This might be some help. Keep in mind cables generally are system dependent. That said there are usually sonic traits to specific cables. I have tried many speaker cables in my system, of those I had the 44s and the 12tc. What I recall compared to the 12tc the 44s had a bit more mid clarity but did not sound natural overall. The 12tc sounded more natural with a fuller bottom but I felt the mids were somewhat veiled and muted. For a low cost cable the 2 that stood out of many were the audience conductor and jps labs super conductor fx . Best |
For me, in my system, the rocket 44's had good mids and that was it. Kind of dull, not detailed, weak bass. Wouldn't pay $200 for them, that's for sure. I've got a 7 foot pair. If you're interested, I'd let them go for $50. |
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Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I recently acquired a pair of the rocket 44 in a 7’ biwire arrangement. Initially they sounded very good but quickly(within a few hours of play time) became kind of dull with little detail.
To which one would ask, why would a company design cables to sound like this? And the answer is, they don’t. The cables need to be broken in!! I now have about 27 hours on them and using the same speakers, same music, same room and same volume levels, the highs are back and detail giving an airy sound stage.
The difference is striking, and all it took was running the system for a few hours a day for a week. I checked the audioquest site, and they suggest it may take about 200 hours to fully break in. This is about half of what Morrow Audios cables take to break in, but it does take time.
Break in is real, if you have a decent system you owe it to yourself to get the best sound out of it. |
I had some Rocket 88's and they were NO match whatsoever to the Audio-Art Sc5e I now have . IMO you'd have to go over 2k easy to beat .
No flaws , excels in harmonics and stage , coherent from the very bottom
to the very top . Not cheap, but one of the best value for money items in audio.
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Well that’s the thing about speaker cable, isn’t it? They may sound bad with some speaker/gear combos and great with others.
Glad you found something that works for you, for me the 44’s are much better than the Wireworld stuff they replaced. |
213runnin,
All of my cables used to be Wireworld. I have replaced my WW cables with Audioquest and couldn’t be happier. |
Well that’s interesting. I also purchased an NRG-4 and a Cinnamon USB cable for my phone to DAC, both Audioquest. I’m impressed with what Audioquest brings to the table,though they can get quite expensive.
All my IC’s are Morrow MA 3 or 5. I like them so much that I’ve ordered another MA 5 for the CD player with an upgraded power cable. Right now the Schiit Bifrost DAC is easily superior to the NAD C565BEE CD player. The NAD was a $900 player with a Wolfson dac so I’m hoping it has more to give.
It has become almost amazing to me how much cables can improve sound.
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I was in my local high end "Audio Salon" last year and I mentioned to the sales dude that I was using modded (meaning I separated out the internal wires) AQ Type 8 as a biwire cable. The sales dude says' "Hey, why not ask Bill Low who's standing behind you?" HA! Bill visits this place from time to time it seems, so he pulls a pair of Rocket 33s off the shelf and explains to me how they work…very interesting, as was the rest of our conversation. In any case I did get a pair of 33s and they're amazingly good in my rig. I use AQ and Morrow elsewhere in the system with great sounding results, so the only non solid core cable is the excellent Jelco/Mogami (great noise rejection) "din" cable in my Linn. |
213runnin
the NAD 565BEE is a very fine cd player. Are you using it as a transport w/ the Schitt DAC?
Happy Listening!
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I am using the NAD as a source without the dac. The Bifrost is converting my phone’s digital feed and I’m surprised at how good it can sound. |
Good cables won't make your system sound better. They will just make it suck less. That is a quote from the President of Audioquest. Can you imagine?
I used to be a big Audioquest fan. Then I had a chance to compare the $8,800 Oak to a pair of $400 Clearview Double Helix v2 with Plus Upgrade and I just about fell over. The Clearview cables didn't sound a little better, they embarrassed the Audioquest so badly it was unreal. I felt like Neo in the Matrix and took the blue pill. |
Yeah, the quote is bang on, not sure if you agree with it or what. The best a cable can do is do no harm to the signal.
But in this “comparison” between cables you mention there are so many missing pieces to the story. And it looks like you left them out on purpose, so I’ll just say good for you.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Start a cable thread on any brand cable, and in short order you have haters with bizarre stories.
And the inevitable mistical experiences with some other brand that has them doing back flips, it amazes me how every single brand out there has amazing improvements AND awful results. How can it be anything else than either equipment mismatches or user error or hearing tastes that are bizarre?
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Much Thanks! 213runnin
yes, gear synergy is key regarding Cabling.
Happy Listening!
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sunnyjim
if you like the Rocket 44 go ahead and step up to the Rocket 88.
Happy Listening!
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213runnin,
which wireworld speaker cable are you using prior to rocket 44? I need a longer run and wireworld is so expensive. |
