Your most worthwhile upgrade/cost

[Covenant]

I was prompted to start this by DaveK's comments on his Homar cable. Rather than just a change of box lets have details of mods, cables, foo stuff that in your system have had a profound effect and not hurt your pocket too much.

For me it was changing from copper speaker cable to silver. On the Wam someone mentioned an Ebay seller of a discontinued make-I think it was called Speed of Light and I bought two 3 metre lengths for £38. They added a sparkle that simply wasn't there before, opened the soundstage and tightened the bass.
So lets have some details of your experiences.

[DaveK]

For me it was changing from copper speaker cable to silver. On the Wam someone mentioned an Ebay seller of a discontinued make-I think it was called Speed of Light and I bought two 3 metre lengths for £38. They added a sparkle that simply wasn't there before, opened the soundstage and tightened the bass.

Hi Jerry,
Hope this is not too far off topic but do you have any opinions on the use of silver speaker cables vs copper speaker cables in general, rather than the specific cables that you swapped. I ask because, some time ago, I 'impulse' bought off eBay what I thought to be some 'bargin' silver speaker cables and never fitted them 'cos Gaz drew my attention to another eBay 'bargin' on speaker cables that he had tried and recommended (purple and green insulation). I always prefer a proven solution and, after fitting them and being happy with the improvement, I forgot the silver ones .
In your opinion does the guage of the wire contribute to any improvement? My coppere ones are considerably larger diameter than the silver ones.
Having typed all this I guess the answer I'm most likely to get is "Suck 'em and see". .
Cheers,

[Covenant]

I think there are too many variables to give a definative answer-some people think that the purity of the silver is important. In all honesty I dont know what I have got myself as the information on Ebay was sparse.
The only useful thing I have noted about silver, as opposed to copper is that when it oxidises the oxidant is also conductive. I guess this is more of an issue at the contacts.
Anyway I wont be going back to copper anytime soon.

[Alex_UK]

Dave DSJR will be along shortly, I'm sure - he persuaded me to get rid of my silver anniversary qed cable last week in favour of the Mark Grant stuff... maybe a mod could move from post #2 to a separate topic?

[DaveK]

Dave DSJR will be along shortly, I'm sure - he persuaded me to get rid of my silver anniversary qed cable last week in favour of the Mark Grant stuff...

Hi Alex,
Don't leave me hangin' in mid air - can I take it that you preferred the copper (?) Mark Grant stuff to the QED Anniversary silver stuff?
Cheers,
PS When are you going to formally comment on Mike's cable - it's always nice to have someone else agree with my findings, hopefully .

[Covenant]

I think Silver Anniversary is silver coated copper but I wouldnt swear to it. I use it in my AV system and it was laid beneath laminate flooring so wont be changed anytime soon.

[twelvebears]

Got several pairs of Mark's cables yesterady and think they are excellent.

[Alex_UK]

I think Silver Anniversary is silver coated copper but I wouldnt swear to it. I use it in my AV system and it was laid beneath laminate flooring so wont be changed anytime soon.

Sorry - yes, I didn't realise you were talking PURE silver - that would probably be very different indeed.

QED Silver Anniversary is silver coated copper - the thread is http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3560 - post 7 onwards...

[Mike]

Dave DSJR will be along shortly, I'm sure - he persuaded me to get rid of my silver anniversary qed cable last week

A wise move!... God awful stuff IME

I once bi-wired my system with SA and made it sound broken, people came round and completely unprompted commented along the lines of "WTF have you done? it sounds shite!"... and they were girls!

[Alex_UK]

The main problem I have is that I have pretty much changed EVERYTHING between source and speakers in the last month or so - and it is getting really hard to pinpoint the biggest change... but I must say that on the day 1 evidence yesterday, I wouldn't argue with Dave about Mike's cable - it really has moved the CD replay (via Caiman) up to another level - on just about all fronts - but mainly the soundstage is just so much bigger - the bass tighter, the treble less harsh - I was using a very cheap Monster ebay special cable, because "digital cables don't matter, they're only transferring 1's and 0's"...