Speaker Cables? why all the hype for expensive speaker wire?

Put on your glasses, now do you see it.. Prove?

Why does anybody have to prove anything to anybody. That's right they DON'T!

Why cast pearls before swines? You need proof, good for you.

Prove it yourself and post your experience.

People demanding proof.. 

Ask a better question and you just MIGHT get a better answer.

Quality questions = quality answers LESS the fancy attempt to show one's super duper intellect, with SALTY soup and not even a decent word salad.

Time to look in on the chickens.. Skunk is trying to get in the hen house, come on dog..

OK - so far - No one has stated what contributes to a good cable

So if anyone is interested - here is the "Coles Notes" version of what to consider WRT cables...

First the metallurgy...

1. UP-OCC silver will achieve the fastest and most detailed sound
2. Next is UP-OCC copper
3. Five nines silver
4. then OFC copper
5. then everything else

Solid wires will always outperform stranded wires

Plated and alloy wires tend to degrade the performance of the" base" material of that wire - which to some peoples ears sound "smoother" or less articulate

Then the insulations used on the wires

1. Air will provide the most clarity - it is hard to achieve but the closest you can get is bare copper inside a larger teflon tube
2. Cotton is next
3. then Foamed Teflon - like AirLok from VH Audio
4. then Teflon
5. finally anything else - PVC, rubber etc

Finally - Cable geometry

1. Helix (like anticables interconnects)
2. ribbon (i.e. like Nordost)
3. Complex geometries (i.e. like Cardas)
4. braided

So a good cable will "generally" adopt an approach using the higher numbers from each of the sections above in some manner

There are some cables that adopt the "weird science" approach, such as magnets, batteries and liquid cables, but they are highly specialized

Regards - Steve

@mahlman,

"If you could toss a vibrant word salad with the same ingredients and taste qualities as the plebian described one, and you could convince people to spend 100 times more for the privilege of digesting your words, why not. There are tons of products and people who buy on hype but would run like scared chickens if a true blind test was available. It is a sort of religious cult where the secret keys to the audio kingdom are possessed by oracular golden ear pontiffs who disdain the idea of blind tests because mere science and physics can't hear what the "educated golden ear" can. Solipsism."



Well put. You sure rustled a few financially invested feathers.

With so many words used to describe the effects and differences between cables why is it that the newcomer is unlikely to ever read that a $1000 cable remains sonically indistinguishable from a pair of twisted coat hangers connecting amp to speakers?  

Why is it also that despite the enormous price differences between various cables that no cable has EVER been claimed to offer ANY sonic superiority?

Suggestion and inference can and do go a long way.

Something worth thinking about before investing in anything more costly than decent gauge copper cable.

Money doesn't grow on trees.

You need banks to print and loan it to governments at eye watering interest rates first.

With so many words used to describe the effects and differences between cables why is it that the newcomer is unlikely to ever read that a $1000 cable remains sonically indistinguishable from a pair of twisted coat hangers connecting amp to speakers?

Because critical listening is learned and developed over time. Some are more capable on developing their ability to perceive than others.

The seasoned art critic is more capable than the novice art critic. The seasoned driver is more capable than the novice driver. The seasoned doctor is more capable than the intern. Somehow you cannot figure the same counts for audiophiles?

Why is it also that despite the enormous price differences between various cables that no cable has EVER been claimed to offer ANY sonic superiority?

The difference in musical performance of cables in audio have been well known and written about for decades.

Suggestion and inference can and do go a long way.

... but deafness will always take one nowhere.

Money doesn’t grow on trees

No we work and earn our own money. And how we choose to spend it is none of your business comrade.

"No we work and earn our own money. And how we choose to spend it is none of your business comrade."

Thank You pauly. Well said.