Cable Survey

@toetapaudio - if you have any questions about the helix cables ask away - Todd and I are always willing to assist a fellow DIYer.

Re: Sonarquest - they are not like some other connectors from the far east...
- The prongs of the mains plug are very flat - providing maximum contact area
- the silver plating is very heavy compared to competitors
- the IEC connector clamps like a vice - I plug mine into an old component a couple of times before connecting to an active component - just to relieve that initial tightness.

I have compared Sonarquest to a couple of established brands and they performed better - but I have not compared them to the likes of Furutech and Oyaide - that would be interesting, but I’m not about to splurge just for the sake of curiosity.

Vanguard also produces a more reasonably priced silver plated copper connector, but the Sonarquest is definitely of a higher quality and their IEC’s clamp more securely.

What about connectors with gold or rhodium plating?
- Silver has the highest conductivity of all metals - copper is second
- Silver can be plated directly onto the copper
- metals such as Gold and Rhodium (both have lower conductivity ratings) requires an intermediary plating material which also lowers the overall conductivity of the connector.

If you are constantly plugging/unplugging the connectors - perhaps rhodium is the toughest plating - but I’ve probably connected my cables over 200 times over the course of my "experiments" and the silver plating is still good

Hope that helps - Steve - a Brit-turned-Cannuck hybrid :-)

Have you measured any of these cables? If not, then please do us a favor, go back to a workbench, measure them and kindly report the results. Thank you in advance.

I have previously discussed my use of MG Audio Design interconnects and speaker wires.  First I fond out about MG Audio Design from the writings of Arnie Nudell.  I latr found outthat Paul McGowan of PSAudio also used them.  But at $1600 for a one meter pair of their top of the line interconnects were too much for my budget, but that theysold half meter pairs for $900.  Far, far better than $1800 Audioquest and also Audience AU24se interconnects.  Not just better, but much, much better.  Spposidly the Colorado Society compared them to top of the line Nordhost, and Nordhost came in second.  As for MG Audio Design speakerwires, they are another story.  Previously I was using a single Jenna Labs 18 gage hook up wires for speaker wires.  At the time I also obtained a one foot pair of then Shunyata's top of the line speaker wires.  I connected the Shunyata speaker wires to my speakers and four 18 gage Jenna Labs hook up wires betweeen the Shunyata wires and my Rega Orisis integrated amplifier.  It worked.  The Jenna Labs 18ngage hook up wires-MG Audio Design combination really worked.  The Jenna Lab wires allowed the Shunyata wires to do their work.  I later doubled up on the Jenna Labs hook up wires and the sound was again even bettr.  Finally I added 4 more Jenna Labs hok up wires to the total.  That is 12 of them total.  With the third Jenna Labs hook p wire attached to each of the four MG Audio Design wires I was then able to have a sound that is close to what I would have if I only was using the MG Audio Design wires alone.  BY the way,  the one foot MG Audio Design topof the line speker wires goes for $900.  Considerably less than the $4800 for a six foot pair.  The Jenna Lab Wires are $6 a foot.  I have the equilivant of a 14.5 foot pair of speaker wires.  Total price under $1800.  In conclusion. these are not just an affordible pair of good speaker wires.  To achieve their equal would be cost wise out of the question or most.  I have been involved in high end audio for over 45 years.  Oh yes, I have positively no financial or other involvement with these products.  And I also know that Jenna Labs and John Curl are very good friends and have even worked on projects together over the years.

Personally, I think interconnects are more important. If your speaker wire is a large enough gauge, I haven't been able to tell a huge difference in speaker wire, as long as the length is within reason. 

handymann:   I totally agree.  In fact speaker wires were the last and final part of my audio system to attend to.  I myself had been using a single Jenna Labs 18 gage hook up wire per channel-4 in total in place of regular speker.  It was not ntil  got a one foot pair of the Shunyata speaker wires and combined them with the Jenna Labs 18 gage hook up wires that I started my speaker wire project.  But believe me, if you ever had the chanch to try out ssay the speaker wires that Michael Fremer or Jonathan Valin use, you would notice the diference.  It is just the obnoxious price of the really great wire products that reates the problem.  I guarentee that if you evr heard my speaker wire system in your audio system you would notice the difference.  I just obtaine a one meter pair of MG Audio Design interconnects for half price and hooked up my McIntosh Mr74 tuner to my Audio Research LS27 tube preamplifier.  On a total MG Audio wired audio system.  Audio magic.  Oh yes, my speaker wire combo starts $900 for the first foot and $72 a foot.  And I guarentee it would cost you thousands to even come close to my set up.  After all, an audio system can only be as good as it's weakest link.  That is a fact.