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Opening a can of worms

Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
128x128gillatgh
jp90
20 posts
 
So my first venture into  some what higher end cables, was a pair of JPS interconnects.
This pair is some sort of aluminum copper hybrid which sounded smooth and open and better than what I was using. Soon after I purchased JW Audio solid core OFC  copper speaker cables and some of his stranded interconnects. These were reasonably priced and to me had a cleaner more solid and hard hitting dynamic sound  to them with the speaker cables. The interconnects seemed more transparent.

After a conversation I had with a rep from a well known hifi cable maker I decided to stick with high grade copper. Further research with my wire supplier and their manufactures  for the guitar pickups we make at our shop got me on the trail for thicker gauges for speaker wire. The difference between OFC and ETP is not audible and very similar on paper. As far as the connectors go, I just take them out of the equation. 

To to me the solid core sounds a bit more forward and harder, were as the stranded is some what softer and mellower. I suppose it depends on the gauge and materials. It's some what subjective and I guess my point is if your happy with copper you non't have to spend much for quality materials.

Just my humble experience.
JP.





jaaptina
25 posts
 
I agree with cables being of lesser influence. I thought the same about streaming devices. They are just an inbetween between network and dac. This thought has been proven all wrong. I have experienced that the quality of network streamers matters a lot. A Sonore microRendu give a huge upgrade in sound quality over Pioneer and Marantz streamers.
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
Where to begin? 1.  Tin clad copper?  Yigads!   2.  Yes the better the quality of the conductor AND the dielectric mated to high quality connectors and guess what?  High quality, high functioning cables.  3.  Spending ungodly sums on cables relative to the quality of your gear is silly.  Perspective!  Life rule:  Keep things in proper perspective.  Find a balance to where and on what you spend your money.  Example:  Having a fabulous amplifier connected to poorly designed and thus poor performing speakers is madness.  Balance, perspective.
2channel8
758 posts
 
Gillatgh, Thanks for taking the time to do the comparison and sharing your opinion.
dynaquest4's avatar
dynaquest4
445 posts
 
Most educated, experienced and knowledgeable audiophiles would opine that if OP knew which cables he was listening to, his test is invalid and of little merit.
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