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Cable Survey

The idea for this thread came from @sautan 904 op titled “Who thinks $ Speaker cable really better than generic 14awg cable?

My reply:

From op:

SO WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? OR I AM THE LAST PERSON TO FIND OUT THAT EXPENSIVE CABLE JUST A RIP OFF?

Some are, some are definitely not. It really is a matter of discovering what brands out there (and there a lot) offer the best performance for your money. Some are really worth the money and clearly they offer a big increase in sound quality. It seems the dealers you used were not very discriminating about what brands they carry. This does not surprise me since I have found many are not well informed. You really need to seek out somebody who has compared different makes of cable and really believes in what they are selling.

So I thought it a good idea to pool knowledge on this subject and make a list of what people are using and why. This is my current preferences:

Speaker: Hi Diamond 7

IC XLR: Hi Diamond XLR 3

USB: Vovox

Ethernet: AQVOX, Vovox

Power: Belden

The Hi Diamond speaker cable was so much better than other cables I have tried to date. The increase in musicality, depth and detail in bass, increased sound stage and cleaner more detailed top where some of the benefits I had with this cable. The same can be said of their XLR interconnect.

The Vovox I have only been able to compare with some generic cables, and it is much clearer than those. I intend trying some other brands in the near future and I will post my findings.

Ethernet cables I find make a difference and I am currently using both Vovox and AQVOX, compared to various generic makes and the blue Meicord these are both much preferred, opening the sound stage and lowering the noise floor.

Power cables I haven’t so far experimented with a great deal, I’m using heavy Belden cables that are part of a dedicated mains spur arrangement, so that each individual piece of equipment has its own spur. In order to test cable types I will need to introduce a mains block (Shunyata?).

toetapaudio
shakira
148 posts
 
Guys try Mojo Audio cables 
probably the best stuff out there.
I tried them all but keep going back to his cables.
I still think his products comes with a 30/45 day return.
 I have his power cords and interconnects in my system.
My hunt is over 
Enjoy the music 
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@maine95.  
Sorry for the slow reply. I'm a mess from a mountain bike crash..

The neutral stays in place without a problem using the foamed Teflon tube from vh audio. It's squishy, so I just kept the neutral coil a little tight and it locked itself in place around the foam tube.
whoopycat
168 posts
 
I'm with @grannyring on this.  Duelund DCA16GA speaker wire is cheap and crazy good.  You can have world-class speaker wire for as little as $100 depending on what length you need.  I spent $160 because I needed 12 foot runs, that's still cheap.  Plus very little-to-no break in time needed to hear a difference.  Only disadvantages are the initial smell out of the package, and the cloth wire jackets pick up a lot of hair and dust on your floor.

I'm going to try some of the Duelund interconnects using the same wire someday.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@mmrkaic (why do mentions not work with all members?)

Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment to perform those measurements. If you do, I could make a new PC and send it to you to measure, since I need one anyway.

Out of curiosity, why am I being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition when everyone else recommending commercially available cables is not? I've yet to see a manufacturer who provides the info you're asking from me..
mmrkaic
33 posts
 
Sorry, did not want to subject you to any Inquisition, let alone Spanish. :))

But I think that you yourself have asked the key question -- why so many manufacturers don't provide those numbers?

I use 12 AWG speaker cables that I bought on Amazon for~$15 and the power cables that came with my amplifier. If I paid more, I would feel really stupid and exploited. Now, I have a Ms in physics and know a bit or two about electrical circuits, conductivity, electrodynamics etc., so bold claims about "the sound of cables" don't impress me too much.
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