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OK inmates here's my situation: I've got Proac Studio 100's ( with a Rel q201e)hooked up to an Arcam A85 ( this will change to a Creek Destiny in the near future) the speakers are in floor to ceiling built in bookcases on either side of a stone fireplace in my family room/ kitchen. I can only run relativly thin wire less than a half inch diameter. This room is on a slab so I have to snake things around the front of the fireplace hearth, and through the book cases (Anti cables can't bend the way I need it to) I am currently using DH labs T14, single wire with Dh Labs jumpers.. sounds pretty good. I want to go a bit better and I'm thinking of an internal bi-wire Q10.If I order the Q10 as an internal bi-wire I can also try it as a single run with jumpers. My questions are anything better that's as small and compact as the Q10 but isn't way expensive? ( Audience AU24 comes to mind as small, very good but very pricey) Second question I really don't want to use equal lenghts of wire, I need 19ft to one side and 10 to the other.. yes I'd like them the same but the amp is in the bottom of one bookcase behind doors and all the extra wire is a PITA , think there is Really a big difference sonically doing this?? THanks for the advise and opinions.
Follow Ups:
See my post re 3rd wire of extension cord above yours. In short, replacing T-14 with 3-wire extension cord, the kind with a round cable containing three separately insulated black, green and white 14g wires, got the same kind of benefits Jeff Delman describes below for Q-10 for a fraction of the cost (although I haven't compared Q-10 with extension cord). I also share his experience that single wire is better than biwire at least with my Spendor 2/3's. I'd love to try his suggestion of rewiring the crossover to use one pair of binding posts but I don't dare.
Compared to DH Labs T-14, DH Labs Q-10 gives a particularly deep, full but taught, tuneful sounding bass. Per equal lengths, there is 126% more metal volume in Q-10 (10g) than T-14 (14g)! It sounds richer and more balanced overall, as fundamental tones are more present, and the cable has better dynamic range. It also supplies less resistance, especially good in longer runs.My quite extensive experience with this cable has consistently been that it sounds better not biwired, even with speakers designed with full biwire crossovers. For one thing, think about your bass having 59% more metal volume to go through (10g), than the 12g it gets internally biwired. The other issues are coherency, phase, and PRAT, which all seem improved with not biwiring. Definitely use quality jumpers if you aren't tweaky enough to rewire into using only one pair of posts, which is best. For deeper discussion of this, see the thread starting at: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/messages/126538.html
Diameter is 7/16", so you're under a 1/2" on that. I don't recommend too many tight turns, but you can do a 90 degree bend with about a 3" radius, or even as little as 2". The tighter the turn, the more current bunching could affect the signal, though probably not noticeably if not done too much.
DH Labs potential customers should be aware that DH Labs raised retail prices 40% on Feb. 1, from $10 to $14 per foot, due to the increasingly high cost of copper. This is their first price increase ever on the Q-10. Some dealers may have some stock they are willing to sell for a short time longer at the old price. When I inquired, Darren authorized sale at the old price until Feb. 15th. I feel it's very hard to beat at the old price.
Using different lengths of cable is most likely to be noticeable as image smear. Instrument & voice position and precision may suffer. ProAcs are quite precise imagers, and I'm not sure I'd want to sacrifice that. Darren at DH Labs told me if your not willing to go equal lengths, try not to extend the length of the long one more than 20% over the short one.
The Creek Destiny is a wonderful, clear, revealing, and exciting amp!
I second Jeff's opinion of the Q10's improvement over the T14, especially in the bass department.My Quad 22L's were internally biwired with Q10. Now, I have them externally biwired, with the T14 going to HF and Q10 going to LF. Doing this opened up the soundstage of my Quads by a good margin. My Quads 22L's do like being biwired, although I cannot say this of all speakers I have heared.
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What jumpers were you using when you were not biwiring? Were they the stock jumpers?
"When internal biwiring my Quad 22L's, I used "T14" cable as jumpers (i.e., cable cut from the 14awg pair of the Q10). "I meant, "when NOT biwiring my Quad 22L's..."
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When internal biwiring my Quad 22L's, I used "T14" cable as jumpers (i.e., cable cut from the 14awg pair of the Q10).Later when I tried external biwiring with the full Q10 going to LF and new set of T14 going to HF, I noticed an immediate enlargement of the soundstage. I have to say, though, that the sound was a bit disjointed at first. But I decided to stick with it and let the T14's break in. After a couple of months or so the sound became smooth and itegrated and that's what I have in my current setup.
On the subject of biwiring, I have to agree that it does not work well for all speakers.
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