Speaker cable..
Discussion
Treated myself to a nw hifi on thurs, Denon DF107 amp/Dab rec and a pair of Wharfdale 10.1 speakers. seem to have v good reveiws etc. Still waiting for the hifi to arrive so not tried yet.(Anyone using same ?)
BUT having relieved me of over £500 quids the shop geek told me i must have some new speaker cable which was priced at a staggering £12.80/metre.
Now i'm no expert but looking at the cable i think 20p/m would be more apropiate and as i need about 10 metres i think i need a cheaper option.(Maplins?)
How the hell can they charge that much and would it really make any difference?
BUT having relieved me of over £500 quids the shop geek told me i must have some new speaker cable which was priced at a staggering £12.80/metre.
Now i'm no expert but looking at the cable i think 20p/m would be more apropiate and as i need about 10 metres i think i need a cheaper option.(Maplins?)
How the hell can they charge that much and would it really make any difference?
Even something half way (£5 per m) would be better than doorbell wire.
If you're spending a few quid on a nice setup you need to spend about 10% on cables.
This cable always gets good reviews.
http://www.hificables.co.uk/11312/Qed-Silver-Anniv...
If you're spending a few quid on a nice setup you need to spend about 10% on cables.
This cable always gets good reviews.
http://www.hificables.co.uk/11312/Qed-Silver-Anniv...
My friend invited me and a few others over for a movie night, he would happily go on for hours about the better quality of this wire or that gold plated plug etc. He then insisted on playing that thx (or whatever) zeeeaaaawwwmmm sound over and over with all the different audio setting so we could all 'experience' how good his system was on all settings.
Didn't stop there either, he'd replay sections of the film for the same reasons, I will be perfectly honest I could'nt tell the difference between one setting and another so God knows what difference a few mm of additional copper wire thickness makes. b
ks all me-thinks.
Didn't stop there either, he'd replay sections of the film for the same reasons, I will be perfectly honest I could'nt tell the difference between one setting and another so God knows what difference a few mm of additional copper wire thickness makes. b
ks all me-thinks.It always amazes me how reviewers say that a particular speaker cable makes the sound 'warmer' or more 'colourful'.
Take the spin out of the purchase, and let's talk about the physics of electricity. You are dealing with volt-drop and the insulation between two electrical conductors. All of the fundamentals can be explained using Ohms Law. QED is reknown for making good quality audio cables and at £5 per metre they probably offer good performance, however, if you are talking about running 10metres of cable for each speaker then I would seriously consider moving the amp nearer to the speakers as there will be other forces that come into play with these distances.
Good article written here
Take the spin out of the purchase, and let's talk about the physics of electricity. You are dealing with volt-drop and the insulation between two electrical conductors. All of the fundamentals can be explained using Ohms Law. QED is reknown for making good quality audio cables and at £5 per metre they probably offer good performance, however, if you are talking about running 10metres of cable for each speaker then I would seriously consider moving the amp nearer to the speakers as there will be other forces that come into play with these distances.
Good article written here
blueg33 said:
It makes a difference indeed. I don't think I would use 20p per metre cable for anything other than door bells
No i think i can invest a bit more than 20p/m, but the 12quid stuff looks like 20p and i cant believe it costs more than a few pence/ metre to manufacture. Hell ibuy 7 core x 2.5mm trailer lighting cable for a few £/metre. just seems like a rip off, i half expected to get some cable thrown in with the deal.
In my last house my floor-standers were wired in 6mm flat twin and earth under the floor boards, terminated with banana plugs soldered on at both ends 
It's a larger cross sectional area that help defeats volt drop, so thicker cable allows more current to flow with less resistance, it's simple Ohms law. I'm sure that a cable is much better quality at £35 per metre, but it's not about quality it's about getting electrons from one place to another. I could not justify it once I'd made my own calculations hence the mains cable.
Snake oil, there's plenty in the high end audio industry you just have to work out what is and what isn't
It's a larger cross sectional area that help defeats volt drop, so thicker cable allows more current to flow with less resistance, it's simple Ohms law. I'm sure that a cable is much better quality at £35 per metre, but it's not about quality it's about getting electrons from one place to another. I could not justify it once I'd made my own calculations hence the mains cable.
Snake oil, there's plenty in the high end audio industry you just have to work out what is and what isn't
R TOY said:
No i think i can invest a bit more than 20p/m, but the 12quid stuff looks like 20p and i cant believe it costs more than a few pence/ metre to manufacture. Hell ibuy 7 core x 2.5mm trailer lighting cable for a few £/metre.
just seems like a rip off, i half expected to get some cable thrown in with the deal.
Well, way back, one of the things that started all this cable stuff was enthusiasts playing with solid core mains cable as speaker cable. just seems like a rip off, i half expected to get some cable thrown in with the deal.
Then Ray Kimber, from his sound engineering experience with big PA rigs and the hum problems they tended to have, thinking about RF interference and how to reduce it.
Enter "purity" and the "properties" of other metals and insulators.
Result, today, the richness of cable choice.
Spend about £4 per metre for something well reviewed by several sources.
Theory says it's only about the electrical properties but without trying umpteen cables in your particular system, you'll never know which best suits.
Eta, mains cable user above me!
Edited by WhoseGeneration on Saturday 1st January 20:56
Edited by WhoseGeneration on Saturday 1st January 20:58
Another thing that seems strange is the fitting of a plug to the cable ends rather than using the screw clamps.
Shop geek assured me that i must have plugs fited at £2.50 each to get the best results, only thing is the plugs have a screw clamp fitting to the cable so what is the difference ?
He said they usualy charge to fit the plugs but he would waive that if i bought the cable At that point i had assumed they where soldered on.. Mustve thought i was a right numpty (no comments please )
Shop geek assured me that i must have plugs fited at £2.50 each to get the best results, only thing is the plugs have a screw clamp fitting to the cable so what is the difference ?
He said they usualy charge to fit the plugs but he would waive that if i bought the cable
At that point i had assumed they where soldered on.. Mustve thought i was a right numpty (no comments please ) R TOY said:
Another thing that seems strange is the fitting of a plug to the cable ends rather than using the screw clamps.
Shop geek assured me that i must have plugs fited at £2.50 each to get the best results, only thing is the plugs have a screw clamp fitting to the cable so what is the difference ?
He said they usualy charge to fit the plugs but he would waive that if i bought the cable At that point i had assumed they where soldered on.. Mustve thought i was a right numpty (no comments please )
You're right to be cynical, yes, shop makes a bit more by selling plugs fitted to cables. However, muppet using screw clamps on amplifier terminals might not be careful, resulting in cable strands from positive and negative terminals touching, meaning amplifier "sees" a short circuit and, best case, if short circuit protected, shuts down, worst case, blows output stage.Shop geek assured me that i must have plugs fited at £2.50 each to get the best results, only thing is the plugs have a screw clamp fitting to the cable so what is the difference ?
He said they usualy charge to fit the plugs but he would waive that if i bought the cable
At that point i had assumed they where soldered on.. Mustve thought i was a right numpty (no comments please ) Either way, muppet returns to shop complaining.
Some talk about oxidation of connections and use compounds, at regular intervals, to remove it.
Only banana plugs I can think of that might be resistant to oxidation are QED airloc.
Spending loads of money on speaker wire I think is a bit of a waste for most people. Bell wire is a definate no no, but if pay around £1 to £1.50 per metre for half decent stuff (Richer Sounds) you will notice a massive improvement. It also depends on the length of the wire you need (longer runs need to be of better quality). It also depends on how much you have spent on the system. The choice is yours
I brought this from eBay which got good reviews over on the AVForums. 50m 2x 2.5mm 322 Strand OFC Loudspeaker/Speaker Cable
Gingerbread Man said:
I brought this from eBay which got good reviews over on the AVForums. 50m 2x 2.5mm 322 Strand OFC Loudspeaker/Speaker Cable
Same 
Thick bits of copper work fine. Don't spend lots of money. Anyone talking about skin depth being a factor at 20kHz doesn't know anything about RF. The inductance and capacitance of the cable aren't going to make any difference.
This guy covers it pretty well.
http://www.theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audi...
This guy covers it pretty well.
http://www.theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audi...
This is the stuff we use
http://www.vdctrading.com/products_gridview.asp?Su...
You can scroll down for the posh stuff but it probably won't make any difference.
1.5 mm will be fine with the power your be using.
http://www.vdctrading.com/products_gridview.asp?Su...
You can scroll down for the posh stuff but it probably won't make any difference.
1.5 mm will be fine with the power your be using.
I use this stuff
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=20666...
20amp automotive power lead. £2.29 per Metre from Maplins. The same stuff may well be cheaper from an Automotive electrical place.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=20666...
20amp automotive power lead. £2.29 per Metre from Maplins. The same stuff may well be cheaper from an Automotive electrical place.
Sorry but £500 on amp plus speakers does not justify expense on expensive speaker cables. I have found that whilst inter connects and speaker cables make a difference this is insignificant to the difference between mains cables 
Simple Physics says there should be no difference at all.
Why change your existing cables ? Are they bell wire ? Just remake the connections by cutting off the tarnished ends, simple quick, cheap. No point in fancy end fittings
Having speakers that alone cost £XXXX I invested in 2x 10m of Kimber (Cheap on e-bay) it made a difference but prior to that I was happy running bi-wire telephone and 2.5mm mains cable. Stranded and solid core sound different as they affect the bass/treble most likely due to capacitance effects. Avoid either very narrow or very wide cables, PTFE coated generally sound better than PVC covered
Simple Physics says there should be no difference at all. Why change your existing cables ? Are they bell wire ? Just remake the connections by cutting off the tarnished ends, simple quick, cheap. No point in fancy end fittings
Having speakers that alone cost £XXXX I invested in 2x 10m of Kimber (Cheap on e-bay) it made a difference but prior to that I was happy running bi-wire telephone and 2.5mm mains cable. Stranded and solid core sound different as they affect the bass/treble most likely due to capacitance effects. Avoid either very narrow or very wide cables, PTFE coated generally sound better than PVC covered
Well folks a trip to Maplins, 10metre reel of v fine multi core copper OFC ,about 2.5mm for £16.00/reel. Ended up using 20m (2 sets speakers) total cost £32.00. Had i been persuaded by the supafi geek i would,ve spent a mind blowing £256.00 + the plugs of course.
Looks better cable aswell, def thicker.
The old cable was in need of tidying up and so it seemed sensible to have new and start afresh with the new unit..
D.
Looks better cable aswell, def thicker.
The old cable was in need of tidying up and so it seemed sensible to have new and start afresh with the new unit..
D.Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff