The Speaker Cable

[mah]

Plain English, basic math, and illustrative graphs. This pretty well covers most concerns re connectors annd cables:2thumbsup:

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/...io/Analog.html

[Panomaniac]

But 6 inches of fancy wire inside an amp is likely to have negligible effect.

I quite agree, actually. And that's how I build. But the 3-6" of fancy wire does not (or should not) add much if anything to the price of the amp. So I don't sweat it. Copper, silver, solid, stranded, whatever works well in the case. I'm happy.

What sells amps is what sells amps. And selling amps has an important benefit - it gets amps into the hands of customers. Not many companies can afford to give away amps.
And only a lucky few of us can build amps from scratch. It's hard to listen to recorded music these days without an amp. Although our buddy Batradio is trying hard.

So whether a guy wants a big brand name amp for his HT or something fancy for his pure stereo rig, he pretty much knows the value for money scale. At least the ones I deal with do. Ditto cables. I don't care much about them, some folks do.

[Old Guy]

What sells amps is what sells amps. And selling amps has an important benefit - it gets amps into the hands of customers. Not many companies can afford to give away amps.

Quite true.:2thumbsup:

There is of course a difference between a GOOD amp that has boutique wire in it, that at least does no harm, and some of the crap coming out of Asia. There are some gorgeous amps out there that are absolute garbage.

So my issue is with a junk amp wired with "Kamikaze Kable" as a selling point. And you can't trust reviews...many are bought and paid for these days. The only source of information is to read forums like this one. Or the others out there...but there are fake forums where white box speakers get good reviews...

I don't think injecting a mild dose of paranoia into any buyer is a bad idea.

[bfish]

Yeh, I'd rather get a skepticism injection than be highnd ended.

Which is why I don't go to shows... 'specially when some complete stranger wants to close the hotel room door behind me...

[Steve Mac]

One thing I do not agree with some of the responses here about power amps concerns price. There are some great amps that blow away mid-fi amps for under a thousand dollars. Odyssey Audio is one. One of their amps had quite a review(I think the Khartago) in The Absolute Sound mag(2009 issue 195?) that went against the grain that you have to spend a million dollars to qualify as an accredited reviewable high end amp. I had several mid-fi amps before the Odyssey Stratos amps I am now using and the difference was easily discernible...and quite befitting the quality of Altec speakers. And I did not...pay boutique land prices.

[AltecLansingFan]

I like this part of his description "black art of high end audio"! Personally, I use Monster speaker wire with all of my Altecs and Monster cables to connect my components to my amps and I think the Monster stuff sounds great (but have never done any measurements on their products)--anyone out there have any preference for brand of cables and speaker wire? Funny thing that this was posted today--I was at the Guitar Center last week and the salesman there was trying to tell me that Monster cables can color the sound???
P.S. Pete Townshend is sure looking old in that video--hope he gets back in shape in time for the Who's performance at Superbowl Halftime this year ;p

Hi, I know Americans are different with European, and the cables story is very difficult by lots of Americans, so don't try to help them, it brings you nothing. If they are satisfied let them play their systems with lamp cord. Be happy they don't ask you for a shoot out. :scratch:

I tried many, many cables, from homebrew cables, all kinds of Monster cable, the last I tried was the Monster Sigma Retro (gold), for speakers and interconnects, expansive Audi Note silver cables etc. etc.
The last few years I use these Chimera Labs Product Reviews - CCC Wire. only I bought by a French company for half the price, because they buy these cables in bulk from chimeralabs
These cables are sounding very nice and open, everything LF, MF and HF are exactly what I like to hear.

Maybe there are other very good sounding cables, of course I did not try every brand, but with my Altec, and I'm busy with cable quiet some years, these are by far the best sounding I ever had.
My friend in Henderson, was also very skeptical about the whole cable story, he also was a real lamp cord fan, until I send him some of these interconnects, just for fun to try, result was, after 30 hours listening: Lamp cord in the dust-bin and he bought speaker cables and interconnects for his whole system.

[MikeInNH]

Many years ago when the first exotic speaker cables came out I was working for a computer company. There were many audiophile's in the company and a bunch of us got together every now and then to compare systems and to show off something new.

One day a bunch of us decided to test some of these exotic cables. We had 5 different pairs of speakers....10 people listening...and 2 people replacing cables. The speakers were behind a large sheet so the audience couldn't tell what speakers or cables were being used. We must have tested 10 different cables with 5 different speakers.

Our conclusion....While in some RARE cases you could tell there was a sound difference....it was IMPOSSIBLE to tell if the sound was better or worse...just different. Most of the time it was IMPOSSIBLE to tell if you were using the cheap zip cable from Radio-shack or some exotic speaker cable that cost $500.

While MOST of the audiophiles who owned the cables were NOT convinced of the test...we did it again the following week...Only this time we had 5-10 different amps to use (because the audiophiles felt it was combination of amp and speaker and cable that made the difference) and the audience crew to over 50. We tested in shifts. The whole process lasted 8 hours.

Came to the exact same conclusion as the previous test. Some of the audiophiles were LIVID. They said that the two people doing the cable switching were playing games. The people switching all the cables around decided to videotape the whole process. It was all recorded as to exactly what they did...And some of the audiophiles STILL didn't believe it....OH WELL.

I stopped going to these gatherings when about a year later when the group tested speakers/systems...And the winner (HANDS DOWN) was a pair of Model-19's.....My lowly model-15's came in third...a pair of B&W's with a Krell amp came in second...Speakers/systems from Mac, Magnapan, Klipsch, Snell and even WAMM finished behind the Altecs. And some of the audiophiles were FURIOUS...claiming the test was rigged...Almost came to blows at one point.

[Old Guy]

Hi, I know Americans are different with European, and the cables story is very difficult by lots of Americans, so don't try to help them, it brings you nothing. If they are satisfied let them play their systems with lamp cord. Be happy they don't ask you for a shoot out. :scratch:

Your whole post is a bit offensive. Sorry you and your golden ears are not the ultimate authority. Far from it.

Use what you want. But don't pull this stuff that you know a lot more, you don't.

Use what you want. Your rights end at bragging you know better and accusing others of not being able to hear.

Have no interest in a shoot out with you by the way.

[AltecLansingFan]

Your whole post is a bit offensive. Sorry you and your golden ears are not the ultimate authority. Far from it.

Use what you want. But don't pull this stuff that you know a lot more, you don't.

Use what you want. Your rights end at bragging you know better and accusing others of not being able to hear.

Have no interest in a shoot out with you by the way.

I am so very, very sorry, I didn't know that cable talk here is so critical.

One thing is nice to know; somewhere in the US, there is a doctor, who knows me better than myself.

Oh, I didn't expect you at all for a shoot out, because it will cost you a flight ticket to the Netherlands.

[Old Guy]

I am so very, very sorry, I didn't know that cable talk here is so critical.

One thing is nice to know; somewhere in the US, there is a doctor, who knows me better than myself.

Oh, I didn't expect you at all for a shoot out, because it will cost you a flight ticket to the Netherlands.

Hey I'm thinking of visiting the Netherlands anyway.

You have it all wrong, it's not the cable talk that's critical, it was your post and the fact that you are stereotyping people.

Out of millions of Americans, maybe a few thousand have ever been in a shootout, if you discount those who have served in the military.
I'd be willing to invite you to my farm if you ever make it over here, to show you a view of American life you probably don't get in your media.

And if I make it to the Netherlands next summer I'll buy you a "coffee" if you refrain from spouting how much more you know than every one else.