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Thread: What type of cable has the biggest impact on SQ?

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jul 2013

    Location: Kingsbury, NW London

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    I'm Clive.

    Default What type of cable has the biggest impact on SQ?

    First of all this is NOT a cable discussion as such. I would be interested to know what area of cables have the biggest influence on SQ. will it be 1. Speaker, 2. Analogue interconnect or 3. Digital Interconnect.

    Let’s not get bogged down by one cable being better than the other for sound quality, price or which type of plug is used.
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  2. #2
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

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    I'm Geoff.

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    Each of the three cable types have varying effects on the sound. The perfect cable has none, but unfortunately it doesn't exist.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Apr 2018

    Location: South East Cornwall

    Posts: 322
    I'm Dominic.

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    I was pondering on this very subject yesterday afternoon and it is not an easy one to untangle.

    I don't think you could come to a firm conclusion about which cable would provide the biggest benefit, because of what is either upstream or downstream (in cable terms) of the cable you have just installed.

    For example, if your worst cable is the speaker cable, then that will most likely mask the full benefits of an interconnect or digital cable swap. Conversely, an upgrade high performance speaker cable will show up the deficiencies of cables upstream of it, but as you add "better" cables upstream the effects will be rendered more clearly in that scenario.

    I still say an upgrade power cord gives the best bang for buck though
    CD player = Marantz CD6006
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    Power amp = ADA PF201
    Speaks = Quadral Chromium Style 6

  4. #4
    Join Date: May 2018

    Location: Woking

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    I'm Chris.

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    As above a bad cable be it speaker/interconnect/power etc is going to hold your system back.

    It also depends how far along the spectrum you begin. For example if you are going from belwire to a mid range speaker cable, there is going to be a jump in quality. But buying say a £2000 interconnect and using that same mid range speaker cable you probably won't achieve the same "jump" up in quality even though you have spent significantly more. The quality may have increased but probably not in as significant amount.

    My point is all the cables should probably be within a similar budget scale be that cheap or expensive.

    It's all about system synergy (good point about blowing up your amp Rothwell) and value to you the user.

    For example some speakers like a high/low capacitance cable, some more/less resistance etc.

    However I must concur with nonuffin that for me, a relatively small investment in some good power cables makes the biggest difference.

    All things being equal (quality and budget wise) I'd say get a good power cable and see what you think.

    Hopefully that helps . . . somewhat.

  5. #5
    Join Date: May 2018

    Location: Woking

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    I'm Chris.

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    Probably could have just condensed that entire post into saying . . . . Power Cable.

    Apologies for over explanation of concepts I'm sure you all know!

  6. #6
    Join Date: May 2018

    Location: Woking

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    I'm Chris.

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    Different strokes I guess. Like a lot of things system dependent.

    In my system I can swap some good speaker cable for budget stuff and still enjoy the experience.

    If I do that same with my power cables the drop in SQ is more noticeable. IC's I don't hear a huge difference between mid range and budget. Some, not much.

    Maybe I hear more difference in the power cables as I have a tube rectified amp. Maybe it doesn't make as much difference with SS gear.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Seaton, Devon, UK

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    I'm Adrian.

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    Well i am not actually going to exactly answer your question, but after 40 years of playing around with music systems of various quality with analogue and digital inputs I have a sensible view point, I believe.

    Firstly Turntable to Amp/Preamp, anything that impedes the signal here or colours it will the get amplified down the system until it pops out the speakers. It is worth paying attention to the impedance of the cartridge ie. 30ohms or less, 30-100ohms and then higher for moving magnet, if the moving coil cartridge is around 30ohms opt for a 30ohms or leas lead. What it is constructed of will depend on what your budget is and what quality of cartridge you have, if you put a budget cable onto a £1000 cartridge then you are unlikely to get a good result. Having said that there are some very good low end cables out there which to better you would need to spend lots of cash.

    CD player stereo leads to amp, generally I find that most cables give good results, I have tried upper end cables on my Meridian and found little improvement.

    Digital interconnect to amp whether coax or optical. Personally I have found that high end cables make little difference in end result, its a digital signal after all and unless you have really poor connections or a magnet next to it then it is unlikely to get corrupted. So I would opt for a sensibly price one.

    Interconnects between phono amps, pre-amps and power amps. Once again choose cables that have an appropriate rating for the job in hand. Do they make a difference, yes they can, especially phono to pre-amp. In my experience they can colour the end result so it is important to find one that works well with your pre-amp to power amp setup. One thing to note is that I have found that pure silver cables can result in a harness in sound, I have no idea why this can be. IMO good clean connections can also be very important to ensure good signal path.

    Now we come to the speaker cables issue. Do they make a difference, well yes they do, and is it a big difference? Well this really depends upon the listener, in my experience readably priced cables will sound fine for most. However if you sit down and listen carefully without distractions and want to experience the sound stage, depth and warmth of the music then speaker cable can alter these. My rule of thumb has been that reasonably priced single core copper speaker cables generally perform well and will give good bass response and sound stage(assuming speakers are up to it and set up correctly to maximise performance). Pure silver (and I have some that I used to use) can open up the sound stage but IMO can give rise to a slight emphasis to the top end frequencies, but with the right speakers can work well. I in fact use silver plated copper which are twisted and are shielded, they are not cheap but I have found that they have worked well with 4 different pairs of loud speakers ranging from around £500 to £6000 a pair. However to hear the difference between a reasonably priced single core copper speaker cable and these then you need to be listening for it. So if you are a casual listener and have lower budget equipment then spending £500-600 on speaker cable may not be worthwhile.

    Finally bi-wiring, is it worth it, does it make a difference? Risking being shot down in flames I would say no, I have tried it with several amplifiers and compared it with having single cables to the speakers and very high quality jumpers on the speaker terminals and I have to say I cannot discern a difference.

    So I suppose I have answered your question in a way, all the interconnects can make a difference, digital coax/optical probably the least in my opinion.


    By the way if you don't care about brands the Hi-fi collective do some good cables at reasonable prices.
    Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.

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  8. #8
    Join Date: Dec 2017

    Location: South Africa

    Posts: 13
    I'm Brian.

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    That is a tuff one.. I found the most significant change was using the same brand of cable for all three which gave me the most noticeable improvement, I guess there’s a synergy when using the same brand.

    Best is to lend a few cables and play around.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Apr 2008

    Location: Warrington

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    I'm Neil.

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    Tonearm wiring, and tonearm cables, without a doubt. I have found speaker cables to have more of an impact than interconnects, but there is also the 'whole chain' to consider. For example, LFD gear seems to have a natural synergy with LFD interconnects & LFD speaker cable, YMMV.
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  10. #10
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,856
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by AJSki2fly View Post
    Well i am not actually going to exactly answer your question, but after 40 years of playing around with music systems of various quality with analogue and digital inputs I have a sensible view point, I believe.

    Firstly Turntable to Amp/Preamp, anything that impedes the signal here or colours it will the get amplified down the system until it pops out the speakers. It is worth paying attention to the impedance of the cartridge ie. 30ohms or less, 30-100ohms and then higher for moving magnet, if the moving coil cartridge is around 30ohms opt for a 30ohms or less lead. What it is constructed of will depend on what your budget is and what quality of cartridge you have, if you put a budget cable onto a £1000 cartridge then you are unlikely to get a good result. Having said that there are some very good low end cables out there which to better you would need to spend lots of cash.
    What do you mean by a "30 ohms or less lead"? It can't be the loop resistance of the cable as that would normally be less than 0.1Ohm, and it can't be the characteristic impedance of the cable, since the concept of characteristic impedance doesn't apply at audio frequencies.

    I would agree that the signal output from a moving coil cartridge is very low (less than 1mV) and thus 'delicate', but any good quality well-shielded cable will be acceptable.
    Barry

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