Speaker cable differences

[Gazjam]

Ditto! I am using Nuprime STA-9 power amps in monoblock mode into Magneplanar 1.7 speakers. The speaker cables are 75cm and I will probably shorten them further once I turn a pile of cut 18mm MDF parts into a plinth for the Maggies into which the STA-9s will fit. I recently bought a pair of LyxPro XLR cables from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The sound with the XLRs was cleaner and louder (for any given volume setting) with the XLRs. The already low noise floor seemed to disappear. The LyxPro cables are well made but very cheap. I cannot imagine what i would have paid to get an equivalent pair of RCA interconnects of the same length.

Geoff

Something about XLRs...
Spent a lot of time, effort (and money unfortunately) looking into the best digital hookup to my Dac?

Expensive glass medical opticals, USB's and uber American coaxial cables (Siltec and the like) later...settled on XLR as the best sounding digital connction to my Dac.
And digital ISN'T 1's and 0's....so any old cable wont cut it, 1.5m or otherwise....like most other hifi related things quality will out.

A journey, but I got there.
Just my experience?

Got digital? If you can XLR all the way...

[nthall]

Something about XLRs...
Spent a lot of time, effort (and money unfortunately) looking into the best digital hookup to my Dac?

Expensive glass medical opticals, USB's and uber American coaxial cables (Siltec and the like) later...settled on XLR as the best sounding digital connction to my Dac.
And digital ISN'T 1's and 0's....so any old cable wont cut it, 1.5m or otherwise....like most other hifi related things quality will out.

A journey, but I got there.
Just my experience?

Got digital? If you can XLR all the way...

Does your source output AES, or are you sending spdif over an XLR cable?

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[Gazjam]

Outputs AES

[Yomanze]

Some food for thought: https://www.lifewire.com/speaker-cab...rences-3134603

I'm still sceptical, especially as I don't believe one can hear a low-Q 'resonance' of 0.3dB in amplitude. And I don't think anyone would advocate using 24AWG size cables.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

Interesting, and to expand on this, please see some thoughts from LFD:

---

However, I’ve not talked about the subjective “time response” of single or a multistrand cable.

Which means what exactly?

A: Unfortunately it appears that a single strand cable seems to “ring ” at a particular frequency (related to its diameter) and has a fast decay. Whereas multistrand cables on the other hand, again “rings” at a particular frequency (related to the diameter of the strands), but the ringing is much longer in duration. I believe that neither cable solution is correct, since the fast decay of single strands tends to lead to subjective comments like: tight, fast sound, but not rich or warm. Whereas a multistrand cable can often sound: warm, slow with some smearing. I must point out that copper is much easier to work with, since its subjective “frequency response” is wider than that of silver for comparable single strand conductors. That is why many silver cables appear to sound not quite right, sometimes they might be a little bright or coloured.

---

Full article here: https://audiophiledotwordpressdotcom...versus-copper/

[dimkasta]

It's such pseudo-science that gives cables the nasty reputation.

[Sherwood]

Interesting, and to expand on this, please see some thoughts from LFD:

---

However, I’ve not talked about the subjective “time response” of single or a multistrand cable.

Which means what exactly?

A: Unfortunately it appears that a single strand cable seems to “ring ” at a particular frequency (related to its diameter) and has a fast decay. Whereas multistrand cables on the other hand, again “rings” at a particular frequency (related to the diameter of the strands), but the ringing is much longer in duration. I believe that neither cable solution is correct, since the fast decay of single strands tends to lead to subjective comments like: tight, fast sound, but not rich or warm. Whereas a multistrand cable can often sound: warm, slow with some smearing. I must point out that copper is much easier to work with, since its subjective “frequency response” is wider than that of silver for comparable single strand conductors. That is why many silver cables appear to sound not quite right, sometimes they might be a little bright or coloured.

---

Full article here: https://audiophiledotwordpressdotcom...versus-copper/

Presumably silver coloured and shiny bright!

[dimkasta]

If you want an indication about "coloration" based on brightness, a bright cable colors less.

The filters that cables create are low-pass, since capacitance appears across the wires (not in series with them), and inductance appears in series.

[Yomanze]

It's such pseudo-science that gives cables the nasty reputation.

No, what gives cables the 'nasty reputation' is that no one can scientifically explain why they sound different unless there are wildly different LCR values, or if the amp needs ultra-low capacitance speaker cable (like NVA, early Exposure & Naim). This is why there are many hardened engineers out there who embrace the subjective, and focus on sound quality over theory.

[nthall]

Is that article about piano wire? He's probably right about the 6th nine being a waste.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

[dimkasta]

No, what gives cables the 'nasty reputation' is that no one can scientifically explain why they sound different unless there are wildly different LCR values, or if the amp needs ultra-low capacitance speaker cable (like NVA, early Exposure & Naim). This is why there are many hardened engineers out there who embrace the subjective, and focus on sound quality over theory.

Embracing empirical evidence is something I do myself regularly.
Hardly an engineer (not even close), but I can appreciate how we need to keep an open mind when we cannot explain things that we observe.

It's the guesswork and sprinkling of technical terms that makes me suspicious.
For example, there is no need to put "subjective" before bandwidth. Bandwidth can be measured easily up to many MHz. Same with time response and ringing. If the author talks about something different, then he should not use those terms at all because they are confusing and they only work as marketing.

Claiming that some things cannot be explained is not an arguement. It is a reason not to present an unverifiable hypothesis in the first place.

It is such things that feed the hardcore engineers that need to explain everything with ohm's law.