Let me start by saying I never experimented with speaker cables much over the years. I have heard differences between ICs and have tuned a system or two with interconnects.
When I first started building a decent system, I purchased a pair of Tara Labs Prism Bi-Wire cables as my Mirage 790s had that capability. Once the Mirages were gone and Dynaudios rolled in, they had single posts so I just doubled up the terminations.
In 2008, I bought a whole system from a neighbor that included Synergistic Research Kaleidoscope ICs and a 14 foot pair of Synergistic Research Resolution Reference speaker cables. I know the guy paid somewhere near $1500 for these speaker cables, so I started using them and never switched since thru several pairs of speakers. I figured, hey they were expensive, made by a reputable company, so they must be better than any other cheaper cables I have.
Last year, the same neighbor gifted me a pair of old Rogers speakers as well as some runs of Kimber Kable 4VS Bi-Wire cables. They have been sitting in the misc cable box since then and had been terminated with odd banana plugs with the Rogers spacing on one end and decent single banana plugs on the other.
Over the weekend I decided to have a go at swapping them out just to keep proving to myself the Synergistics were the best I had. I removed the oddball plugs from the speaker end, cut and re-stripped all the individual wires and terminated the 2 runs back to a single run essentially making these cables into a pair of 8VS's.
I crawled behind the gear and swapped the cables. I used the single banana ends at the speaker and terminated the combined bare wires into the amp.
I wasn't sure what to expect, and really expected nothing different because I have read here many times at AK that all speaker wire is the same and you can use extension cords and lamp cords instead of buying real cable because it all sounds the same. So, if you are in that camp, you really should not read any further, or comment.
So, what did I hear? The first thing I noticed was that the deepest bass, which my room was fighting with anyway, was gone. The bass notes were much clearer and articulate but without the overkill I had. Still deep and satisfying, but as if I just treated the room with bass traps or similar.
Then I noticed the Midrange. WOW, it just got bigger. Piano, vocals, percussion all just seemed to double in performance and quality. Acoustic guitars sounded so real. This was not just a subtle change and I was pretty aware of how my system and music sounded. this was a big change but the jury is still out if it is better, worse, or just different but there is definitely differences between speaker cable.
Disk after disk sounds better than before, even ones I do not love the sound of sounded better. I have not switched back yet but really liking the new sound and detail. There is less noise floor which allows for more volume.
I guess the outcome of all this is 2 things for me.
1- Speaker Cables Do Sound Different in the right systems.
2- Just because it cost twice as much does not always mean it is better
Some of this may be down to system matching in the same way you need to pair speakers and amp for the best sound and it is quite possible that the Synergistics may have been the better choice for the original system they came with. VAC-Counterpoint NPS-400-Clearfield Continental speakers)
When I first started building a decent system, I purchased a pair of Tara Labs Prism Bi-Wire cables as my Mirage 790s had that capability. Once the Mirages were gone and Dynaudios rolled in, they had single posts so I just doubled up the terminations.
In 2008, I bought a whole system from a neighbor that included Synergistic Research Kaleidoscope ICs and a 14 foot pair of Synergistic Research Resolution Reference speaker cables. I know the guy paid somewhere near $1500 for these speaker cables, so I started using them and never switched since thru several pairs of speakers. I figured, hey they were expensive, made by a reputable company, so they must be better than any other cheaper cables I have.
Last year, the same neighbor gifted me a pair of old Rogers speakers as well as some runs of Kimber Kable 4VS Bi-Wire cables. They have been sitting in the misc cable box since then and had been terminated with odd banana plugs with the Rogers spacing on one end and decent single banana plugs on the other.
Over the weekend I decided to have a go at swapping them out just to keep proving to myself the Synergistics were the best I had. I removed the oddball plugs from the speaker end, cut and re-stripped all the individual wires and terminated the 2 runs back to a single run essentially making these cables into a pair of 8VS's.
I crawled behind the gear and swapped the cables. I used the single banana ends at the speaker and terminated the combined bare wires into the amp.
I wasn't sure what to expect, and really expected nothing different because I have read here many times at AK that all speaker wire is the same and you can use extension cords and lamp cords instead of buying real cable because it all sounds the same. So, if you are in that camp, you really should not read any further, or comment.
So, what did I hear? The first thing I noticed was that the deepest bass, which my room was fighting with anyway, was gone. The bass notes were much clearer and articulate but without the overkill I had. Still deep and satisfying, but as if I just treated the room with bass traps or similar.
Then I noticed the Midrange. WOW, it just got bigger. Piano, vocals, percussion all just seemed to double in performance and quality. Acoustic guitars sounded so real. This was not just a subtle change and I was pretty aware of how my system and music sounded. this was a big change but the jury is still out if it is better, worse, or just different but there is definitely differences between speaker cable.
Disk after disk sounds better than before, even ones I do not love the sound of sounded better. I have not switched back yet but really liking the new sound and detail. There is less noise floor which allows for more volume.
I guess the outcome of all this is 2 things for me.
1- Speaker Cables Do Sound Different in the right systems.
2- Just because it cost twice as much does not always mean it is better
Some of this may be down to system matching in the same way you need to pair speakers and amp for the best sound and it is quite possible that the Synergistics may have been the better choice for the original system they came with. VAC-Counterpoint NPS-400-Clearfield Continental speakers)
