Speaker cable?

My 1050 should arrive here tomorrow and the only thing that I still need to do is purchase some decent speaker cable. I'm running a pair of Wharfdale Emeral 97's which are biwireable. They're currently hooked up using some 12gauge monster cable 'zip' cord. I'd like to upgrade to some real cable (preferably biwire). I need at least a 10ft run and would like to keep it under the $200 range. What cables would you suggest?

Oh, man....
You may have opened a can of worms with this one !!

Some will say that the 12 ga. wire you have now is fine. That you will see no noticable improvement with the "higher end" stuff.

Some will say that, if you don't spend hundreds or thousands, you're greatly missing the sonic improvements that "good" speaker wire can make.

I'll simply try to answer your question...

Check AudioAdvisor.com for a wide range of new and used (or demo) cables.
I think BetterCables.com offers speaker wire.
AudioClassics.com has an ever changing inventory of speaker wire.
Stereophile magazine gives Radio Shack wire a "Recommended Component" endorsement year after year.
I guess as far as a personal recommendation, try to get something that you can evaluate in your home on your system for a period of time.
That way, you can decide !!!

hi there,
I'm using Audioquest Indigo's at the moment, but am considering upgrading and have looked at several different companies. There are alot of small cable manufacturers that seem to offer great bang for the buck. Rhinocable.com, signalcable.com, bouldercable.com and of course Audioquest, Tara labs, Kimber Kable, MIT, etc.
They pretty much are all the same at least in quality of construction. Prices will vary considerably though so I would suggest surfing the web and trying Audiogon.com if you're not opposed to buying used or closeout items. You can save a ton of money going the used route, though. Do some research, but don't get too excited over the claims made by most of these cable companies. Any of the above mentioned cables will be an improvement over your Monster Cable.
Good Luck
Marc

I'm aware of all these facts. I've heard first hand cables that make a difference in sound. Was the difference enough to make me want them? Ehh the Nordost Valhalla at $8,000 for a 3m run was not, but there was a noticeable difference over the $600 Blue Heaven line.

Anyone who says cables do not make any difference either doesn't have a system capable of prducing sound quality good enough to hear it, or their ears aren't that good.

I use Nordost cable in my audio setup, but I don't want to spend that much and don't think the difference would even be that noticeable with Home Theater.

Basically I was asking if anyone here was running any biwire setup and what they were using. Sorry to open the can of worms heh.

$8k for a 3m run? Wow. Used speaker cable? OK, people, now we're really starting to get out of hand here if we have to start resorting to that.

The job of good speaker cable is NOTHING. That is, pass the signal through and don't do anything to it. So, if you've got bad cable hooked up, then twice as much of it should be twice as bad.

So try taking the crappiest zipcord (of suitable gauge) that you can find, and hook up a 6" run to one of your speakers and give it a listen (may need to move your amp, heh). Then try it again with the entire spool connected between the amp and the speaker.

This ought to exaggerate any distortion you're getting from the wire. Probably far, far more than that, even, because of inductance and all that. Well, OK, maybe you want to take it off the spool to keep it from inducting.

I'll bet the results aren't as horrible as you might think.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Matthew,
Unfortunately not everyone thinks that all cable is created equal. I personally don't put much stock in $8000.00 speaker cable, but I do think that a couple hundred isn't too much to spend. If you want to upgrade on the cheap or just experiment a little then used is the way to go. IMO.
Cheers
Marc

I really appreciate the comments and input, and I do think I'm going to buy used cable. Monster Cable M2.4s to be exact.

Just wondering what the guys who are running cable other than zip cord are using and how happy they are with it. Brands and models specifically. =]

The stuff I have right now is pretty cheap, and I think it sounds great. Now, I'm not going to argue with you that spending more money won't make it sound better; it very well might. Maybe at some point I'll try to borrow some more expensive stuff and try to see if makes any difference. It was just that "used" comment that kind of sent me over the edge. Since speaker wire is generally cut to fit your room, and since it's normally such a small percentage of the cost of your system, it seemed extremely odd to hear someone proposing buying it second-hand.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

This all depends on your components and what you're looking to get out of your system. If you have an AIWA receiver and some KLH speakers, chances are zip cord and $8,000 cables won't make a bit of difference.

My audio setup includes a tube amp, a $500 cd player, $1,600 speakers and $250 speaker cables.

When cables get up in this price range it makes great sense to buy them used. Not only are they a better deal, but if they were used properly they'll be burned in and sound better than new ones.

I've alson thought about purchasing some more expensive cable for my audio setup and moving my current cable in and hooking it up to my Outlaw.

But as I said in the very beginning, I'm not looking to start any flames or arguments, just wondering what brands and models people use (if any) and what your thoughts are about that cable and any comparison vs other cables using the same setup.

Ain't I just a huge pain in the ass....

I can not claim any special wisdom on the subject of cables.

I had been using TMC Gold Label Reference speaker cables (biwired) to drive my mains (Paradigm Reference Studio/60's) and a pair of BetterCables Premium cables to drive my center (Studio/CC), all driven by an Outlaw 750 amp. The configuration has worked extremely well for me. The TMC's are currently in the closet, as I've been using a set of DIY biwire speaker cables (Canare 4S8 StarQuad cable and Audioquest spades) that MrSandman cooked up. Significantly less expensive than the TMC's, and after breaking in they've been very nice. I'm probably going to put the TMC's back on soon and see what difference it makes.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Be sure all the speaker cables are exactly the same length too - use a micrometer if you can. Also, be sure the ends that used to be hooked to the speakers before are still hooked to the speakers, and if your climate is different give them 48-72 hours to acclimatize themselves.

Charlie

Micrometer?

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

THE MICROMETERS IM USED TO CAN MEASURE WITHIN .0005 OF AN INCH OR CLOSER. HIS CABLES MUST BE DAMN EXACT.

Charlie's micrometer joke reminded me of a college professor (slightly crazy) who used to swear that he could reliably measure to within 1/64 of an inch with a scale divided into 1/4-inch or 1/8-inch increments. He tended to get cranky when we use "undergraduate" uncertainty analysis (we were undergrads) since it demonstrated how horribly inaccurate his lab experiments were.

This was also the guy who claimed that he could draw a perfect line or circle free-hand. For some reason he never demonstrated that skill for us...

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review