tube to 805 speaker cables ??

[rogerh113]

Hello,

I have been pondering upgrading the speaker cables between my tube amp and Altec 604s. If anyone has been through the mill on this one, I would be interested in what you experienced in the process, and ended up with and why. I have a preference for vintage stuff, including cables. Currently Yamamura and Purist Audio Colossus / Proteus are floating around in my head, but I am sure there are lots of other options. I know, it is all system dependent, etc, etc, but I do think cables have general characteristics irrespective of the system. Hopefully if they worked well on your tube to 604, they will on mine.

Finally, no thanks on a protracted argument about how cables don't make a difference - seen way too many of those.....

thanks -- Roger

[jmarkwart]

Roger,

I listened to a lot of different types of wire over the years on Altec compression drivers, but always heard low-level white noise in the horn output regardless of the type of wire used. That changed forever when I tried some long-crystal continuous cast copper from Vampire and instead heard total background silence, even with my ear stuck inside the horn's mouth! I've used it for both cabling and hookup wire ever since. I used to buy it in bulk directly from the distributor when I was building speakers, so it may only be available now directly in small quantities from retail re-sellers. A quick search of the web shows that Ohno style long-crystal copper wire is still available from other vendors. Well worth it if you like dead silent backgrounds from your horns and a very transparent sounding wire overall.

Jeff

[Old Guy]

Often wire experiences won't translate from one system to the next. Every amp is different, even matched pairs of speakers are slightly different.

I'm a firm believer that others experiences should be used to establish a direction for research only. The real solution is what works best for you.

We had a poster who is gone now who was fond of stating only he knew the right way. I'm glad this discussion so far has avoided that trap.

I have found much of what is sold as premium wire isn't worth any more than quality American copper from Belden. Avoid Asian wire, it often has sulfur in the insulation which will cause issues. Mass market companies are more about profit than quality. Oxygen free copper is a marketing term, not a tech spec. Belden will draw a slug of copper into wire that is miles long- imagine how pure that copper has to be to do that.
Theoretically gold plated silver wire would be the ultimate... silver conducts better than copper, but tarnishes, hence the plating.

One item not often addressed is too large a wire can actually be detrimental. Sometimes the small bit of resistance can improve a speaker's sound. So in addition to types, trying different sizes of wire can help.

[rogerh113]

Thanks for the input. I realize the variability with cable and system, and it is potentially huge. Big differences in people's ears and taste in sound as well (I dislike the tweedy sound, and some live for it). I am hoping to get a number of people's impressions about their cables, and hopefully can draw some 'conclusions' from those comments. One of the reasons I like the vintage stuff is that I think there was a bit less marketing hype, and the makers that were left standing actually had a good product (in at least some applications).

I am by no means dissatisfied with my current speaker cables. Pretty much the rest of the system has now been tuned, so I am wondering if I am leaving anything on the table. So I'm not in a hurry, but more looking methodically for a cable to compare my current cable to. A good cable with promise that is within my price range.

regards -- Roger

[mah]

Roger,

I listened to a lot of different types of wire over the years on Altec compression drivers, but always heard low-level white noise in the horn output regardless of the type of wire used. That changed forever when I tried some long-crystal continuous cast copper from Vampire and instead heard total background silence, even with my ear stuck inside the horn's mouth! I've used it for both cabling and hookup wire ever since. I used to buy it in bulk directly from the distributor when I was building speakers, so it may only be available now directly in small quantities from retail re-sellers. A quick search of the web shows that Ohno style long-crystal copper wire is still available from other vendors. Well worth it if you like dead silent backgrounds from your horns and a very transparent sounding wire overall.

Jeff

Well, does most wire pass the low-level noise inherent in electronic circuits and the long-crystal wire attenuates it(and what else?), or most wire produces such low-level noise and long-crystal wire doesn't?

I go for the former knowing that the circuit inherent noise is real and more noticeable in HF horns.