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Unruly new speaker cable tamed by simple tweak

Posted by Bixby (A) on March 26, 2007 at 16:24:45

A lot of old timers here will just nod and move on, but I thought I would point out what happened when I used a well known tweak to help "cure" an unruly result I was getting form a new speaker cable.

I made up a new speaker cable for the office system from some fairly inexpensive Belkin Pure A/V speaker cable. Hard as heck to strip, but easy enough to terminate. High quality pcocc copper that is furnished in multiple gauges. Simple twin axial layout in really hard sheathing with polyethylene dielectric, if I am not mistaken. Decent enough and should sound pretty good in an above average office system.

I had to use pins on the source end due to the cheap spring loaded connectors on my Samson Servo 170 amp. After I finished the wire I had run them in for about 10 or so hours and sat down to listen. Very detailed up top with good spatial characteristics in the treble, but lacking in bass and midrange. Swapped in some 16 gauge Monster zip cord only to pull it out after a few cuts, worse sounding to me than the Belkin. Even threw in my RS magnet wire cables I had made. No too dull.

I was beginning to resign myself to the fact that good materials alone do not guarantee decent results. Then I grabbed my Caig De-Oxit 5% spray and sprayed a little brush and began cleaning the spring loaded connectors. Then back to the Belkin cable for a listen.

BAM! We now have midrange and we now have bass, and smoother highs to boot. I went on to clean the Speaker posts, and RCA connections on the amp and preamp and the ICs. The effect was cumulative with some connections offering a bigger improvement than others. The effect was equivalent to about a $100-$200 change in speaker cables. I am not convinced I will keep the cable but it is way, way better than the first time I heard it. Yes, break-in can be attributing something to my experience, but I just wanted to point out that often it is the simple things we overlook that can color our opinions on a cable when something else is at fault.

I can't wait to go out to my main system and clean all the connections.

So if you have some bright sounding cables or a slightly shy low end, think about some good connector hygiene before you move on to another cable choice.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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