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It may sound like I am just trying to stir up trouble, but my question is genuine and I am looking for a rational answer. Mea culpa if this has been asked and answered a zillion times.
The wire inside the amp that leads to the amp's speaker terminals is fairly narrow gauge. The wire that leads from the speaker's speaker terminals to the raw speakers is also fairly narrow gauge.
I wired my own speakers internally and am using the same wire to run to the amps. Am I missing something? Is there some benefit from running large-gauge speaker cable between the two sets of terminals? Does the answer depend entirely on how close the amp is to the speaker, or is there some other reason?
Follow Ups:
The only think that I can say is that despite the logic of relatively thin gauge wire inside the amp and the speaker, my ears have determined that certain cables impact the way my speakers sound.
The infinite variety of setups out there means that a particular speaker cable whether it's fancy or not will not have the same effect (or any) in any particular system.
As I am sure others have said, the only way to be sure is to try out different cables for yourself and listen for a change. Notice I don't say "improvement", just a change. If you're lucky, your system won't care if you use lamp cord or mega-buck silver cable.
The way I do it is to absolutely not read ANY of the ridiculous marketing about cables and just listen to them vs what I have. If I hear a change and if that change is favorable, then I decide if the price is worth the improvement.
WoW! Just switched to Hi-Diamond D8 speaker cables and they are amazing!
I agree with the last post in that clearly decent speaker cables can make an audible difference. I also find that cables of around 10 gauge or bigger do enhance the amount of bass reproduction. While speaker cables make a difference, I don't find it to be as big a change as interconnects, but significant nonetheless. As the previous poster also stated, you can find modestly priced cables that perform nearly as well or better than the high priced ones. Companies like Analysis Plus, River Cables, Audioquest, Kimber, Acoustic Zen and others offer lines that are reasonable in price and perform well. Buying used or demo is even better.
From my personal experience, I've came to the following conclusions:
1. I'm still not sure if there are scientific explanations related to the sound of a cable. But there is a subjective difference between each.
2. Expensive doesn't always mean better. I've listened to $$$$ cables beaten by some $$$ and $$$ t beaten by $$ cables. There are two reasons I can think of:
-the market is full of mediocre stuff and BS, the people who really know how to make stuff are rare
-every cable has a particular sound signature and it must be matched the the following system.
3. Each cable has burn-in time. Many cables have directionality. With this sentence I've already started another flame topic.
4. The sound of a cable is also influenced by its mechanical resonances. I've analyzed this by dampening/undampening a speaker cable with various materials.
5. Listen with your own ears before buying. Or buy cables with a money-back option. Try to listen to cables of the same price domain to choose the best.
depending on the actual quality of the electronics and speaker, there may be no reason or a very good one. try it and if no difference, then it won't be worth it.
otoh if you can hear an improvement of some kind or another, and you entered the procedure with NO expectations, then it IS worth a moderate expenditure.
...regards...tr
Certain companies make cabling systems to jive w/ other makers of electronic gear. System synergy is key for the most pleasant listening experience.
I have the same question you do. The weakest wire link in the chain produces the best signal one can achieve, or so I presume. I have posted a similar question myself and never got a response that was entirely convincing.
Secondly, the fact that many people seem to use speaker cables or interconnects in place of pre-amplifier tone controls to "tweak" the sounds of their systems would indicate questionable practice since only one combination can be most accurate.
However, I have tried comparing homemade speaker cables to commercially produced cables and can testify that they all sounded slightly different, and at least one pair of the commercially-produced cables sounded better than my homemade ones, specifically: Kimber Kable 8TC bi-wires.
An AC cord the last few feet helps. Everything has an impact. Some large some small. Speaker wire was the first cable I upgraded but I now think that of power cables, interconnects and speaker wire the other two have a larger impact. Try stuff, find your way.
ET
If anyone needs speaker cable.....I discovered Clear Cable. They will send out review sample no charge to see if you like it....I don't think there is better. Thin, silver, not expensive.
Should be Clear Day Cable
Or just use this
I tried that and couldn't find any spades to fit it, so I had to use jumper cable clamps. Also difficult to bi-wire unless you are using gigantic speakers.
they make the pioneer BS22s sound SO much better.
...regards...tr
What is that actually used for?
Dave
I'm pretty sure that is undersea telephone cable. I'm fascinated by that technology!
Cardas Vibration of the Universe!
Dang. I think I cut it too short.
axolotl
I bet the justification for this cable is even more serpentine than that which Cardas uses. It has to be at $65 a millimeter. Tweaker
Might one consider the very small gauge magnet wire implemented for speaker voice coils as somehow a limiting factor as to the benefit of a large gauge speaker cable? Maximum energy transfer efficiency with minimal dielectric effect, optimized LCR, and noise reduction geometries affect the subjective presentation of an audiophile system vs. less fancy zip cord speaker wire.
There are those who consider inductors to be very damaging to the sound. There may be a reason that their still exist a modern version of the Dynaco A25.
Dave
Crazy Dave wrote:
"There are those who consider inductors to be very damaging to the sound. There may be a reason that their still exist a modern version of the Dynaco A25."
I agree. I built an "assisted single driver" nearfield monitor using a 4" full range driver without inductors nor capacitors, including omission of any notch filters, and the use of a simple high-quality capacitor with bypass for an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter functioning as a quasi super tweeter. It's one of my favorite loudspeakers for use in my computer workstation system.
Looks like an interesting design. Which Tang Band W4 is that? The tweeter look like an Dayton Audio AMT Mini-8.
Dave
The 4" full range is a bamboo/paper with neodymium magnet Tang Band W4-1320SD (discontinued model; alternative model: W4-1320SJ). The AMT tweeter is indeed a very impressive sounding Dayton Audio AMT Mini-8, with excellent transparency and off-axis dispersion characteristics. Fortunately, I found no need to attenuate its output via L-pad resistors, keeping within the goal of minimal filtering.
Fancy does not mean large wire. There are many quite expensive speaker cables that are very thin wire
Alan
I don't know about "fancy" but I have found quality speaker cables can make an improvement in sound. It may defy logic. Some manufacturers do use larger gauge and higher quality wiring internally.
There are many brands, many theories and applications in cables, and variables, I always tell those interested to try it for yourself, if it helps then good, but, if not, then nothing lost. You can try borrowing from a friend or buying with a return policy. I do feel the better resolution your system is capable of the more likely you will hear a benefit. A lot may also depend on how critical you listen to your system, are you a park between the speakers kind a guy, or, put on some tunes and work on a project or some other activity.
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