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I have found audiophiles mean different things when they say "speed" with respect to speakers. Often enough when they say it "sounds faster" it can be duplicated by applying a mild boost in the 2~3 kHz octave. That is, "speed" implies greater upper midrange response, but if you turn it up too...

See my answer above. The difference between silver and copper is negligible for the vast majority of applications. The pure silver cables I have used were in a 100+ GHz radar system. The difference in weight and conductivity is not really a consideration between Ag and Cu except in very rare...

No. Long lines are typically Al to save weight, or rather Al with steel reinforcement, never silver that I have seen or heard about. Al has a much higher strength-to-weight ratio, meaning longer lines between supporting towers, and replaced copper early on. Silver would be far too expensive and...

As a user of professional stuff and one who's been in and out of studios and a lot of live rigs I can say Hosa is not the choice of most professionals... Nor are professionals immune to marketing. Edit: And that is a great example of egregious marketing hype.

You chose wisely. :)

It's measurable, yes, but inaudible. The science says you will not be able to distinguish copper from silver cables if the conductor material was the only difference. Marketing (and thus sales) thrives on differences that are insignificant. A common ploy, aside from just the usual marketing...

Both, of course!

A number of amplifiers (not just tube IME) lift the input ground for isolation, stability, and to prevent ground loops (which I could have lumped with "isolation"). I had an expensive (ARC) component that did that, and if you shorted the RCA inputs to chassis ground, it would oscillate. Since...

Note if the silver cable is not coaxial but parallel wires or a twisted pair then noise immunity will suffer compared to Mogami's coax.

Aside: XLR connections, if fully balanced, provide the ability to break a ground loop by lifting the shield at one end of the cable. XLR cables alone do not prevent ground loops. Here is a very brief overview of ground loops (thought I'd expand it one day but never got around to it)...

The OP posted in a previous thread that he (she, it, they, whatever) could tell the difference between silver and copper cables, and preferred silver over copper for tubes and copper for SS. Hopefully this thread is the start of learning why and why not.

I have not tried a Grado (or any cart) in years now. I had a couple way back when. They sounded nice, but did not track well, so I ultimately replaced them with other cartridges.

Higher voltage may yield higher SNR if the larger signal is that much greater than the noise floor. Doubling the signal level (i.e. by 6 dB) yields about 3 dB SNR increase all else equal. In practice the noise floor of DACs today is so low that is not an issue. Higher output usually means higher...

Most audio cables are 75-ohm impedance, but as others have said that only matters for RF frequencies. At audio all that matters is the bulk resistance and capacitance unless you have hundreds or thousands of feet of it between components. It is cheaper for companies to stock just one cable for...

You are welcome. I don't know who "they" are but that's fine. Gain can be before, after, or both places without substantially impacting the sound. I have no idea the preamp's gain; 2 V/V would be 6 dB. There's no good way to determine the average voltage without a lot more information, and to...

Turn down the treble.

Think I'd pull it apart again and go over all solder joints and connections with a fine-tooth comb before it decides to glitch and fry things.

Aside: All voltages are RMS so I am leaving that qualifier off the units (lazy). The attenuator does not "throw away" voltage, assuming the maximum it can handle is well over 1.2 V, it just reduces (attenuates) whatever voltage is applied. But if more than 1.2 V is applied to the power amp, and...

I do not remember ever getting anything except a complete tweeter assembly if you mean they ship just the foil element. Been a while so I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised. Depending on how old they are, Magnepan recommends (or did) replacing both tweeters at the same time. There were some...

Fortunately it's an easy swap. Had to do it many times, and many times for that exact reason (somebody decided to vacuum the speakers). Can do it standing, though I usually laid them down (carefully, on carpet- or blanket-covered boards), then just a matter of removing all the screws, pulling...