Stereophile and Audio Cables

[DSJR]

Means silly tech? Some audio companies take Poe's law to a whole new level.

Isn't it a play on 'silver tech' or something? Way over-recommended in the 90's, I suspect, like VDH and their carbon conductor based (spark-plug cable?) cables, they've fitted into audiophile folklore as 'good' wires.

I had a smaller (in the range) 'high end' US made amp for a while. It 'sounded' just fine, but nothing 'wow' about it as my speakers weren't a difficult load for which this brand is renowned at driving with ease. I slipped into the mentality that my perfectly good preamps (a mix of passive and active) weren't good enough and that I should shell out loads of money for a good used high-end preamp 'name' to go with it, to do it justice, despite what I have being as transparent as needs be to the signal passing through. Had I rejoined this particular 'club,' my homemade interconnects wouldn't have been judged good enough, so Transparent Audio would have been my choice there - and then of course the speakers would need 'upgrading' to a Sonus Faber or something.. The current owner of said amp has no issues in this way and said amp does its job securely into his awkward-load speakers and just gets on with it! My current main amp is fine and similar 'sounding' into the 6 ohm-ish minimum speakers I'm using right now, as it doesn't have to try to supply oodles of current.

And so it goes on...

 

[neilbardsley]

Any proper measurement on here of cables? I strongly suspect the signal at the end is the same as the signal at the beginning for almost all cables (even if you put other cables close). Perhaps I'm completely missing the point?

 

[neilbardsley]

Bedtime reading

Measurements of speaker cables in frequency and time domain

Measurements of 6m zip-cord speaker cable in frequency and time domain A controversial theme and I would like to contribute with facts only. I have made measurements on my 6m 2x4mm2 speaker cable and wanted to show the effect of the cable in isolation, however with the cable connected in the...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[Blumlein 88]

Go to the review Index.

Master Audio Review Index

www.audiosciencereview.com

Select "audio electronics".
In the box type in "cable".

You'll get a list of 30 cables.

 

[neilbardsley]

Thank you

 

[Sal1950]

I strongly suspect the signal at the end is the same as the signal at the beginning for almost all cables (even if you put other cables close).

@neilbardsley , Welcome to ASR!
You'll find your suspicions highly supported.
The electrical properties needed for the transfer of AC and audio & digital signals has been well known for long time.
Unless something is sadly amiss in a cables design, or it is broken in some way, there should be no such thing as "cable sound"
Live Long and Prosper

 

[Descartes]

Just buy speaker cables from one of the three manufacturers that are used in pro studio recording:
- Mogami
- Canaree
- Belden

I personally bought Mogami W3104 in bulk and made all my speaker cables!

 

[Julf]

Just buy speaker cables from one of the three manufacturers that are used in pro studio recording:
- Mogami
- Canaree
- Belden

I personally bought Mogami W3104 in bulk and made all my speaker cables!

They are mostly used for their mechanical properties - relevant in a studio, less so at home.

 

[Descartes]

They are mostly used for their mechanical properties - relevant in a studio, less so at home.

?
They don’t make any obnoxious claims about the direction of the electrons or any other BS such as companies such as these:

VOODOO LABS - a sound supreme

Audio devices for a sound supreme

voodoolabs.org

 

[Cbdb2]

They are mostly used for their mechanical properties - relevant in a studio, less so at home.

Speaker cables in studios dont get moved, so no. The cables that need mechanical properties are the mic cables, guitar cables and patch cords.

 

[Ste_S]

?
They don’t make any obnoxious claims about the direction of the electrons or any other BS such as companies such as these:

VOODOO LABS - a sound supreme

Audio devices for a sound supreme

voodoolabs.org

Mogami, for example, is still £50 for a 1m RCA cable, Amazon Basics is £6.78. £50 is obviously a lot less than the prices charged for the snake oil cables, but I’d still rather pay for the cable that’s almost 1/10th the price when there’s going to be no difference between them at home.

 

[Julf]

Speaker cables in studios dont get moved, so no. The cables that need mechanical properties are the mic cables, guitar cables and patch cords.

Depends on the studio. I see a lot of constant fiddling and reconfiguration depending on job at hand.

 

[kemmler3D]

?
They don’t make any obnoxious claims about the direction of the electrons or any other BS such as companies such as these:

VOODOO LABS - a sound supreme

Audio devices for a sound supreme

voodoolabs.org

Definitely high quality cable brands but for home use even these 'reasonable' ones might be overkill. I did make some canare cables and can confirm they're very nice mechanically.

 

[rank]

You can buy an RCA cable for $3, the "sound" is the same. For a speaker, 10 m for 4.

 

[Sal1950]

Definitely high quality cable brands but for home use even these 'reasonable' ones might be overkill. I did make some canare cables and can confirm they're very nice mechanically.

For innerconnects and digital transmission cables, paying a bit more for high quality cables from
top brands using Mogami or Canare may be well worth it both in performance and reliability.
Professional connector install may also be a very valuable thing to many.

But IMHO, for something as basic as speaker cable, there are a bunch of very low cost options out there
that will make you happy for decades and decades into the future. For a couple decades now I've looked to the
Sky High Car Audio Cable Company for my wire. Twin lead "zip" style cord from 8 gauge and up, (even 4g maybe?)
with OFC or CCA wire using a very flexible insulation, in various colors. And the price is really right.
If you really want something more purdy, there are all sort of fancy sleeves available.

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

 

[krabapple]

Depends on the studio. I see a lot of constant fiddling and reconfiguration depending on job at hand.

Why would you move the speakers? How could you hope to get consistent mixes doing that?

 

[rank]

And how do you record the drums? I was and helped in the studio, we were moving a whole bunch of cables all the time!

 

[Julf]

Why would you move the speakers? How could you hope to get consistent mixes doing that?

"Consistent mixes" only make sense if you are doing the same kind of stuff all the time. Some studios do everything from acoustic jazz to dance music and soundtracks.

 

[kemmler3D]

"Consistent mixes" only make sense if you are doing the same kind of stuff all the time. Some studios do everything from acoustic jazz to dance music and soundtracks.

Monitor placement has a lot more to do with the physical space than what genre you happen to be mixing. I'm not a professional but I've never heard of studios moving speakers around depending on what they're mixing that day.

 

[krabapple]

"Consistent mixes" only make sense if you are doing the same kind of stuff all the time. Some studios do everything from acoustic jazz to dance music and soundtracks.

Why would you *move speakers* based on genre?