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Stereophile and Audio Cables

Why would you *move speakers* based on genre?
Not necessarily move, but change what speakers you use. Different engineers and producers also sometimes have strong opinions about what speakers to use.
 
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.
Mogami 36 series are molded cables in the $12.00 range for 3ft. Still more than Amazon Basics, but they have a quality feel and the sound is everything you could possibly hope for.
Mogami 36 Series.jpgMogami %22action shot%22.jpg
 
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Was using QED 79 Classic for almost 2 years. Out of curiosity I bought a pair of used Chord Clearway X speaker cables. It did sound better.
 
Was using QED 79 Classic for almost 2 years. Out of curiosity I bought a pair of used Chord Clearway X speaker cables. It did sound better.
For many years I used a stereo aux cord between an Airport Express and a Fostex PC/1e volume controller with a couple of Dynaco MKIV amps. At one point I switched from a Radio Shack aux cord to a nicely made Ghentaudio one with Canare wire and the difference was immediately striking. Richer and more dynamic. Switching back and forth after that I never again heard a difference. There's probably a term for that phenomenon.
 
For many years I used a stereo aux cord between an Airport Express and a Fostex PC/1e volume controller with a couple of Dynaco MKIV amps. At one point I switched from a Radio Shack aux cord to a nicely made Ghentaudio one with Canare wire and the difference was immediately striking. Richer and more dynamic. Switching back and forth after that I never again heard a difference. There's probably a term for that phenomenon.
I think the accepted term is "confirmation bias".
 
I think what matters most is it sounds better to me for just $40.
Yes, that is what matters most *to you*. That is what "subjective" means. It doesn't necessarily have any correlation with a more general, objectively verifiable reality.
 
I think what matters most is it sounds better to me for just $40.
Livin’ the dream! I generally prefer pro audio based cables for various reasons that are important to me. Also crimped and overmolded vs soldered, although that’s not a rigid thing. Most are soldered right now. My system only requires five signal cables and short runs at that, but they are well in view so aesthetics figures in. What the heck, it’s a hobby.
 
I started buying OehIbach NF14 years ago - while still in the 'cables matter’ camp. I insist I never ‘burned them in'! Prices were/still are not crazy.

I continue to buy them for aesthetics reasons and for uniformity. Also because I cannot stand cheap looking stuff. Same with tools. Even if it’s performing technically equal I’d choose quality.
It’s a hobby and the looks are part of that - for me.
 
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Long thread, I only tried to get the “flavor of it” by some skimming.

My story:

I’m now in the cables won’t add anything, but they can take away camp.

My system was run with various rca cables I had picked up over the years. Thrift stores, brick and mortar stores, online stores, etc.

Always sounded fine to me. Little “ssss” here and there, but its all vintage equipment so I felt it would only ever be so “quiet”. But I always had a lower reading on the left channel. For whatever you think if the absolute number they display, the trend was lower output on the left channel on my Sansui's wpc meters and a corresponding lower trend on the et70 vu meter I have in the system. Not a lot, but just enough to notice it one the needle gauges. I always just chalked it up to the dc offsets in the Sansui as the left channel was difficult to get set properly. Just very fussy and I ended up getting to a mean around the numbers stared in the service manual.

A few weeks ago I decided to redo all the interconnects. Mainly just for looks because I’m not planning to ever change anything again and as far as I could tell, everything was working as well as it could.

The cables I did DIY because I wanted custom lengths. I also wanted “affordable” because I needed to make a lot of them and being retired puts some “hard to ignore” budgetary limitations on you.

I ended up buying a couple packs of wbt “clones” and some “monoprice” mic wire on a bulk spool.

Set up and started measuring and soldering:

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They certainly look impressive, but most of that wire thickness is rubber:

IMG_7884.jpeg


But 97.5% shielded and its all copper (ofc if you believe their claim) so it worked for me. Especially at the price they were asking for the spool.

When I got it all installed and hit power (cd source), it sounded a little different. Not as in the sound quality, but the left to right balance.

Watching the wpc and vu meter needles revealed they were now running even. Well, they did reflect the left/right choice of the sound engineer for the particular passage, but the overall left channel lower trend was gone.

About $320 bucks and my labor to make around 170 feet of rca interconnect cables and dead silent (or at least no increases I could notice). So thats somewhere around $1.90- 2 bucks a foot, if I don’t account for my time.

Even a small noise floor “hum” I had on one of the turntables was reduced to the point it was mostly inaudible.

Obviously, even though the removed cables metered fine, I had introduced some defect or imbalance somehow with all the various brands and types of interconnects.

Hence, I still don’t believe cables can add anything to the sound (expensive or not), but I do think they can ”take away” if you’re not careful with the installation of them.

Expensive rca cables? Nope, don’t need any of that thank-you-very-much.

:)
 
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Are those real WBT connectors? If so -- one could buy a very respectable complete hifi for what a quad of them costs! :eek:
 
Are those real WBT connectors? If so -- one could buy a very respectable complete hifi for what a quad of them costs! :eek:
The WBT-0144 are quite affordable
 
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EDIT: According to the internet, the 144 has been replaced by the 114, above.
Or, of course, knock-offs will be cheaper. :oops:
 
The WBT-0144 are quite affordable

I had a cable with those. They look nice and are well made, but I found them really annoying to use. They have a "clutch" mechanism and you're supposed to tighten them onto the RCA socket, but they are quite bulky and can be really fiddly to fit if the sockets on the back of the equipment are close together.

I prefer Neutrik, or Amphenol:

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I had a cable with those. They look nice and are well made, but I found them really annoying to use. They have a "clutch" mechanism and you're supposed to tighten them onto the RCA socket, but they are quite bulky and can be really fiddly to fit if the sockets on the back of the equipment are close together.

I prefer Neutrik, or Amphenol:

View attachment 426010 View attachment 426011
I use the ones on the left, FWIW. Inexpensive but of respectable quality. A little tricky for fat-fingered me to wire, up, but I've gotten incrementally better at it. :facepalm:

EDIT: Apropos of @wadude's post below: the cable, by the way, is a Mogami product. I forget of which specific cable I bought a good length, but it was the cheapest per foot. It is, in fact, (and in full disclosure) sold as a microphone cable (two conductors plus a shield) -- it is nice and supple.


 
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Mogami (w2552 and w2314, 27awg) or, a while ago, Canare, wire with Neutrik NYSxxx RCAs for me. 12awg Belden for speakers, bare wire connections. Stock power cords. My power grid is an extension cord from True Value. My audio rack is from a wire shelving site online with some raw fir planks.
 
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