Advice request - My first hifi system - CABLES

[Premier]

Hello Community,

regarding the cables from amp to speaker, are there any best-buy you would recommend?

What are the must-have materials and the charateristics that do matter and improve the quality, in order to avoid those with marginal or not-audible effectivness?

What would be a reasonable anf fair price per meter?

As usual, many thanks for your advice!

 

[DSJR]

You're on the wrong site if you're thinking about 'sound quality' of cables, as if they're properly specified for the job, they'll do it without adding, altering or taking anything away!

In the UK, I use Van Damme for interconnects and also rate Mogami extremely highly! Sonic difference is in the looks and cachet of the two brands, the former regarded as too cheap to be really good and the latter being favoured on UK forums as well as pro circles for many years... There's a UK source here selling well put together Van Damme RCA interconnects for under twenty quid typically and they supplied for a tenner the pair, some 25cm terminated lengths I wanted. I've also been known to use an Amazon Basics RCA and RCA - 3.5mm interconnect to advantage... My ears definitely ain't all they were (and then some, sadly), but I feel I can still hear recording and production differences easily, so feel the cables aren't getting in the way at all, whatever the price or appearance (SO many audiophiles 'listen' and judge with their eyes it baffles me!).

Speaker cables can be a right bloody rip off. The wire that broke the spell for me years ago being the Linn K10, which worked 'and sounded' great with plenty of other amps and speakers. The very same cable, it seems, can be got cheap from Amazon UK as 'Kabeldirekt' in the 2.5mm gauge. I have twin 5m runs of the 1.5mm gauge for use with a vintage micro system I was given and it's great to use with bright clean copper! For use in a more powerful system, the 2.5mm and especially the 4mm type should be all you'd need.

Be warned about subjectivist forum opinions, as price tags, looks and brand-cachet rule more than any sonic qualities I discovered after many years, not that they'd agree of course I once had a Krell power amp and had to sell it due to heat reasons in the only space I could house it. The entire time I had it, I was constantly wondering if my basically transparent preamp was 'good enough' and the wires used 'posh enough,' despite their good quality of ingredients and characteristics (which judge all cables) being fine for purpose.

In the US, I gather Blue-Jeans cables are well chosen and good quality regardless of selling price or appearance.

The above ain't what audiophiles like to hear and I have to say that in my case, I thank the good Lord that I'm off that treadmill now.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

cables from amp to speaker

This is just about the least critical aspect of any system. This connection has very low impedance and audio frequencies are very limited in range and very low on the overall frequency spectrum. The upshot of this is that only relevant characteristic is resistance, which correlates closely with conductor material (usually copper) and diameter (AKA "gauge"). Everything else is cosmetic and/or marketing hoopla. The general wisdom in that respect is that 14 or 16 (for runs of less than 3 meters) AWG "speaker wire" -- which is essentially no different than unjacketed AC mains cable from the local hardware emporium -- is more than adequate for the vast majority of home audio applications involving passive loudspeakers.

 

[Speedskater]

Two simple rules:
1] Short cables can be thinner than long cables.
2] Loudspeakers with demanding impedance curves need thicker cables than loudspeakers with benign loudspeaker impedance curves.

 

[ZolaIII]

AWG 10 OFC 3~5 $\€/m cable only. Required super ability is that they don't get hot when you drive speakers hard.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Zip cord from the hardware store. 14 AWG is overkill for some situations but is harmless. 16 AWG is harmless for short runs. Wire actually is wire.

 

[DWPress]

What are the must-have materials and the charateristics that do matter and improve the quality,

Make sure there are no shorts in the IC's and they are appropriate gauge for the given length needed.

That's all.

 

[alex-z]

For analogue audio you care about 20-20000Hz. This is great because with such low frequencies you don't need to worry about special low inductance or low capacitance cables.

Additionally your cable lengths are usually short in residential audio. This means you can run relatively high gauge aka thin cables and not have a significant signal loss.

14 gauge OFC (oxygen free copper) can be purchased for as little as 27 cents per foot. The only time I would recommend anything more expensive is in-wall or underground installations, for additional fire or corrosion resistance.

Amazon.com

 

[Bruce Morgen]

OFC (oxygen free copper)

"OFC" is a marketing scam. All copper extruded into electrical wire is more than "OFC" enough for audio.

 

[30 Ounce]

Blue Jeans Cables are well made no nonsense cables at a reasonable price.

Stereo Cables at Blue Jeans Cable

 

[DVDdoug]

I have "zip cord" (16AWG, I think) from the hardware store (or maybe it was Radio Shack a million years ago).

OFC isn't important but watch-out for "CCA" (copper clad aluminum). Aluminum has higher resistance so it takes thicker wire (lower gauge) for the same resistance as regular "pure" copper.

 

[terryforsythe]

What are the must-have materials and the charateristics that do matter and improve the quality, in order to avoid those with marginal or not-audible effectivness?

Speaker cables only become marginally important for long cable runs. The longer the run, the heavier the gauge should be to keep the resistance low enough to have negligible impact.

Long ago we tested different types of speaker wire, some very inexpensive and some very expensive, with short cable runs, about 2.5m if I remember correctly (it was in the early 90's). It was not blind testing, so take it with a grain of salt. But, we heard NO audible difference.

Another time we wired a fairly large line array speaker with very expensive speaker wire. We compared it to another unit wired with the standard inexpensive wire we typically used. Again, NO audible difference. But, again, it was not a blind test, so take it with a grain of salt.

What may matter is aesthtics if the speaker cables will be seen. I just use copper speaker wire (NOT copper clad aluminum) I buy off of Amazon and sleeve it. There are a lot of colors available for sleeving. I use white sleeving with white unmarked heat shrink.

EDIT: Also, for in-wall cable runs I use CL2 rated speaker cable. Again, from Amazon.

 

[boxerfan88]

Cables are cables, range from cheap zip cord to expensive exotics. For speaker cables, buy a decent diameter cable like AWG 14 or 16, well terminated. Anyways for this hobby, buy what makes you happy, even if they are exotics. No need to succumb to pressure to buy zip cord cables. (Flame suit on)

 

[Chrispy]

Always a good site to review on the subject http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

[alex-z]

"OFC" is a marketing scam. All copper extruded into electrical wire is more than "OFC" enough for audio.

You are technically correct, but OFC is widespread terminology. If you just search for generic speaker wire a good portion of it will be copper clad aluminium instead, and have significantly higher resistance as a result.

 

[Chrispy]

You are technically correct, but OFC is widespread terminology. If you just search for generic speaker wire a good portion of it will be copper clad aluminium instead, and have significantly higher resistance as a result.

It's (OFC) widespread in audio cables, not much else . ETP (electrolytic tough pitch) is more common and is still 99.9% copper. CCA (copper clad aluminum) you do have to watch out for from some sellers, though (and aside from some flexibility issues still works but generally have to get larger gauge/diameter to compensate).

 

[Bruce Morgen]

You are technically correct, but OFC is widespread terminology. If you just search for generic speaker wire a good portion of it will be copper clad aluminium instead, and have significantly higher resistance as a result.

Having never encountered said aluminum product presented as "speaker wire," I'll just have to take your word for that.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Always a good site to review on the subject http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

Roger -- R.I.P. -- is my oracle on this issue. He was also a great guy with whom I had several cordial e-mail exchanges.

 

[Speedskater]

In the 'home theater' section of many big-box stores, you may see Copper Clad Aluminum loudspeaker cables.
Often with old major brand names.

 

[Chrispy]

Having never encountered said aluminum product presented as "speaker wire," I'll just have to take your word for that.

Some of the lowest price speaker wire at Amazon will be CCA....