Yes. And so do power cords, interconnects, digital cables, ethernet cables and even outlets.
Do speaker cables really make a difference ?
Thinking about buying a different speaker cable. Do speaker cables really make a difference?
168 responses Add your response
They certainly can do so. I recently replaced long runs (6m) of thick (6sqmm) van Damme cables with Neotech NES 3002 cables Big price difference. The Neotech are made of OCC copper and have multiple thin cables in much better insulation. The result was that good recordings sound much better: more detail and better sound stage. Bright recordings now sound a bit too bright but can be tamed inexpensively with a Schiit Loki. Here's a link: https://wp.neotechcable.com/up-occ-copper-cable/ As far as I understand (not very far really) one factor explaining the difference is the difference in skin effect between one thick cable and lots of little ones which together have the same volume as the thick one. |
Yep …. Need proof? The next time you attend a hifi show, take a moment to look behind the systems in your favorite manufacturers’ rooms. You’ll notice that the cables they choose to use when they’re trying to make a good impression are not the standard cheap or middlin’ cables. They only use very top end premium OEM brands - and only the very top OEM brand models - to showcase their components in the best light possible.
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Repost AUDIO: SPEAKER CABLES - From Alan Shaw (owner and designer of HARBETH) ” … So, the moral of the story is this: the most important factor of the loudspeaker cable that you should select is the amount of metal in the cable core. More metal means lower resistance. If the core is round (as most are) then the correlation is simple: the fatter the diameter of the metal core the better because the electrical resistance between amp and speaker will be lower. Thin and really thin cores should be avoided regardless of how exotic the metal material is claimed as the lack of metal in the core conductor will increase resistance. That will reduce amplifier damping, effect the frequency response of the speaker and give unpredictable results that will vary from amp/speaker combination. |
They have for me, and it’s audible. The technical details about copper and construction, etc. are interesting and relevant -- possibly. Why possibly? Because all these discussions about construction typically don't mention the more significant factors regarding when a technicality about cable construction becomes audible. In other words, what makes a cable design audible depends upon the acoustics and sensitivity of a particular (a) system, (b) room, (c) source, and (d) listener. Those factors are key variables causing some people to claim that cables are BS or that cables definitely make an audible difference. For this reason, the deceptively simple advice to "try and see" is even wiser than it looks. |
+1, @audphile1 I would look at manufacturers that are using PC-OCC copper in their speaker cables. Have fun! |
Full disclosure: I have owned three pairs of Harbeth speakers, and was, for a while, active on the Harbeth forum. I ultimately had a few run-ins with Alan Shaw, and was banned from the forum, as he wasn’t happy with my persistent challenges. I mention this because my response to the above quote has nothing to do with my personal feelings about Shaw, and I hold his speakers in high regard. I would argue that the designers and owners of, among others, Audience cables, would take issue with Shaw’s assertions. I have owned several pair of Audience speaker cables over the past ~20 years, and currently use their AU-24SX. For those unfamiliar with Audience cables, they are extremely thin, and very flexible. I have also owned high-quality, thick cables, such as Virtual Dynamics, and Purist Audio Design, and have always returned to Audience. Would I prefer a thick cable of similar quality if I were to A/B test them? I don’t know. But what I do know is that the Audience sound very, very good, and it is difficult for me to imagine that the sound quality is meaningfully impaired by issues relating to high(er) resistance. I have also used them with quite a few different components, including speakers. As a final note, I am not arguing with the science behind Shaw’s claim, but rather with his simplistic conclusion, which is, in my experience, somewhat typically arrogant. |
I purchased a used set of fake audioQuest Well speaker cable. It has 8 conductors per leg, two silver plated coppers in the pos and four silver plated in the neg and the bat packs. It replaced Kimber 12 tc two full range cables per speaker, I was blown away by the difference in sq. The Chinese fellow who made these needs to make his own design and market them. They were less than half the price of the Kimbers and twice bested them. My Audio buddy still uses lamp cord and refuses to try them. I've replaced them now with Furutech. |
@whipsaw +1 on Audience. I also use AU24SX speaker cables terminated with rhodium plated spades that replaced a much thicker Purist Aqueous 20th Anniversary which was a very good cable. Thickness of speaker cables is irrelevant if the materials used, design and implementation are done right. |
Depending on your system and your ears, yes, you can hear a difference. You don’t have to spend a fortune. Many people are very happy with Blue Jean Cables. As other correctly say, the size of conductor, which equates to a low resistance, is important. Capacitance is not as big an issue in speaker cables as it is for line level interconnects.
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Not really, if you have decent cables in the first place. ELAC has decent cables, for example, and that's all you'd need. There are other relatively inexpensive and perfectly capable cables, like Blue Jeans as another has suggested. If you don't like how your system sounds, it's not likely the fault of the cables... it's more likely you are dissatisfied with the speakers, the amp-speaker pairing, or, and here's the big one, how your system integrates into the room itself. |
“Full disclosure: I have owned three pairs of Harbeth speakers, and was, for a while, active on the Harbeth forum. I ultimately had a few run-ins with Alan Shaw, and was banned from the forum, as he wasn’t happy with my persistent challenges. I mention this because my response to the above quote has nothing to do with my personal feelings about Shaw, and I hold his speakers in high regard.” (1) MY TAKE: - Yup…me too. I have HARBETH 30.2 XD speakers ,,,AND .,,, - I was similarly, suddenly and surreptitiously banned from the HARBETH FORUM too for posting my findings immediately below. They did not marry up with Shaw’s pontifications. Yes… Alan is an extremely arrogant albeit fine product maker IMO.
“ … I would argue that the designers and owners of, among others, Audience cables, would take issue with Shaw’s assertions. I have owned several pair of Audience speaker cables over the past ~20 years, and currently use their AU-24SX. For those unfamiliar with Audience cables, they are extremely thin, and very flexible. I have also owned high-quality, thick cables, such as Virtual Dynamics, and Purist Audio Design, and have always returned to Audience. Would I prefer a thick cable of similar quality if I were to A/B test them? I don’t know. But what I do know is that the Audience sound very, very good, and it is difficult for me to imagine that the sound quality is meaningfully impaired by issues relating to high(er) resistance. I have also used them with quite a few different components, including speakers. As a final note, I am not arguing with the science behind Shaw’s claim, but rather with his simplistic conclusion, which is, in my experience, somewhat typically arrogant.,..”
(2);MY TAKE : fair enough…carry on.sir! Your valid personal experiences are important here. thx for sharing. Simply put, intuitively, there is no absolute Anderson here. We all have different bespoke systems. BUT ,,,,and it’s a BIG “BUT” …. I upgraded from a very thin-wire design all- NORDOST FREY cables loom (..their speaker cables specifically are a very very thin flat ribbon design…) to a thick all- CARDAS CLEAR loom :( CARDAS REFLECTION speaker cable / all CARDAS CLEAR IC and power cable array ) based on his quoted opinions posted above. Yes … the upgrade in audio performance swap-in individually ( IC’s first, then power, and then finally the speaker cables in order) , each presented a sequential step-up in audio performance that was not subtle. The speaker cable component specifically mirrored Shaw’s stated opinion about wherein more metal = better. MY OVERALL TAKEAWAY: - Based on MY bespoke experience , Alan Shaw’s comments were validated in this specific instance , without question, Clearly, ( no pun intended ) , others may have valid different views. - The large majority in the post so far is a huge majority cohort in the “yay” camp , as expected. - Intuitively, before this potentially degenerates into another cable wars debated folly, let’s acknowledge and accept the binary choice cohorts ( cables matter vs. Cables don’t matter) are immovable polar opposites with absolutely zero chance of getting the other group to change their opinion…full,stop.
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I find that speaker cables always make a difference and are system/taste dependent but may make less of a difference with speakers that are easier to drive (i.e sensitivity > 90dB and minimum impedance 6 Ohms+). Definitely worth exploring, and with so many direct sellers with generous trial periods and a robust used market (at least for cables from reputable manufacturers) there’s really no excuse to not try a few cables in your system. Best of luck. |
As an ancient one I'm from the days when high end speaker cable was 14 gauge lamp cord rather than 16 gauge. It took me a while but there's no question different cables sound different and they probably vary depending on the rest of your system, especially the amp/cable/speaker combo. So I believe a lot of experimenting is needed(and cables are often costly). By the way if the amount of copper mattered then the old Fulton Gold cables had to be the best. You could jump a jet engine with them. They were good and definitely not bright due to high inductance rolling off the highs a bit. |
I used to have Kimber 8TC speaker cable which I thought was good. Then I replaced them with Nordost Blue heaven cables and the improvement was immediately noticeable. Then I had a chance to buy Nordost Tyr 2 cables at a great price. I cannot say that I noticed any improvement but then I don’t have golden ears and cannot distinguish the nuances as reviewers describe with all kinds of fancy adjectives. Same with interconnects. I started with Synergistic Foundation silver cables (less than $700) and they sounded fine, better than the Kimber Heroes they replaced. Then I “upgraded” with their Galileo SX interconnects, used at a good price, but couldn’t notice any improvement. The lesson learned is that for my particular system and my hearing, get a good cable from a well known manufacturer within your budget and stay with them. It’s an individual thing and I won’t be buying Crystal Cable or Siltech.
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STICKY TOPICS: Do cables matter? This continuing variant is one of those “Sticky Topics” . On CANUCKAUDIOMART, forum posts on this sticky topic have been - restricted to posting actual personal experiences, and - general pontifications with anecdotal non-specific opinions alone ( and especially posts laced with anecdotal , biased hyperbole opinions .. pro and con ) risk potential suspension.
“ …, Forum rules
Works for me.
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I did not read other posts, and this is the feedback from my own system. The cable differences in my system from most to least improvement is as follow: power cord for generator/conditioner; power cords for sources including streaming and disc transports; interconnects from DAC to pre, speaker cables, interconnects from pre to amps, and all others have small effects. |
Yes, they can make a significant difference. I had some custom made 1950’s 12 ga bi-wire NOS Western Electric cables on my Vandersteen 2CE Sigs, and when I got my Treo’s, a pair of AQ Comets were thrown into the deal. I didn’t initially use them, as I thought my NOS Western Electric were very nice, (and indeed, they are), and I also needed AQ spades for the Comets on the amp side. Finally got some, tried them out, but thinking I could sell them off for a nice profit since they were thrown in with the speakers. Well, hooked them up, and it was one of those ‘wow’ monuments. I knew I could not go back the WE cables. They have been installed since, and are not going anywhere. Cables, given the overall equipment, can make a big difference, but I think speaker cables can be even more dramatic than interconnects…..overall. |
Everything in the signal path impacts the sound quality. How much of an impact depends on the synergy with the other components in the system, particularly in this conversation, as one would expect, the speakers. Many speakers are very forgiving, if you will, when it comes to speaker cables. My Apogee Acoustics Duetta II Signature full range ribbons speakers (recently completely updated and upgraded by Music Technology in VA) are on the other end of the spectrum and extremely speaker cable sensitive. So much so that the speakers would sound like crap in various ways depending on the myriad of unsuitable cables. I know there are other speakers cables that would sound good, but there are many at various price points that simply won’t work well. I’ll go with Jason Bloom’s advice from 30+ years ago and won’t even entertain at this point switching out my Symo cables I’ve had since soon after the Apogees were originally purchased by my dad in 1988. |
