Subwoofer cable harsh and horrible for full-range audio

[El Rubio]

They have “specs”?

 

[sqlsavior]

I am about to switch the subwoofer cables out and do a comparison. I will have to use RCA couplers to make the long run and that alone might effect the sound but the cables on either side of the coupler will be identical.

Such a coupler between my BJC subwoofer cables, in a subwoofer application, made them a hum-monster.

 

[Grenadeslio]

I think that line-level cables (eg, preamp to amp) are completely different from speaker cables. The first are coax to provide noise shielding for the (relatively) low signal level between high-impedances sources and loads; the second are designed to transfer a fairly high voltage to a low-impedance load. I've never tried what you tried, but I'm not surprised if it sounds a bit off. How long a run are you talking about? I've used 15 feet or so of conventional RCA conncetor cable to connect line level from a preamp connected to my computer to the aux input of an inexpensive stereo and it works well.

it's a powered subwoofer, so it is going from pre to amp

 

[toxcrusadr]

^^ I had that thought when I read Capitol's post. There are also subs that take speaker-level input so it's a valid point, but I remembered that was not your sitch. Probably best not to use unshielded cable for a line level connection to a sub.

 

[Capitol C]

it's a powered subwoofer, so it is going from pre to amp

Ah-ha! Thanks for the clarification. I have to admit that this is a puzzle--you'd hope that two decent line-level cables of the same length would be reasonably similar.It's a long shot, but have you cleaned up and tightened the connectors?

 

[the skipper]

I am using Audioquest Irish Red subwoofer cables to connect my phono preamp to my preamp. It is a long run and these subwoofer cables are the only cables I have that are long enough. The sound is good to me but I wonder what the sonic differences there would be betweeen a subwoofer cable and regular cable, if any. I have read all that has been written about using regular RCA cables for subwoofer cables but not much info is available for my situation of using subwoofer cable inplace of regular cable to send a signal from the turntable to the preamp.

I didn't think much of it until I read the specs at Audioquest website. This is what stood out and has me concerned.
SOLID .5% SILVER CONDUCTORS FOR IMPROVED SUBWOOFER PERFORMANCE
Solid .5% Silver-Plated Copper Conductors: A superbly cost-effective way to maximize a video or digital cable, harsh and horrible for full-range audio, but like turning up the “sharpness” for a subwoofer, enhancing articulation and intelligibility.

It seems to me that you're going to let what you've read on ad copy affect the perceptions of what you hear. That's how a lot of money is made in this business.

One thing I've learned in 55 years in this hobby (and business) is that sometimes people spend a lot of money only to later realize they didn't have to to achieve the same results.

 

[the skipper]

I am using Audioquest Irish Red subwoofer cables to connect my phono preamp to my preamp. It is a long run and these subwoofer cables are the only cables I have that are long enough. The sound is good to me but I wonder what the sonic differences there would be betweeen a subwoofer cable and regular cable, if any. I have read all that has been written about using regular RCA cables for subwoofer cables but not much info is available for my situation of using subwoofer cable inplace of regular cable to send a signal from the turntable to the preamp.

I didn't think much of it until I read the specs at Audioquest website. This is what stood out and has me concerned.
SOLID .5% SILVER CONDUCTORS FOR IMPROVED SUBWOOFER PERFORMANCE
Solid .5% Silver-Plated Copper Conductors: A superbly cost-effective way to maximize a video or digital cable, harsh and horrible for full-range audio, but like turning up the “sharpness” for a subwoofer, enhancing articulation and intelligibility.

It seems to me that you're going to let what you've read on ad copy affect the perceptions of what you hear. That's how a lot of money is made in this business.

One thing I've learned in 55 years in this hobby (and business) is that sometimes people spend a lot of money only to later realize they didn't have to to achieve the same results.

 

[Grenadeslio]

Ah-ha! Thanks for the clarification. I have to admit that this is a puzzle--you'd hope that two decent line-level cables of the same length would be reasonably similar.It's a long shot, but have you cleaned up and tightened the connectors?

I'm not the OP lol.

 

[Kingbleu]

It seems to me that you're going to let what you've read on ad copy affect the perceptions of what you hear. That's how a lot of money is made in this business.

One thing I've learned in 55 years in this hobby (and business) is that sometimes people spend a lot of money only to later realize they didn't have to to achieve the same results.

Will my results be influenced by the ad if I do a blind A/B comparison?

 

[the skipper]

Will my results be influenced by the ad if I do a blind A/B comparison?

Hard to say. A true DOUBLE blind comparison is not all that easy to pull off.

 

[Grenadeslio]

Hard to say. A true DOUBLE blind comparison is not all that easy to pull off.

ya, I hear they use Gorilla glue and duct tape to keep them on.

 

[rothwellaudio]

The sales literature sounds like BS to me. Why would 0.5% silver connectors improve subwoofer performance but have no benefits for any other audio application? Even more bizarre, how would they improve subwoofer performance but degrade full range performance? Total nonsense.

The issue here is the length of the cable. The longer the cable the more capacitance it has. Resistance isn't an issue at. Capacitance will, in general, have a tendency to roll off high frequencies. That isn't really a problem for subwoofer use but could be for a full-range application. In this instance - connecting a phonostage to a preamp - the effects of the high capacitance cable will depend on the phonostage's output impedance and how it copes with a high capacitance load. Some op-amps will go into oscillation with a high capacitance load, but that will all depend on how the circuit is designed.
I don't think the OP needs to worry too much about this cable being "for subwoofer use".

Btw, the OP is certainly doing the sensible thing of having the phonostage close to the turntable and using a long cable run to the pre-amp. A long cable run from turntable to phonostage wouldn't be a great idea.

 

[Akustic]

Bout time for capacitance to become a topic in this conversation .. not that treble response is much of an issue for a subwoofer .. It certainly applies for full range audio ..

 

[kfalls]

The sales literature sounds like BS to me. Why would 0.5% silver connectors improve subwoofer performance but have no benefits for any other audio application? Even more bizarre, how would they improve subwoofer performance but degrade full range performance? Total nonsense.

The issue here is the length of the cable. The longer the cable the more capacitance it has. Resistance isn't an issue at. Capacitance will, in general, have a tendency to roll off high frequencies. That isn't really a problem for subwoofer use but could be for a full-range application. In this instance - connecting a phonostage to a preamp - the effects of the high capacitance cable will depend on the phonostage's output impedance and how it copes with a high capacitance load. Some op-amps will will go into oscillation with a high capacitance load, but that will all depend on how the circuit is designed.
I don't think the OP needs to worry too much about this cable being "for subwoofer use".

Btw, the OP is certainly doing the sensible thing of having the phonostage close to the turntable and using a long cable run to the pre-amp. A long cable run from turntable to phonostage wouldn't be a great idea.

Finally someone addresses the real problem, using long cables for connection between phono and preamp. Some people worry about tonearm wiring. I can't imagine how they feel about this.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I do believe that a subwoofer cable is what they call a single, otherwise pretty much the same as the dual cables used for gear. Then of course, there is the length thing from a few feet to maybe 50 feet. As with all cables, the materials of construction and build quality are key and some can hear differences and others can't. Use what works well for you.