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Stereophile article on speaker wire measurements

Wes

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Edit says:
"..Testing the RF transmission of Kimber Kable, up to 3GHz, at Ben Duncan Research Labs, in 2008. .."

Impressive to test a speaker kabel at 3GHz. But i dont see why i schould care how the kabel performs at 3GHz?

Do you have a pet dolphin?
 

MakeMineVinyl

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ATI amplifiers proudly pass 3GHz for all those users who use them for radio transmitter finals.
 

phoenixdogfan

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Edit says:
"..Testing the RF transmission of Kimber Kable, up to 3GHz, at Ben Duncan Research Labs, in 2008. .."

Impressive to test a speaker kabel at 3GHz. But i dont see why i schould care how the kabel performs at 3GHz?
Well if you work for Seti, maybe.
 

North_Sky

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Where they looking for broken wires?
...Invisible to the eyes but not to measurements?
 

Daverz

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I think its funny that anyone that believes the difference in quality speaker cables, doesn't do the most obvious test of all, measure the speakers. If the cable sounds different, the speaker output must be different. But they measure the cable because the inaudible differences pertaining to gauge, metals and twisting difference, can be shown. If they actually compared a reference speakers measurements using different cables they'd find nothing (ok, maybe they'd find a .001 db difference at 20,000 Hz using 10 meters of cable).

Well, a lot of measurable electrical differences would go away, because microphones are noisy and lacking in precision. On the other other hand, rooms are noisy, and a lot of the measurements we fuss over have no effect on what we actually hear.
 

tomtoo

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ATI amplifiers proudly pass 3GHz for all those users who use them for radio transmitter finals.

Thats cool than you can use the amp, the speaker cabel and your sattelite dish to send on the h-line to aliens! ;)
 
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A800

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Stereophool would be more adequate...
 

Spocko

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Sadly, the listening room's dry wall's low frequency absorption/reflection properties have a more audible impact on the listener than any cable/wire design differences. It's amazing Stereophile has not researched the effect of drywall design and opposing wall angles on the listening experience before measuring minute electrical disturbances. It's like the audiophile with giant floor standing $50,000 speakers placed in a tiny room looking for the right cables to help him tone down his bass.
 

Wes

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I was looking for my car keys under a street light the other day and this guy was nice enough to help. After a few hours he seemed to get frustrated and exclaimed "Are you SURE yo lost them right here?"

I told him "No - over there." and he got really excited, yelling out "Why look here???"

I calmly explained to him that it was dark over there.
 

dualazmak

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Hello friends,

I am using so many SP cables and XLR cables in my multi-channel project, and these very reasonably priced ones are just perfectly fine;
WS000674.JPG

I decided never to use banana plugs but always to use Y-lugs R-lugs as shown above. After my 30-year try-and-error journey, now I definitely believe that these very cheap tin plated pure copper Y-lugs and R-lugs are the best terminal-contact solution since rather soft metal tin plate effectively increases the contact surface area when tightly connected.
 

maty

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YouTube Do Audiophile Cables Matter? Here's PROOF! by Danny Richie



Some of you already know about my obsession with dirt in the electrical supply, my problems with the continuous one in mains, the RF / EMI interference via cables and the special care in the boxes that include class D amplifiers, but those are other stories.

I have an old thread in Audiocircle that maybe can interest you:
If I modify the crossover of my modified KEF Q100, I will change the internal wiring for Canare 4S11. And new DIY speaker cables with Neutrik SpeakOn connectors and Canare 4S11 too.

For now I have Kimber Kable 8PR, that I found cheaper about ten years ago in a professional audio shop and I could not resist.
 
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SimpleTheater

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I'm not clear if you're Danny Richie or someone else is and you're just sharing it.

The video doesn't show anything except for ways of making a better antennae. You could take the same cable and twist it and you'll get better/worse reception depending on how you twist it around. Not sure why anyone would try to equate an antennae with sound differences in cables.
 

Speedskater

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The video doesn't show anything except for ways of making a better antennae. You could take the same cable and twist it and you'll get better/worse reception depending on how you twist it around. Not sure why anyone would try to equate an antennae with sound differences in cables.
Because while we may label them speaker cables or power cables or interconnect cables, they all can act as interference antennas! Retired Audio Engineering Society EMI/RFI expert wrote that twisting a cable can significantly reduce it's susceptibility to interference.
 

maty

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I'm not clear if you're Danny Richie or someone else is and you're just sharing it.

The video doesn't show anything except for ways of making a better antennae. You could take the same cable and twist it and you'll get better/worse reception depending on how you twist it around. Not sure why anyone would try to equate an antennae with sound differences in cables.

maty != Danny Richie

I have shorter hair, at least today. I just like to eat cookies and do not eat earth planners :)
 
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Feanor

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Possibly the fancy-dancy cables have significantly high inductance than the lighter, cheaper cord; this would reduce transmission of EMI/RFI possibly to the extent the shown on the tuner signal strength meter. However inductance isn't really an issue with speaker cable. See this comment at Blue Jeans Cable ... https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm
 

phoenixdogfan

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Sadly, the listening room's dry wall's low frequency absorption/reflection properties have a more audible impact on the listener than any cable/wire design differences. It's amazing Stereophile has not researched the effect of drywall design and opposing wall angles on the listening experience before measuring minute electrical disturbances. It's like the audiophile with giant floor standing $50,000 speakers placed in a tiny room looking for the right cables to help him tone down his bass.
OMG, you're the TV reviewer on Youtube! Btw, "the audiophile with giant floor standing $50,000 speakers placed in a tiny room looking for the right cables to help him tone down his bass." sounds exactly like the late Harry Pearson who had one or another version of a full Infinity IRS Series whatever in his 12 x 14 foot living room in SeaCliff NY as his reference system all throughout the 1980's and 90's.
 
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Inner Space

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Sadly, the listening room's dry wall's low frequency absorption/reflection properties have a more audible impact on the listener than any cable/wire design differences ...

Thanks, Spocko. How amazing to see drywall mentioned specifically. I find it a real problem - the repeated 8' x 16" "drum skins" combined with the slight "quack" of their flexing don't help at all. But drywall is often required by fire codes, so I back mine with 1/2" construction plywood, and I find the two-layer combination is a huge improvement. Relatively cheap to do, too.
 
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