Hi-End Speaker Cables

Hi Jls001

Magnet wire is what is used in transformer wiring. You can use it with the enamel. No problems there. The Vampire I think is ohno copper but I am not very sure. If you google it you should be able to get it. Never tried gold plated silver. No idea how it sounds. My gut feel is it will be warmer sounding. Also probably a tad bit slower. But it's just a guess.

What i like about silver is oxidation does not degrade the sound.
 
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1. I think OP has no idea , whats happening with his thread
2. No cable believer has jumped in till now with his arguments.
3. People believe in miracles, that is the reason cable business is thriving . for example- lot of people in our forum has cables expensive than their source..like DAC, CD player , TT .
and this miracle ,human psychology has been exploited by so called audio consultants...
 
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Hi Dheerajin

Although I normally recommend magnet wire or cat cables or 24 gauge solid core if DIY and Mogami or Anticables if one wants to go branded, i personally use expensive cables:)
 
Though late in the life of this thread, let me also chip in with an actionable recommendation: use the Mogami 3103 speaker cable. About US$ 2.85 per feet. 12 AWG, copper stranded. Sounds very, very good in my setup. Available from Redco.

Second choice is Belden 5T00UP. I don't have personal experience with this cable but going by lots of positive user experiences, it has to be good. Available from Blue Jeans Cable. This is 11 AWG stranded copper.
 
Im planning to make pure gold cables, I have put my car for sale on Olx. Once the car gets sold, I will get the cables done. I will write a detailed review on that soon.. wait and watch ;)
 
Im planning to make pure gold cables, I have put my car for sale on Olx. Once the car gets sold, I will get the cables done. I will write a detailed review on that soon.. wait and watch ;)
If you choose metal- titanium, then you can dry the clothes on it .
I have only one car , otherwise i wud have sold mine too, to join the gold cable band party.
Before putting gold cable dont forget to do satyanarayan katha for good sound blessing.[emoji6] [emoji6]
 
Hi Overkilled

Why would you make gold cables? Isn't the conductivity of gold about 70% of copper?
 
They say copper, silver and gold impart their own sonic signature when used as a conductor. So, a compromise is - why not use an alloy of all three? Vermeil - which is sterling silver (usually silver + copper) coated with gold, seems to many as an acceptable compromise (sonically).

And no one needs to sell their car to buy it too ;-)
 
Hi Keith,
That's what precisely I use for interconnects. A DIYer friend of mine has made a few interconnects for me using silver-copper alloy (solid core). I had to spend very little on these cables and they are more than acceptable, they are actually stellar (I have compared them with expensive cables). For speakers I am currently using cables made by SIva (of Acoustic Portrait). I have no idea what these are made of but I like them more than my previous cables. These are actually from member arj and I am still to pay him for these.

Regards.
 
They say copper, silver and gold impart their own sonic signature when used as a conductor. So, a compromise is - why not use an alloy of all three? Vermeil - which is sterling silver (usually silver + copper) coated with gold, seems to many as an acceptable compromise (sonically).

And no one needs to sell their car to buy it too ;-)
I just re-read what I wrote and it made little sense to me. My excuse is: I was typing it in a noisy environment on my cell phone and was half brain dead. So a rewrite is in order:

They say copper, silver and gold impart their own sonic signature when used as conductors individually. So, a compromise would be - using an alloy of all three. Vermeil - which is sterling silver (usually silver + copper) coated with gold, seems to be to many an acceptable compromise (sonically).

And no one need sell their car to buy it too :)
 
They say..but there is no readable evidence.. After gold, silver or copper..signal is again going into copper wire or aluminium wire inside speakers...then finally signature is amalgamation of many metals...so finally..there is no sonic signature is produced by any metal, only resistance to current . if any one remembers ohm's law..then it would be evident that...by changing metals..it is only imagination that works diffetently..between pamela anderson and sharon stone..
 
People really worry that, even with all that covering, their cables are going to oxidise. The conductivity hit with gold may be worth taking if it means being able to throw off the stress of the oxidation concerns. If people want to go to another level of inertness altogether, I suppose it has to be platinum. I have no clue about its conductivity, but I'm told that it is hard to bend.

Of the bits of metal around my jewellery bench, when that was my hobby (and with nothing but a cheap cassette player to listen to), I seem to remember that the pure silver did not tarnish nearly as much as the 92.5% ("Sterling") silver. If I remember right (again) it is not so much oxidation as reaction with sulphur compounds.

If a person must buy "raw" silver wire, I'd suggest getting it from a wholesaler, not a jeweller. The jeweller may be drawing down his own. That's what I did: buy two or three sizes and make the required size from the nearest. Drawplates. Every time you stop, you get a little hump all round the wire, but without industrial equipment you can't draw down more than a short bit at a time and, hey, skin effect, right? Except, no, not right...
 
But then it isn't CAT-anything any longer.

That's true.

Once one unwinds the twist of a pair from a CATn cable, strip off the teflon insulation (like I did) and run them as per some other geometry like helix, litz braid or parallel, it is no longer CATn.

What I was trying to convey was that the solid core strands from a CAT6 cable are of good quality, of appropriate size for use as analog audio interconnect, and can be creatively repurposed to suit one's needs.

CAT6, BTW, is used for digital audio, as is without any change, by the Axia Telos Omnia company for carrying digital audio over ethernet cables using proprietary IP-like protocol. It provides amazing flexibility. Other OEMs have started adopting their technology. The advantage of this system is that a single ethernet cable is needed to wire up even a reasonably large studio console (say 24 tracks, though in theory it can support much, much more). If it were done in the analog domain, it would need to be wired up with 2x the number of tracks.
 
They say copper, silver and gold impart their own sonic signature when used as conductors individually.

They do. Even tin, nickel and rhodium do. To my ears, rhodium sounds a bit on the colder and clinical side of things. Gold livens up proceedings nicely while remaining warm. I don't even remember the signature of my balanced silver cable, but it definitely wasn't hot (something silver is often accused of). I find tin harsh, but I have read somewhere that the Japanese master Ken Shindo used tinned copper cables from Belden for his speakers. There is also some underground following of that trend in European forums. Never tried nickel.

Addendum: And then there is the question of stranded versus solid core.

Addendum 2: I think we have sacred away the OP with our incessant chatterings:)


So, a compromise would be - using an alloy of all three. Vermeil - which is sterling silver (usually silver + copper) coated with gold, seems to be to many an acceptable compromise (sonically).

Vermeil is surprisingly cheap. We must try it some day. Isn't Jade Audio's entry level cables vermeil? (though they may not use that term to describe it).
 
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I would like to give my Inputs on Speaker Cables with my personal experience.

I am not sure about Hi-End Cables but let me assure you all that cables makes a huge difference in SQ atleast at my place.

Although I am using a Marantz AVR in Music but with my speakers, cables are making very audible differences. I have tried atleast 6-7 Speaker cables at my end including local cables, MX, Stackfine, Audio Quest and DAC.

All cables were either 14 AWG / 12 AWG OFC and price range varied from Rs.75 / mtr to Rs.300 / mtr. Difference in SQ with different cables were very different. some had extra bass, loose bass, some had ear piercing highs, etc.

Other cables could not match Audio Quest and DAC. Audio Quest is very detailed and clean but too laid back in my system. Recently I got the opportunity to try Banana Plug terminated DAC cable and difference was huge. Perfect Bass and Treble. Link of the cable is given below.

DAC Xtreme 2 Core Bare Copper Two Core OFC Speaker Cable

I am definately not saying that expensive sounds better but DAC @ Rs.300/Mtr sounded much better than Rs.200/mtr Audio Quest and even other Rs.200/Mtr range cables. The same Audio Quest cable at my friends place sounds very reasonable.

Maybe it has to do with System matching but with revealing system, cables make a difference for sure.

So my suggestions is to atleast try some good quality cables which are not very expensive. Even if we can get marginal improvements, such investments are much better than changing the entire system.
 
Difference in SQ with different cables were very different. some had extra bass, loose bass, some had ear piercing highs, etc.
Please don't take this personally, just taking your words as an example.

If differences were this pronounced, and many claim that they are, where are the charts? If manufacturers published them, nobody could argue with the extra-bass or exaggerated highs, it would be a matter of measured fact.

Wouldn't it be nice to see one of these reports accompanied by charts? Not that I'm really asking, because most of us probably feel that we have better things to spend our money on than measurement equipment. It's fine for us not to do this stuff, but if the manufacturers, particularly the "higher" (which simply means more expensive) -end manufacturers not do so means they are just selling us mythology. Mythology can, of course, be amazingly powerful stuff.
 
Sound is very personal. If you hear the difference so be it. Do not care what others say. Remember, no high end cable manufacturer or seller ever charged for defrauding the public. It can only mean, scientifically you cannot disprove cables do not make a difference.

I am only saying the difference in cables can be easily achieved by room treatment and EQ. OTOH, audiophile is a hobby and without these little rituals you will not enjoy your "system".
 
Wouldn't it be nice to see one of these reports accompanied by charts? Not that I'm really asking, because most of us probably feel that we have better things to spend our money on than measurement equipment. It's fine for us not to do this stuff, but if the manufacturers, particularly the "higher" (which simply means more expensive) -end manufacturers not do so means they are just selling us mythology. Mythology can, of course, be amazingly powerful stuff.

I think we will get charts only if there is a feeling that they cannot sell without them. Mfgturers like Naim etc do have lots of specs but they might not be releasing them either because the target audience might not understand them or competitive reasons..or maybe both
But again, In the end, audio is an esoteric hobby. its how once senses feel.
Eg you can get all the specs you want for a BMW/Audi or a Merc. but you need to drive it to get a feel..and different folks have different likings (And Arguments :eek:hyeah: )
 
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