2. cables
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Why Do Cables Matter?

To me, all you need is low L, C, and R. I run Mogami W3104 bi-wire from my McIntosh MAC7200 to my Martin Logan Theos. We all know that a chain is only as strong as its' weakest link - so I am honestly confused by all this cable discussion. 

What kind of wiring goes from the transistor or tube to the amplifier speaker binding post inside the amplifier? It is usually plain old 16 ga or 14 ga copper. Then we are supposed to install 5 - 10' or so of wallet-emptying, pipe-sized pure CU or AG with "special configurations" to the speaker terminals?

What kind of wiring is inside the speaker from the terminals to the crossover, and from the crossover to the drivers? Usually plain old 16 ga or 14 ga copper.

So you have "weak links" inside the amplifier, and inside the speaker, so why bother with mega expensive cabling between the two? It doesn't make logical sense to me. It makes more sense to match the quality of your speaker wires with the existing wires in the signal path [inside the amplifier and inside the speaker].

 

 

kinarow1
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recklesskelly
330 posts
 

I completely agree that everything matters and that there is a point of diminishing returns. Inter Connects and Speaker cables take priority and then power. You can get great performance and sound without spending your children's 529 plan. 

gladmo's avatar
gladmo
311 posts
 

When you get to heaven, it’s one of the first things they’ll explain to you. But as they say, if you don’t believe in them, you’ll never know. Too bad there’s no way to figure out as mere human if they make any difference. If only there were an ultra simple method to discover the truth... Something like just listening to them. Oh well.

curtdr
348 posts
 

I'd primarily ignore the discussion and the claims.  Just get decent cables... both interconnects and speaker wire... from a modest company like Blue Jeans, or SVS perhaps, or ELAC, and be done with it.  Cable obsession is misplaced.

raysmtb1's avatar
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raysmtb1
792 posts
 

I think it’s an unexplored science. It’s in the same science as when you buy a new set of tires for your mountain bike you feel faster….. like when you wash your car, it seems to ride smoother….. or like when you were a kid and you got new tennis shoes you could run faster. I think speaker cables and inner K’NEX live in the same science. I don’t think that any of these of quite been figured out yet.

 The part that I don’t understand is every time you make a tweak your system gets better. When you change speaker cables there’s four connections so you should be able to divide the change by four.can you hear the difference if one speaker has expensive cabling and one speaker does not? The improvements should only be half as good. I haven’t made a list, but I would guess that if you added up every tweak, that makes your system better there’s probably 100 different things that some people do to make their system sound better. Here’s the part I don’t get, when do you run out of better? You just did 100 things to your system and each one made it better and better and better and better and better and better and better and better and better. Doesn’t at some point it reach a level of being so good that it stops? It seems to me to be, almost a little insane to think that there’s no end to better. OK, I’m not on drugs. Sorry for going so deep I really would like to know if you ever think you’ll run out of better? 

 

 

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