AudioCircle
Industry Circles => Salk Signature Sound => Topic started by: supermo26 on 7 Jun 2017, 05:22 pm
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I have a pair of HT2 TL's hooked up with basic speaker wire with no terminal or connectors. If I were to order a set of cables, what type of connector would be best? What are my options?
I tried looking it up on the website but didn't see anything about it.
Is there a connector that is common to most speakers and amps / receivers?
Feel free to recommend an inexpensive, quality cable, especially if they are used and a good deal. :D
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I have a pair of HT2 TL's hooked up with basic speaker wire with no terminal or connectors. If I were to order a set of cables, what type of connector would be best? What are my options?
I tried looking it up on the website but didn't see anything about it.
Is there a connector that is common to most speakers and amps / receivers?
Feel free to recommend an inexpensive, quality cable, especially if they are used and a good deal. :D
Basically, your choices are spades or banana plugs. We use banana plugs here because it is easier to switch speakers quickly. That wouldn't be an issue for you, so spades would also be workable.
I would make sure that the wire is 12 gauge and then simply select spades or banana plugs. You should be just fine.
- Jim
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Feel free to recommend an inexpensive, quality cable, especially if they are used and a good deal. :D
I always find that "inexpensive" is a relative term to audiophiles. IMO, cables made with Canare 4S11 cable are great values. BlueJeans Cable is a well known and respected outfit that offers them in customer lengths and has many connector options. You can also find brands using this cable on Amazon, Ebay, Agon, etc. I use these cables for all my systems and think they're a good value.
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Do Spade and banana connector sound the same?
12 gauge? That will save me some $. I was looking at 10 gauge blue jean cables and used boards. If I find a good deal on 10 gauge, will it be to much for a 6-10 foot cable? Or will 12 gauge sound best?
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I think 12 awg is what Salk recommended because most electrical cable in a homes walls is 12 awg for the entire outlet so that is a reasonable maximum thickness to go with. Also some connectors can't fit thicker than 12 awg. Just my opinion but trying to enhance sound with different wire types or connectors isn't productive. Better to just get decent stuff from a reliable seller like bluejeanscable or signalcable. Banana plugs are easiest and fit better on the back of amps where the ports are all crowded together but on the speaker end there's no reason not to use spades. So you could get a banana plug to spade cable.. its also nice to have a connector covered in plastic because if a plug comes lose the plastic might prevent a short.. just some ideas for you
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Do Spade and banana connector sound the same?
12 gauge? That will save me some $. I was looking at 10 gauge blue jean cables and used boards. If I find a good deal on 10 gauge, will it be to much for a 6-10 foot cable? Or will 12 gauge sound best?
Using Bluejeans cable, won't matter.
http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf
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Using Bluejeans cable, won't matter.
http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf
I picked up some Bluejean banana and spade connectors. Especially for the price, they seem to be excellent quality.
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I prefer locking (compression) banana plugs to insure a good connection and tight fit. Spades take up more space around the binding posts, may not fit (too big/small), encourage over tightening (leading to binding post damage), and can come loose/fall off.
Many here pooh-pooh them, but Audioholics offers good basic advice:
http://www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/speaker-cable-and-audio-interconnects
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I love bjc. and I love audioholics too. some very smart people over there.
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I use blue jeans cables with locking banana plugs with my HT2-TLs. Really like how secure the plugs are, while also being easy to unplug if necessary.
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I really wish speakON were the standard in HIFI too. Would make things so much better both from a cost/use/sound standpoint!
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Is $249 inexpensive? There is a pair of Kimber 8TC in the trading post for 1/2 price:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=147555.msg1578374#msg1578374 (http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=147555.msg1578374#msg1578374)
Salk HT2-TL's really love Kimber. The 8TC equals 10 gauge which is the sweet spot. I use a double run of Kimber and so far nothing 'affordable' has come close. For a comparison I sampled a pair of ZenWave SL 14 gauge cables, very nice but expensive. The Kimber was very,very close and had more midrange fullness and deep bass. My conclusion is size does matter.
I was also on the DanaCable tour, another expensive cable company, those cables with Salk were not a good match, too dark and rolled off. DanaCables will work best with bright systems or rooms.
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I really wish speakON were the standard in HIFI too. Would make things so much better both from a cost/use/sound standpoint!
Amen to that!