Which cable to change first-intercon. or speaker?

I think the whole philosophy of always putting the "best" anything upstream is questionable if not nonsense. Unfortunately, it's just not this easy or I'd be spinning LPs on a Rockport turntable driving my old Marantz receiver and Pioneer HPM speakers.

What improvements would you like from cable changes? Do you want more resolution and detail, more dynamics, more dimensionality, midrange bloom, etc? I think the particular brand and model of the cables here will be a bigger factor than simply IC vs. speaker cable.

Please share with us the cables you are currently using. I owned ARC electronics for 15 years and can suggest a few ICs for you to try that worked very well. The performance of a few IC's in the $300-400 price range on the used market is quite amazing compared to the much higher models.

I have recently tried a speaker cable at this same price that is so darn close to the speaker cable I have using that I am truly very impressed. I find the point of diminishing returns to happen much sooner with speaker cables though. Your experieneces and trials could be very different here.

You simply need to try out several ICs and speaker cables with the money you are willing to spend, and hear for yourself what works in your system.

If you're interested in some suggestions for auditioning, send me an email.

John

I upgraded the ICs first in my recent overhaul. Basically the ICs deliver the music from source to preamp to amp. Once I replaced them I got a good idea of what my speaker cables could deliver. I ended up replacing them but the important thing was I knew more about why I needed to replace them and found an excellent match for the ICs.

You're asking a question that often polarizes the membership. There's Jafox and the "iPOD/Wilson" school of thought and the school of thought I belong to: "garbage in/garbage out". So. more specific information will elicit more helpful responses.

Louisl,

I just went through selecting speaker cables which is the last cabling I have addressed in my system. I was so impressed with the improvements, and this is with all 4 sets that I auditioned, that it left me wondering the same thing. "Should I have changed the speaker cables first so I could hear the differences in the ICs?" Seems it could go both ways. That is, if you're IC's aren't up to it then you don't really hear what the speaker cables can do, or if you're speaker cables aren't up to it then you don't really hear what the IC's can do.

With all of the choices in quality cabling these days I'm not sure that it really matters. You may not end up with the exact same combinations by starting from the sources as you would by starting from the speakers. But if you are auditioning each with your system I still think you will choose the best synergy anyway.

Excuse me Mt10425, but your comment about me was way off base. If you take note of my system, you will see it is very well balanced with a highly resolving front end. The fact that you associate me with a crowd where the focus is all at the tail end of the system simply shows that you know nothing about me and your ignorance about the system I have assembled.

I fully understand the argument, but it really comes down to garbage anywhere/garbage out. And how about common sense in/common sense out? The key is to find a balance throughout the system.

Focusing the upgrade strategy as always from the front end to the back is too simplistic. Recognizing the weakest link at any given time and resolving this will result in a far more balanced and musical setup. I think the post here by Dan_ed reflects much the same thoughts here.

Throwing lots of money anywhere, whether at the front end or down the path guarantees nothing. I have put a lot of effort to try many products in my home and have compared with other local audiophiles in their systems. What I often would have expected the outcome to be was not at all the case.

Some links clearly are easier to get "right" as there are many great products out there to choose from that bring on a high level of musicality. Others such as line stages and ICs to be used between the line stage and amp are quite a different case; I have only found a handful that retain the musicality I seek. And I am more willing to spend a great deal of money for these than I would for example a turntable, CDP or speaker because these latter products are among a group where there are many models whose musicality is obtainable at high value; you don't need to pay a fortune for these as they are already very impressive.

John