dave Friday
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2019 at 2:41pm
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One of the quality speaker cable spec is 0.0074 ohm per meter. I must check the cables in my main system! One of my co-engineers in a TV rental company was tracing a fault ( frame bounce) with a Avominor meter,when he put the probes in a certain spot the fault stopped so he looked at the ohms per volt on the meter found a resistor of the same value and soldered in place! Job done. Ps,I had subtracted the .3 ohm
------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2019 at 9:13pm
You will not be able to accurately measure the lumped characteristics of a cable with most models of DMM but it will identify a gross fault like a short, open circuit or poor connection. A more specialised device like an LCR meter would be needed to get the measurements Chris rightly suggests for quality speaker cables. ------------- Jon Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC. |
Posted By: Dave Friday
Date Posted: 14 Feb 2019 at 11:49pm
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Thanks Jon,as you rightly point out my dvm only reads to 0.1ohm ( how did you know?) so at the very least I need a milli ohm meter,one that reads to 0.000 ohm . I know I made a capitance meter thingy but I don't know if it did inductance as well ( have to find it ) What LCR meter did you buy? Ta. ------------- lp12,oc9mk3,ca610p,krimson40watt pa,kef105.4 |
Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 15 Feb 2019 at 5:25am
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Hi Dave, I got a DM4070 off Amazon, it was about £25 at the time. Basic but does the job I needed, I think it goes down to tens of milliohms on the lowest scale i.e. 0.01. I do take the closed loop reading off when using the test leads. It's worth remembering that the DC resistance of each speaker crossover inductor will probably be 0.1 ohms or over. I have found an LCR meter quite handy. To buy one I suggest searching for LCR meter then compare specs to price for the better reviewed models. The materials and construction are as significant as the lumped characteristics IMO. ------------- Jon Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC. |