speaker cable upgrade

Rpssb - Without getting too ideological, I will report my experiences with expensive cables (approx. $2k). After experimenting with several very well regarded brands, I concluded that, in my system, the return on investment was too low. That is to say, I experienced much more dramatic improvements (per dollar spent) with other kinds of upgrades - speakers, amps, etc., and even mods. My experiences more or less parallel what was said in the OP of another recent thread.

I guess what I'm saying is that I agree with the folks who think that your money will be better spent on a component upgrade.

Bryon

Wow this thread took an odd direction.
Too the OP If you can afford the GR by all means do it. I love thier ICs and have a lot of respect for the company.
The idea of changing speakers is a fairly radical thing to do if you really like what you get from the speakers you have now. I don't know them and can't say if they are essentially poor and other speakers are much better. You might investigate that through audition.
To repeat the straight answer is yes get the Cardas speaker cable.

Almarg: Much of what Dr Johnson writes does go over my head. I am not involved at all at that technical level. But I can understand this email that he wrote helping a client and I would think that it will also pertain to The audio craze when it come to power cords.This has been shortened but his response is dead on..

Dr Howard Johnson's response to a power cable upgrade question Let’s look at the facts, not the fantasy.

Ordinary 60-Hz power travels miles from the nearest power station over ordinary, oxygen-rich, noncryogenically frozen wires laden with bird poop. It goes through a local distribution transformer (gobs more regular wire in there) and then travels hundreds of feet more through your house wiring to a local outlet. Do you think the last 6 ft of cryogenically altered, helically wound, hand-braided, eight-gauge wire makes any sensible difference?

You could probably solder together old, rusty coat hangers and do just as well, provided you don’t have any young children or pets in the house.

So what do you really need in a power cable? Insulation is a good idea. Stranding is good, too. Stranded wire is flexible enough to bend many times without breaking. That’s all the technology you need.

Schipo 1-31-11: I will say please read what a Dr Howard Johnson {not the restaurant} has to say about spending large amounts of money on cables first before departing with your funds.

I took his course on high speed digital design about 15 years ago. The man is awesome, and undoubtedly one of the world's foremost authorities on signal transmission, among other things.

I haven't seen anything by him about audio, though. Can you provide a link?

Best regards,
-- Al

get better speakers.

$1200 on speaker cables is, IMHO, insane no matter what the price of the speaker. Of course you will get much more out of a speaker upgrade.

please do yourself a favor and listen to Elizabeth and take her word for it...I will not get involved because this is the most taboo issue on every audio blog. And when you disagree the daggers come out. I will say please read what a Dr Howard Johnson {not the restaurant}has to say about spending large amounts of money on cables first before departing with your funds.This man is not a hack in the industry and should give you great incite and help you with your decision..

Clients
Who relies on Dr. Johnson's advice? Here is a short list: Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Motorola, Northern Telecom, Tektronix, LeCroy, Agilent, Micron, Lockheed, Raytheon, General Dynamics, NASA, and BAE Systems.

The only slightly different perspective I would offer is that it often requires doubling your cost to get a significant improvement w a new component, assumming you have properly matched the item in question (in this case, amp/speaker interface). So you might be looking at speakers that retailed for about $7K, if you went that route. If used price is 1/2 that, you might have to spend about $3500. Now, these days, prices are down so that may not apply, nor would it if you paid too much or got a great deal. If you want a different flavor that's another matter. Just my $0.02.

Much more bang for the buck with a speaker upgrade. Once you've found your "ideal" speakers then blos some dough on the cabling.

-RW-

Get the GR if you are happy with your speakers; it will be a worthwhile upgrade. I use it with Spendor and Gamut; I also have PS high end cables and they are good but Cardas is better.

Upgrade your speakers.

What's the other equipment in the system?