Discussion
So long as it's low resistance, everything else is a huge con. OFC is nonsense. Aligned crystals is bollox. Decent high current mains cable is ideal.
So far as interconnects go, the 'el cheapo' ones that come with the kit are usually rubbish (or rather, the plugs on them are), but Richer Sounds entry level cables are fine. Total waste of money spending any more. If you want to know why, look inside the kit - it's all wired up internally with RS "6 quid a kilometer" cable.
"High end" hi-fi is a colossal con for morons. The law of diminishing returns sets in savagely and soon ...
So far as interconnects go, the 'el cheapo' ones that come with the kit are usually rubbish (or rather, the plugs on them are), but Richer Sounds entry level cables are fine. Total waste of money spending any more. If you want to know why, look inside the kit - it's all wired up internally with RS "6 quid a kilometer" cable.
"High end" hi-fi is a colossal con for morons. The law of diminishing returns sets in savagely and soon ...
People have gone the cat5 cable route too with varying degrees of success - plenty on google about it.
Not pretty but cheap
Not pretty but cheap
NOw many people will doubt this one but here goes. I bought some Tannoy floor standers and use Harman Kardon pre amp and a pretty hefty HK power amp to drive them. The cable I had previously used was QED79 strand speaker cable. It sounded OK but not quite as good as I expected.
As both the speakers and the amp were capable being Biwired, I decided to get some new speaker wire to suit. I bought relatively cheap Bi wire (cannot remember the make at all) in a Hifi place in Manchester.
Cost me about £60 for 20metres but the difference was worth at least £1000 of better equipment! Seriously. Both me and my mate didn't believe the differnce the biwire made to the sound quality.
As both the speakers and the amp were capable being Biwired, I decided to get some new speaker wire to suit. I bought relatively cheap Bi wire (cannot remember the make at all) in a Hifi place in Manchester.
Cost me about £60 for 20metres but the difference was worth at least £1000 of better equipment! Seriously. Both me and my mate didn't believe the differnce the biwire made to the sound quality.
I think a lot of it is to do with the length of the cable run.
I know from experience when we lived in an old East End converted ware house that for a 27foot cable run the losses down the a piece of mains cable was huge, and you could definately hear it.
We picked this up simply because the amp was in one corner with a speaker whilst the other speaker was at the other end of the room.
I bit the bullet and spent some cash on some proper braided cable and suddenly instead the audio mid point being 3/4 of the way down the room you were only a few feet left of centre.
I know from experience when we lived in an old East End converted ware house that for a 27foot cable run the losses down the a piece of mains cable was huge, and you could definately hear it.
We picked this up simply because the amp was in one corner with a speaker whilst the other speaker was at the other end of the room.
I bit the bullet and spent some cash on some proper braided cable and suddenly instead the audio mid point being 3/4 of the way down the room you were only a few feet left of centre.
This was the stuff that I bought... :
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSear
Works great and was relatively cheap.
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSear
Works great and was relatively cheap.
TheExcession said:
I know from experience when we lived in an old East End converted ware house that for a 27foot cable run the losses down the a piece of mains cable was huge, and you could definately hear it.
How far apart were the speakers? I always ensure the wires to speakers are the same length.
Have a look at this article http://sound.westhost.com/cables-p2.h for some interesting comments on all sorts of connectors.
I am now in the (un)fortunate position of not having to worry about hi-fi as I now wear a hearing aid in both ears.
Hugh
zumbruk said:
So long as it's low resistance, everything else is a huge con. OFC is nonsense. Aligned crystals is bollox. Decent high current mains cable is ideal.
So far as interconnects go, the 'el cheapo' ones that come with the kit are usually rubbish (or rather, the plugs on them are), but Richer Sounds entry level cables are fine. Total waste of money spending any more. If you want to know why, look inside the kit - it's all wired up internally with RS "6 quid a kilometer" cable.
"High end" hi-fi is a colossal con for morons. The law of diminishing returns sets in savagely and soon ...
The important thing is simply to make sure the conductors are thick. 4mm^2 T&E is fine. 2.5mm^2 is probably adequate at lower power levels. Mains cable is cheap, so you can go to town on the one property that really matters - low resistance - and still save money over buying even cheap cable from a hi-fi shop.
The only downside to mains cable is that it's stiff, so the connectors aren't always happy with it - if so, buy flex instead of cable.
If you really want to go to town you can get four-core flex and connect the conductors in diagonally-opposite pairs to make an inductance-cancelling cable
Pigeon said:
So long as it's low resistance, everything else is a huge con. OFC is nonsense. Aligned crystals is bollox. Decent high current mains cable is ideal.
So far as interconnects go, the 'el cheapo' ones that come with the kit are usually rubbish (or rather, the plugs on them are), but Richer Sounds entry level cables are fine. Total waste of money spending any more. If you want to know why, look inside the kit - it's all wired up internally with RS "6 quid a kilometer" cable.
"High end" hi-fi is a colossal con for morons. The law of diminishing returns sets in savagely and soon ...
The important thing is simply to make sure the conductors are thick. 4mm^2 T&E is fine. 2.5mm^2 is probably adequate at lower power levels. Mains cable is cheap, so you can go to town on the one property that really matters - low resistance - and still save money over buying even cheap cable from a hi-fi shop.
The only downside to mains cable is that it's stiff, so the connectors aren't always happy with it - if so, buy flex instead of cable.
If you really want to go to town you can get four-core flex and connect the conductors in diagonally-opposite pairs to make an inductance-cancelling cable
Yeah another vote for mains cable. When I was running my 'rig' in my lounge, my speakers cabs were fed with 6mm FT&E which is normally used for cookers
At the end of the day it just plain old Ohms Law, and the bigger the cable the less the signal degradation over the distance.
malman said:I use Cat5e cable... But as I work for a datacomms installer and get it free, I would
People have gone the cat5 cable route too with varying degrees of success - plenty on google about it.
Not pretty but cheap
BliarOut said:
People have gone the cat5 cable route too with varying degrees of success - plenty on google about it.
Not pretty but cheap
Ooh, thats interesting. Don't suppose you happen to have 100metres of fibre and a pair of ends laying about
ultimasimon said:Sorry Simon, 100M of fibre tends to actually get used on jobs... There's offcuts and there's offcuts
People have gone the cat5 cable route too with varying degrees of success - plenty on google about it.
Not pretty but cheap
Ooh, thats interesting. Don't suppose you happen to have 100metres of fibre and a pair of ends laying about
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