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Cable curmudgeon

I'm not an 'audiophile" but I like to think I have a good ear having been a professional musician (principal wind player in major symphony orchestras) for 50 years. A number of years ago going into an excellent audio equipment store I talked with, what seemed, a knowledgeable salesman.  Being a musician experienced in audio systems but not expert on all the equipment out there I had some questions concerning high (over-priced?) end cables. The salesman assured there was an audible differencet in a demo room switching back and forth etc.  After a few minutes I noticed the sound coming out of only one channel.  He complemented me on my "good ear."  Hmmm? A few years later when setting up my home system I investigated speaker cables. Two sets of Monster, stranded standard cable, solid core copper (used for alarm system) attached with like connecters. There was a difference.  However, not in terms of better or worse: bass and treble were acceptable as was clarity loud and soft.  Differences were esthetic- like asking "whose the best tenor" (I like Plácido).  Now I know as a musician used to live (i.e. un-amplified) music that all I hear coming out of a loud speaker is perforce ersatz.  But most everything today comes out of a loud speaker whether a rock concert or a hi-fi system so perhaps my opinion is curmudgeonly. But, for me, spending oodles of money on hyped cables, well... I  liked the solid core for my alarm system- still do.

 

exflute
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wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 

Does the alarm system have luscious midrange and toe tapping inciting wide soundstage (not TOO wide) "straight wire with gain" absolute accuracy? Or is it simply alarming?

zazouswing
148 posts
 

Hi-fi amplification is a process of limiting factors. If any single component in the signal path muddles up the sound, no other component is going to come along and put the sound back together. It could very well be the case that, because of your specific system and space, alarm cable is sufficient. For some on this forum, this is not  the case.

I personally stuck with lamp wire for a long time and upgraded only after A/B'ing some raw cable designed for speaker use. This was not expensive cable by any measure, but there was an improvement. This was a 4$/foot cable between a Tektron Evo amp and a pair of Klipsch Heresy's.

I think your original post had an air of nihilism about it - something that reads like - it can never be as good as live, so why bother climbing the ladder. I think most of the folks here either willing to take the incremental improvements as wins, or maybe just enjoy the climb. Either way I have never encountered anyone here who wouldn't subscribe to an 'its all about the music' slogan.

My only recommendation to you would be to keep an open mind if you choose to continue improving your home system. You don't need to spend thousands on speaker cable to keep up with the Jonses, but you shouldn't dismiss the experience of others when trying to identify and improve the choke-points in your personal system. On the other hand, if you're satisfied, then sit back and enjoy what you've got. I would be afraid to accidently hook the speakers up to my alarm system - but I'm kind of stupid sometimes.

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onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,216 posts
 

Way too much anger directed against someone's actual experience.

+1 clearthinker

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