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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.
Follow Ups:
Bixby,A crude, but effective, approach to stripping the PVC jacket of the Belkin PureAV bulk speaker cable is to use a sharp pair of scissors. The process is fairly easy since the cable is twin axial, not twisted pair (i.e., the red and black PE jacketed wires run parrallel).
Position the cable such that it points toward the "jaws" of the scissors. Cut the gray PVC jacket, such that the jaws of the scissors cut between the red and black PE jacketed speaker wires. Be careful not to cut the speaker wires.
Once you have cut through about 2" of the gray PVC jacket, you will find that the two halves can be pulled apart quite easily, exposing the red and black jacketed speaker wires.
Note that each speaker wire has several strands of pcocc copper of various AWG. I guess this is what Belkin calls "hybrid" cable geometry. The largest strand (some 21AWG or so) is individually insulated with its own PVC jacket. You will need to strip the PE jacket off this strand before you terminate the cable.
FYI, I'm trying out the Belkin PureAv bulk pcocc cable right now and it seems to be doing an excellent job of articulating the midrange and midbass - easily beating my DH-Labs Q10 in this area. I'll write another post on this topic.
Cheers,
___________C N Machani
CN: I hadn't even thought of that technique.The shears around here are not too sharp. What I used was a sharp razor bladed utility knife. It is one that has an adjustable tip to control depth if you will. So while holding the cable as straight as I could, I began to make a cut of known depth into the cable and between the two internal wires. Worked fairly well once I got the hang of it.
Your note about the large wire in the bundle is well taken. When I first stripped the insulation I thought ..hmmm... And figured that duh, I better strip the insulation off of that one as well. I was also a bit surprised to see one very thin strand that was wound over a cotton (or thread looking) fiber core.
I am gald to hear it is performing better than the DQ-10. I had some T-14 years ago but got rid of it right after break-in because of the weirdness it exhibited in the mids and lower treble.
Right now the Belkin is doing okay, it still exhibits a bit of a tilt to the upper end on some persussion making cymbals sound a bit smaller than normal and it seems a bit lean in the midrange. Sting's voice for example is not as full and piano is tilted toward the upper end of the spectrum. The criticisms are minor for a cable this inexpensive for sure.
I may have to see if more cleaning of those spring connectors might help, or perhaps an additional run of another bigger wire to see if the lows and mids can come in a little fuller. I have some magnet wire around here that is about 18 or 20 guage.
thanks for your pic and idea.
cheers
Bixby
Bixby,
I have done an A/B with DHLabs Q10 and posted my findings in another thread. The link is below.Cheers,
___________C N Machani
Nice writeup and notes. You have me thinking that perhaps I ought to try getting a larger aggregate gauge run to my speakers as well.What really intrigues me is to see whether or not removing the tough PVC jacket will contribute to better sound. I am thinking a simple twisted pair to validate. And if that works perhaps going to multiple cores either twisted or braided.
Bixby,
Try doubling up the cable to see if it cures the thin sound you were experiencing. In my setup, the cable is defintely warmer and more detailed in the midrange than DHLabs Q10.
Regards,
Chai
___________C N Machani
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