Is this a speaker cable?

[Arkless Electronics]

Give it a try. Cables don't have to be big and hefty to sound good. I have many thick fancy speaker cables, but the best sounding are some skinny Transparent Audio items that look like mower lead.

On the contrary.... it's all that matters! Thin cables can affect the sound if too thin. Remember those DNM ones that were really thin single strand? A mate bought some and I measured its loop resistance as 1 Ohm for a run of about 4 metres! That means a maximum damping factor of 8 or 4 depending if you have 8 or 4 Ohm speakers.... You can imagine what it would do to frequency response when used with a bit of a difficult speaker! All that inaccuracy and "SET effect" may be liked by some but accurate it ain't.

[Marco]

By having KLE/Eichman plugs on, it means that no matter how the cable sounds, it can pretty much be sold on for no loss, the plugs themselves being enough of a pull for buyers. When you're unable to try before you buy in your own system, each mistake not costing you a packet each time is vital. Therefore, financially it's a no-brainer. Replace Eichmans with Profigolds and you increase the chances of the cable not selling multi-fold..

That's a rather novel (and valid) way of looking at it

If the cable turns out to sound good and you're going to keep them THEN you could put profigolds on instead and sell the Eichmanns on for almost the price paid for the cable.

Now, you see, I wouldn't do that, as in my experience, the latter (Eichmanns) are sonically superior, so I'd want to retain the use of the best ('sounding') plugs, and sell the inferior ones!

Marco.

[awkwardbydesign]

Very nice! I quite like them. I hope they use man-made fibres else you could get moth or other creatures in your cables!

Polypropylene, I think. And I didn't go and buy any more today cos it was cold and raining. I'm nesh, me.

[Audio Advent]

That's a rather novel (and valid) way of looking at it



Now, you see, I wouldn't do that, as in my experience, the latter (Eichmanns) are sonically superior, so I'd want to retain the use of the best ('sounding') plugs, and sell the inferior ones!

Marco.

It's what hifi on a budget it all about. Well ok, I'm not really on a tight budget as such and sometimes spend too much but I still try to make sure the asset value down the line is at least the same as what I bought it for... Just say NO to depreciation!

Neutric ProFi are not a bad idea to be honest - I like their sensible sprung earth collar idea, connecting earth first and last when plugging them in and out. Apparently, technically, doing so with a regular phono could damage some equipment by creating a voltage somewhere innadvertanly (someone technical, perhaps John Westlake? said so on a forum once..).

But in terms of feel in use and feel of quality, black Eichmans or KLEs are great (the original blues appear to use a softer plastic and aren't so nice).

I'm not into "the sound of plugs" ... I've bigger degrees of sonic change to spend my time on I'm sure!

[Marco]

It's what hifi on a budget it all about. Well ok, I'm not really on a tight budget as such and sometimes spend too much but I still try to make sure the asset value down the line is at least the same as what I bought it for... Just say NO to depreciation!

Lol... I get that, but I prefer to operate along the lines of trying to get it right in the first place, then you won't need to sell it on, and thus worry about depreciation!

For me, the equipment will always simply be a means to an end; the end being to enjoy music, not arse around with the gear. It's probably why the key components in my system have remained virtually unchanged for years... A' box-swapper' I am not. These days, I tend to just tinker with the 'infrastructure'.

I'm not into "the sound of plugs" ... I've bigger degrees of sonic change to spend my time on I'm sure!

Absolutely, but for me (at the stage my system's at now), it's all 'icing on the cake', and so cumulatively, all the 'subtle little improvements', such as those obtained from the use of certain types of plugs, all add up!

It's interesting to note that some friends, who are into music/hi-fi and know my system well, but live far away, and so only visit around once or twice a year, completely unprompted, generally always comment about how the system has improved (often significantly) since their last visit - yet all the 'boxes' and speakers remain unchanged.....

Getting, what I call your 'system infrastructure' right (stands, mains, cables, etc), outside of course of using inherently good gear in the first place, is where the real magic lies. In my experience, it can often mean the difference between having merely a good system, and a great one.

Marco.