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What speaker cables should I buy?

usedto said:
Is your hearing sensitive enough to detect minor differences in cables?
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Ah the difference. The much argued over "minor difference".

Well, I've tried to update my understanding of cable use, and found that even the audio pundits have difficulty in agreeing on what constitutes efficient, better than average cables. However, some times being funded by the cable companies, but are often are not mentioned in the studies which have been double-blind efforts, measured by the most accurate gear available.

Most agree that the composition of the wire (copper purity), thickness, length of cables used, impedance(high/low) of the speakers, covering/shielding, wiring arrangement of the speakers (single/bi-wired), are the basics affecting the efficiency of transferring sound. However, within the variables, there are variances that they don't agree on. There are still others who bring extra quasi-scientific factors into the fray trying to improve on the inherent factors. Some in the world of sound believe this is where the "snake oil" variables some into play, and the cost factor rises accordingly.

All the above is evaluated to to a large degree subjectively as to the differences for they hear, with some being able to discern these discrepancies where others cannot.

Many of the people in the area of audio feel, that the equipment itself, and the calibre of it, plays a far bigger role in the reproduction of sound than the cables themselves.

Then there's the issues of different connectors, which brings about another plethora of diehards who proclaim their findings as audio truths.

Many, I think just believe what they want to believe, in both advertising and what the experts claim is best. But, personally, I still think it boils down to what you think is great sound, and let that be your bias.

I found that Steve Guttenburg shared a pragmatic take on cables in his July22/2010 write up in c/net. He speaks his mind plainly in it in an entertaining way.


Q
 
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I think its interesting to look inside Amps, DACs etc to see what kind of cables they use. Do I really need something thicker than that? Probably not. If you are looking for speaker wire check out Walmart they have 16 ga Monster wire at reasonable price. That is what I would try.
 
What if you open the speakers and see what the speaker builders used?

That should theoretically settle this, shouldn't it?

I've seen some dang small wires inside some well engineered speakers.
 
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The only thing you want to avoid is wire that is too thin -- higher resistance and more surface to volume ratio. As I noted, for what I listen to on my speakers, I can't tell a difference between four conductor telephone (solid copper, probably 22 gauge) and 12 gauge marine wire.

There is a measurable effect from too thin a conductor -- lower amplitude. Corroded connections, oxide coatings on connectors, and inadequate contact area cause much more trouble in sound quality. Oxide coatings insert a weak diode, corroded wire adds capacitance (filtering part of the signal out), and dirty or low area contact points add resistance.

Clean your speaker contacts once in a while and use large surface area connections (banana plugs, spade lugs, etc) rather than spring connectors. Tin the ends of the wires with solder, and solder any connectors used, don't crimp, and all your wire "differences" will probably vanish.

And indeed, the wire inside even large, high wattage capable speakers is very thing compared to 16 or 14 gauge lamp cord!
 
Too thin, to add to @HPMguy adds resistance, which changes a couple of things, and the reason that you want thicker wire for longer runs. The lower the (minimum) impedance of the speakers the more important this becomes. Too thin can add to the damping factor of the system which although waaay overblown in what number is really important as a minimum at the amplifier, very thin/long wires can reduce dynamic response from the speakers and control of the woofers.

I think that most of us can agree that there is a point of diminishing returns. I stand by the validity and accuracy of Roger Russel’s (link posted on page one of this discussion) as covering all effects within the audible range of humans and the frequencies necessary for audio. However, is there a difference between 12AWG stranded-copper twin-lead and some of the impressive-spec audio cable out there? There could be, I can’t hear it, but as a smartass Engineer for the first half of my career I can say that specs are specs and numbers don’t lie (but people do). It is possible that the next $1,000 or so in cable prices, in some designs, could create a better signal at the speakers by specification, whether it’s worth it to you as a hobby and whether you can hear it is completely up to you and your decision (as well as your enjoyment if you like pure-nonobtanium stranded litz cables in polyphenorbenate sheathing blesssed by Benedictine Monks).

Again as that smartass Engineer, I also loved to quote specs and physics / chemistry / etc. theory slightly out of context to convince other Engineers of something and see if they’d notice, MUCH of the marketing of speaker cables is just this so buyer beware.

And hey, it’s a hobby, it’s fun, if you want to try something then do so.
 
I'm in the mode of making little, inexpensive updates to my system that I doubt will matter and so far every one of them has either produced a surprisingly good result or I'm blissfully basking in placebo effect. Either way, I'm happy.

I have been having a bit of intermittent cutting out of one channel that I think might be caused by a sometimes loose connection to my cartridge, which is due for a refresh anyway. I decided it might be a good first step to replace my speaker wire to rule out an issue there. Current wire was cut from a spool of copper wire from Circuit City and threaded through the screw down posts. I followed on-line wisdom at the time and bought a huge gauge (I think 10GA).

I read this and a few other threads before I made a purchase and felt comfortably convinced that I didn't need to wonder what would happen if I spent a fortune on some "high end" cables.

I did read and bought in with low confidence to the idea that the cables to your left and right speakers should be the same length, so that the signal would reach the speakers at the same time. That made sense to me, though I don't know if we're talking about a perceptible delay or not, but since I was buying new wire anyway, it seemed like a good time to come into compliance. I had a 10' cable going to one speaker and about a 2-3' cable going to the other, based on the positioning of my amp.

I also decided to finally go to a banana clip cable, since I realized I didn't have to buy a boutique product to do so. The advantage I saw was that if I need to chase the channel separation issue it would make it easier to swap the left and right speakers to see if the issue followed the speaker or stayed on the channel.

I referenced "the oft-quoted Roger Russel page" and went 2 gauges larger than he recommended, which is still much smaller than what I was using.

I ended up with Crutchfield 10' cables. They look and feel like a good product and were less than $5 dollars total more than it would have cost me to build a set to the same spec. I streamed a track off of Grant Green's Green Street before and the same track after. It sounded good before, I immediately thought it sounded better after. Confirmation bias? Maybe, probably, but it did feel tighter and cleaner. What I can't write off as placebo is that I had to turn down the volume on the IA by a noticeable amount to get to what I perceived to be the same volume as before.

Crutchfield is not known as the first name in ultra hi-fi, but they're a well established company who I've ordered a variety of things from over the years and always been happy with the experience. I have to say on first impressions, I can whole-heartedly recommend their house brand cables. Have I compared them to $600 alternatives? No and I feel no need to. But they are "oxygen free pure copper" with a nice braided outer wrap and they were about $20 each.
 
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Wax4Daze said:
I already did this, and wasn't able to get the basic information on cables that I needed. I just need to know if it really matters that much once you get to a certain price point? Like can you get really good performance from cables that cost $50-75/pr, but excellent performance if you spend five times this amount?
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See if it's possible to use the premium cables on a trial basis, where you have a choice to buy or return them before the trial period expires. Then you would know for sure.
 
I am appending to this existing thread rather than posting a new one; I hope you read it and give it your due consideration.

A little over a month ago, I was sitting on my couch, centered btwn my speakers listening to Marketplace (a mono broadcast) and heard huge shifts in apparent source location as I moved my head slightly. Changed the polarity on one, and sure enough: I'd had my speakers out-of-phase for some period of time....

My cables are home made 10 or 12 guage (might even be the Monster cable from Best Buy) with banana jacks installed on them; so it seems at least plausible that I didn't see the little "+++"s or feel the jacket molding difference on one end of one of the wires when I hooked things up. So, maybe a modest upgrade of speaker cables wouldn't be a bad thing, even though I never thought they'd make an audible difference. BUT, since my 2-channel system's speaker cables both run along the baseboard from my components' rack and its mess of power chords, THEN one runs behind the Home theater's MANY power cords and outlet strip, so at least there'd be a plausible case for shielded and/or twisted conductors (which I believe some of them were). Maybe even the fancy optimized high-dielectric proprietary ultra-thin conductor jacketing. Not-to-mention the occasional banana jack falling off when I work on something, or the even rarer occasion when I try to vacuum that mess-o-cables.

Then I saw an ad on Facebook for a speaker cable retailer -which I would've sworn I saved; but can't find- that sells them singly; which would allow my to run a 12'-er for the left channel and a 4'-er for the right, while reducing the dependence on my poor near vision to insure I've wired things right. The Company started with an "M" and was a green-colored sort-of script font.

Sooo, does anybody out there recognize said company? Last hint: as I recall they had 3 grades of cables, each with a clever name, like say: "Victory" or "Supreme" and they ranged from $100-ish to $500-ish.

There. How'd I do? I didn't even state what a big improvement I'm hoping for, and risk restarting the ol' speaker cable debate....
 
I own Morrow cables. They have everything from entry level to crazy expensive. The #3 and 4 are the sweet spots in my opinion.
Never pay full price. They always have sales going on.
eBay can sometimes get you a good deal on them also.
My 2 cents.
 
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