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Thread: Most natural sounding speaker cable properties

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2011

    Location: England

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    I'm Mark.

    Default Most natural sounding speaker cable properties

    You guys are the experts, i'm getting more and more confused and can't make my mind up. What i'd like to know is, in your opinions, what are the properties of the most natural/lifelike sounding speaker cables? Are they solid silver, silver plated or copper? Or are there any other properties of cables available? Does it make a difference what systems/speakers you are using any of these cables with or none at all? Is there a golden rule as such? I've been experimenting with all these cables of varying awg/mm and I just kind of feel like a rabbit getting further and further down a hole

    Please help, thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date: May 2008

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    Each will bring in a slightly different flavour
    As to the most natural I have no idea Sorry
    Loves anything from Pain of Salvation to Jeff Buckley to Django to Sarasate to Surinder Sandhu to Shawn Lane to Nick Drake to Rush to Beth Hart to Kate Bush to Rodrigo Y Gabriela to The Hellecasters to Dark Sanctury to Ben Harper to Karicus to Dream Theater to Zero Hour to Al DiMeola to Larry Carlton to Derek Trucks to Govt Mule to?

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  3. #3
    Join Date: Jan 2011

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    I'm afesteringvinylphile.

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    Quote Originally Posted by worthingpagan View Post
    I just kind of feel like a rabbit getting further and further down a hole
    I know that feeling.

    Quote Originally Posted by John View Post
    Each will bring in a slightly different flavour
    As to the most natural I have no idea Sorry
    +1

    The only thing I pay attention to, at the moment, is the ratio of distance to guage. I'm sure that'll change sooner or later.
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  4. #4
    Join Date: Jul 2010

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    I tend to stick to stranded OFC copper cables. As John says they'll all tend to sound a bit different even if the overall structure is the same & the same insulation type is used.

    You can also purchase carbon cables & a few japanese have used troughs filled with mercury I think the idea behind the two latter is to completely do away with any metalic crystal boundaries in the cable itself. Carbon is a far worse conductor than any metal though so you often find it also uses OFC copper. Then again Van Den Hul also make a pure carbon speaker cable but it's not something you are going to hide under the carpet, each conductor is nearly an inch thick if i remember right

    If there is any golden rule it might be to not use any silver cable or silver plated come to that with metal dome tweeters (except possibly for beryllium) as it tends to exacurbate any break up modes & makes things rather bright & grating.

    These may well be fine with soft domes though

    As to wire guages it's up to you. As i run an active system & i want good control of the bass drivers i tend to use 6mm^2 wire on those & steadily smaller stuff on higher frequency units.

    With a passive speaker due to the action of the crossover you might as well stick with around 2.5mm^2 or smaller depening on the length of the cable...

    imo
    Bests, Mark



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  5. #5
    Join Date: Jan 2011

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reid Malenfant View Post
    ...a few japanese have used troughs filled with mercury ...
    !!! !!!

    What cable would you run for planar or electrostats?
    Lyrics are the ramblings of man, sometimes inspired by The Creator, most often, not.
    But music (melodies, harmonies, rhythms), that's God stuff.
    Always was. Always will be.


    One of the biggest lies ever told was that only certain kinds of people should listen to certain kinds of music.

    (silent) VINYL LP SLIDESHOWS

  6. #6
    Join Date: Jul 2010

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    Quote Originally Posted by WOStantonCS100 View Post
    !!! !!!

    What cable would you run for planar or electrostats?
    Yeah exactly, the thought of Mercury vapour in the air would scare the shite out of me Perhaps sir could use some plastic tube & fill that up with Mercury instead

    No idea chap as i have never owned any planars or electrostatics! However as they are driven over virtually the whole diaphram it seems that breakup modes are kind of out the window. I just wouldn't use any high capacitance cables with electrostatics but other than that i can't see any other issues..

    I'd probably be more inclined to give silver or silver plated OFC a spin in this instance. Of course it depends on the front end & amplifier as well at the end of the day, we still need synergy after all.
    Bests, Mark



    "We must believe in free will. We have no choice" Isaac Bashevis Singer

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by WOStantonCS100 View Post
    !!! !!!

    What cable would you run for planar or electrostats?
    A thick one with high current capability.
    Chris



    Common sense isn't anymore!

  8. #8
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    16 gauge lamp cord. Sounds great, dirt cheap, annoys your audiophile friends and leaves more money for music.

    Hey what can I say? I'm Scottish so I'm cheap.

    Page 44
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    cheers
    ken
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stratmangler View Post
    A thick one with high current capability.
    Yes agreed. I found a thick cable far better than the diy twisted twins I tried on my statics, which is very good with cone drivers. Statics need a low capacitance cable or they sound bright and edgy.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Jun 2010

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    Any cable choice is largely hit and miss because none of them are perfect so you have to pick the particular set of imperfections that suit you. Not very helpful I know, but there are some generalisations that can be made.

    From my own observations, solid cored cables have a better bass performance while the treble hasn't quite got the crispness and finesse of a stranded cable and conversely, stranded cables do a tad better in the treble registers.

    Silver (as in pure 99.99%) have an overall "cleaner" sound with not too shabby a bass either. I also think that pure silver cables are better at lifting the proverbial "veils" that can mask fine detail, along with less background mush.

    Silver plated copper can either be brilliant or dire, but there is no definitive list of what is and what isn't, so it really is a case of pot luck or relying on other people's experience of the various marques. I think silver plating isn't too kind to the treble registers, introduction a lack of refinement and coarseness.

    I have heard some good reports recently about Tellurium cables and would like a set to play at some point in time so sort out the hype from reality.

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