Songs with great soundstage

[anirbandd]

Rather than use a banana jack and degrade SQ, better to solder coat the wire itself to form a "banana" like hard tip. I use 4% silver solder for this and would never spend $$ on a banana plug that degrades SQ.

--G0bble

sorry for the noob question, but how does banana plug degrade SQ?

i thought of that, but did not pursue it because the diameter of the holes on the binding post on the speakers and amp are much more thicker than what the soldered wire would have been.

 

[sarith]

yes it is the good ol' Armstrong, still going strong Rs 40 per pair.
gold plated [really?] MX banana plaug were there too, but they cost Rs. 180 per pair. Had to let them go.. :\

i tried that, but due to the lack of a table vice or a similar device to hold the hot banana [ :lol: ] i had to lay it down and solder the side slit.

180 for a pair of MX plugs was a good deal imo. About not having a table vice, you could still get the job done with a lil bit of creative (diy) thinking I believe ..A wood piece with a hole, pliers, a thick piece of cloth, helping hand etc

 

[gobble]

sorry for the noob question, but how does banana plug degrade SQ?

i thought of that, but did not pursue it because the diameter of the holes on the binding post on the speakers and amp are much more thicker than what the soldered wire would have been.

You need to clamp it down between the contacts using the screw action of the binding post, not try to use it like another banana Jack.

A banana Jack may not enable the best possible contact and signal transfer between wire and binding post.

G0bble

 

[vkirti]

Bare wire, provided it is sufficiently thick also does a fine job. I think adding a banana plug just introduces another element into the overall picture. Unless it is well made it will definitely degrade the sound.

 

[anirbandd]

180 for a pair of MX plugs was a good deal imo. About not having a table vice, you could still get the job done with a lil bit of creative (diy) thinking I believe ..A wood piece with a hole, pliers, a thick piece of cloth, helping hand etc

180 per pair.. 4 pairs. thats too costly for me at the moment. i'll get them later..

i had nothing to hold the jacks!! i tried asking dad, coz he usually helps me with these things, but he and mom were too busy watching some crap serial. :indifferent14:

 

[anirbandd]

You need to clamp it down between the contacts using the screw action of the binding post, not try to use it like another banana Jack.

A banana Jack may not enable the best possible contact and signal transfer between wire and binding post.

G0bble

the binding post on the amp has provision for insertion of banana plug, so its a nice snug fir on the amp. on the speakers, its just one hole across the diameter, so thats where it needs to be screwed down...

 

[Santy]

I feel this thread is a prime example of complete derailing / OT.
If possible, mods could move all posts from #23 onwards to a new thread if possible.

EDIT: Just saw the OT is triggered by OP only (no offence meant)!
So no harm I guess as long as we don't intend to have a reference thread for Songs with great soundstage.

 

[gobble]

the binding post on the amp has provision for insertion of banana plug, so its a nice snug fir on the amp. on the speakers, its just one hole across the diameter, so thats where it needs to be screwed down...

I was implying that one should ignore the provision and screw it in both places.
Quality 4% solder nicely coated all over the tip is anyday better than a banana plug of dubious composition coated with shiny plating.
Enjoy!

G0bble

 

[jls001]

Bare wire is often recommended instead of using speaker connectors. But I think we need to tamper this recommendation with the fact that copper (most speaker wires are made of copper) tarnishes with exposure to the atmosphere. So you will see that most speaker connectors - whether spade or bananas - of reasonable quality, are gold plated to avoid oxidation in the long run.

Strictly speaking, a solder which is made of tin and lead should degrade the sound quality. By how much, I don't know. But do understand that all your electronics (e.g. CD player and amplifier) have soldering all over the place. So what is a few more grams at the ends of your speaker cables? Besides, the solder that covers the copper wire will stop oxidation.

So, bottomline is:
1) use gold plated spade or banana (as per your convenience). MX has a huge selection. And they are not costly.
2) screw type is easy to make, but reinforce it with a liberal amount of solder to make the connection permanent and prevent oxidation of the copper wire.
3) crimp type is also good but I would still cover the crimped area with solder to make even better contact and also to prevent oxidation.

 

[gobble]

Many years back, I once tried local make rupees 5 pure copper termination, soldered to the speaker wire for a week. I know it is pure copper because some of the spades were greenish like oxidation on copper and I had to select the best ones of the lot.

The SQ really degraded even with a proper solder connection. That 1cm piece of metal at the tip of the speaker wire affected the SQ negatively.

It sounded metallic to the ears like the aftertaste of antibiotics sometimes can be on the tongue. I can't explain why 1 cm of copper affects the SQ down the entire chain - go figure!:indifferent14:

--G0bble

 

[Tanoj]

I was coming an picking up the songs suggested by you all on the good sound stage , but seems like this thread has been hijacked

everyone are talking on off topic , on speaker cables and 1 cm copper etc

I request you to please get back on track, time to go to other thread " best movies " and pick a movie to watch instead

Cheers Happy weekend friends

Tanoj

 

[umapati]

Try soundtrack of :
1-Swadesh
2-Lagaan
3-Pukar (A.R.Rehman)
4-Zubeida (A.R.Rehman)

Awesome albums to test your Music set up..

 

[anirbandd]

I feel this thread is a prime example of complete derailing / OT.
If possible, mods could move all posts from #23 onwards to a new thread if possible.

EDIT: Just saw the OT is triggered by OP only (no offence meant)!
So no harm I guess as long as we don't intend to have a reference thread for Songs with great soundstage.

okay yeah.. i did it.

i have no issues if only the relevant posts are kept here and other OT posts are moved to another thread..

 

[IanU]

For Sound Stage these ones are good:

Doug MacLeod; There's a time (HD Tracks or as LP Reference Recordings)

Minnesota Orchestra; Symphonic Dances (Linn or as LP Reference Recordings)

Carmen Gomes Inc.; Thousand Shades of Blue (Sound Liaison)

Andre Heuvelman; After Silence ( Sound Liaison)

links: Sound Liaison; Music Store
Linn Records - The best recordings in Studio Master Download, Vinyl and SACD
Homepage | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads
Reference Recordings Complete Audiophile Classical Music Orchestra and Jazz HDCD Catalog

 

[arj]

Bare wire is often recommended instead of using speaker connectors. But I think we need to tamper this recommendation with the fact that copper (most speaker wires are made of copper) tarnishes with exposure to the atmosphere. So you will see that most speaker connectors - whether spade or bananas - of reasonable quality, are gold plated to avoid oxidation in the long run.

Strictly speaking, a solder which is made of tin and lead should degrade the sound quality. By how much, I don't know. But do understand that all your electronics (e.g. CD player and amplifier) have soldering all over the place. So what is a few more grams at the ends of your speaker cables? Besides, the solder that covers the copper wire will stop oxidation.

So, bottomline is:
1) use gold plated spade or banana (as per your convenience). MX has a huge selection. And they are not costly.
2) screw type is easy to make, but reinforce it with a liberal amount of solder to make the connection permanent and prevent oxidation of the copper wire.
3) crimp type is also good but I would still cover the crimped area with solder to make even better contact and also to prevent oxidation.

Totally +1 on all of the above
i prefer gold Spades anyday tightened well.

On great soundstages , other than what Staxxx has mentioned around Jazz on the Pawnshop i find Roger Waters whole album of Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking if well setup it goes meters behind and beyond the speakers


If you want to test Bass handling + Soundstage, try Reptile from Eric claptons reptile. if the bass is Boomy then there is a room/speaker placement problem

And if you want soundstage + bass depth Eric Claptons unplugged is good the sound i pretty natural and there is a 25 Hz bass drum in most tracks. only a true full range system will let you hear that and once you hear it , cannot hear it without it !.

 

[arj]

For Sound Stage these ones are good:

Doug MacLeod; There's a time (HD Tracks or as LP Reference Recordings)

Minnesota Orchestra; Symphonic Dances (Linn or as LP Reference Recordings)

Carmen Gomes Inc.; Thousand Shades of Blue (Sound Liaison)

Andre Heuvelman; After Silence ( Sound Liaison)

links: Sound Liaison; Music Store
Linn Records - The best recordings in Studio Master Download, Vinyl and SACD
Homepage | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads
Reference Recordings Complete Audiophile Classical Music Orchestra and Jazz HDCD Catalog

Great recommendations IanU. thanks for that. I have found all reference recordings to be good and they have so many of Eiji Oui and the Minnesota Orchestra

 

[crosstalk]

These are good:

4 Pcs Nakamichi Speaker Banana Plug Connector 24K Gold 4mm 110 | eBay

 

[nosortf]

AMUSED TO DEATH.
You really want to know if your system has balls?
Get a 25' diameter 3/4 hemisphere soundscape on this album with
a 30db dynamic range, then you know that you have arrived.

 

[spirovious]

These are good:

4 Pcs Nakamichi Speaker Banana Plug Connector 24K Gold 4mm 110 | eBay

I have used 2 types of these.Both sounds sharp to my ears. Monoprice banana plugs sounds much better than those.

 

[nosortf]

Malaysian airways thread. Where has it disappeared?:lol: