Cable Asylum

In most cases, thin is preferable to fat

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oofer

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In Reply to: Big Fat Speaker Cables posted by jcmusic on July 23, 2006 at 04:57:32:

The best speaker cable I have used, my system is SS with fairly efficient speakers, 94db, in preference order:
Audio Consulting Silver Wire
VH Audio (Fairly thick looking)
Guerilla Audio Silver push/pull
Mapleshade double helix speaker.

Wires that just didn't sound right:
Anti-Cables
HD 14's
Element Twisted pair
PS Audio Statements

For what it's worth, my opinion is that wire larger than 18 AWG just gets in the way of good sound, unless your speakers have a widely varying impedence and/or low efficiency. Using a larger SS amp, say above 250 watts/ch may change the calculus a bit, too, but not too much. Using wire gauges near or larger than carries your house current just doesn't make sense.

Follow Ups:

I'm not sure what to make of something here. - Dave Pogue 16:39:47 07/24/06 (3)
Since I replaced the Mapleshade with the HD-14, and it's still there 18 months later, I suspect there's more here than meets your eye, or system, or mine.
- System and Room synergies - oofer 18:34:20 07/24/06 (2)
  Hi, Dave,
  I am constantly amazed that what works in one system doesn't in another. I think it is one of the fun aspects of this hobby. Room acoustics, speaker types, etc. Admit it. There are a lot of variables. And most of our systems are evolutionary. One piece built upon the other.
  For my ears and environment, the thinner, silver wires seem to work. Solid wire seems to win out over stranded, but I have visited friends with radically different systems and room acoustics where what works for me doesn't for them.
  I have really come to the conclusion that each of us is correct. What works for our ears (and our pocket books) is probably best. I used to drive Porsche's now I drive a 6 year old Saturn. Frankly I like the Saturn better, though I loved my 914 (which wasn't really a full Porsche anyway). My 1962 Carrera 2, which I prepped for racing, was ALL Porsche, but definitely not a pleasant car to take a Sunday drive in. But it did sound awesome at 7000 rpm! We grow older, wiser, crankier, saner, ......more deaf.
  - I agree 100% - Dave Pogue 05:55:27 07/25/06 (1)
    In the case of cables, I was for a long time a partisan of thin single wire (not stranded) cables, after hearing 28 gauge magnet wire simply destroy Kimber 8TC as SPEAKER cable in one of my systems. I ultimately wound up with super-fragile Mapleshade and Omega Mikro cable everywhere. Then, after reading the Absolute Sound review of "HD-14" outdoor extension cord used as speaker cable, and figuring what's to lose by trying it, I ended up shifting 180 degrees again. Even went to "shotgun" configurations of the HD-14 stuff, three times as thick as what TAS reviewer Paul Seydor liked so much. There's no rhyme nor reason to this, but the journey has been a hell of a lot of fun and my system has never sounded as good as it does today.
    And that doesn't even touch on the issue of interconnects and power cords :-)
    - Re: I agree 100% - Dawnrazor 12:28:50 07/29/06 (0)
      I think you are right here, and that the real issue is that there is much much more to cables than just the gauge.
      Reducing EVERYTHING to the gauge is misguided IMHO, as it all contributes to the overall sound.
      FWIW, I had the SAME experience with Kimber 4tc and Mag wire.

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