[Derockster]

Hi guys,anyone here using Jericho Horns??Need recommendations on what other speaker cables I can try with them.At present I'm using 47 labs cable.Regards derockster

[Scottmoose]

It bothers you?

Depends on the driver / amp combination. I tent to stick to solid core as it gives max efficiency, though the difference is probably ~nothing for audio. Can't hurt though. 14ga twin + earth ring-mains cable, or a couple of runs of the thickest enamelled magnet wire you can get hold of are as good a compromise as any, unless you're deliberately wanting to use the electrical parameters of the cable to affect the performance of the components it connects together. A thin ga. / higher resistance wire for e.g. will add some series resistance & lift the LF slightly, but will also restrict the bandwidth & clip transient peaks. Ditto mucking about with fancy geometries will affect capacitance & inductance. I can't see the point as the gains you'd get in minimising one will be negated by the problems you cause elsewhere. YMMV. FWIW, contacts & connections have probably caused more problems than wire ever have.

[Derockster]

Hi Scottmoose,what I find most interesting is your comment in regards to the thin guage/higher resistance wire adding series resistance and raising the LF while restricting bandwidth and clipping transient peak.The cable I'm using is .4mm thick and I'm using it in 12ft. runs.They are being driven by an Almarro(5watt) integrated amp with an internal passive preamp.The horns have a fostex 208 sigma driver in them.I have found by adding an active preamp this has helped tremendously in terms of dynamics and extension in the Hf and the LF.My reason for asking is I was simply wondering if anyone else was using the same speakers with another type of cable with good/great results.Thanks for your reply Scottmoose 

[Scottmoose]

Narry a problem.

I don't have this exact combination, so I can only approach it from a theoretical standpoint. Thing is, speaker cables is a bit of a hiding to nothing because recommendations must always be taken with a large dose of salt. Wire is very much a passive component, and I have yet to see some evidence I can swallow without gagging that it has any intrinsic 'sound' whatsoever of its own. What it certainly does have are electrical characteristics which affect the performance of the components it connects together -in this case, an amplifier and speaker drive-unit. So unless a person has the exact same speakers & amp as yourself, any suggestions must be taken with this in mind. It's just the application of physics, no more, no less.

FWIW, I suspect that adding a pre-amp is probably countering the resistance of your wire. You'd likely get similar results by swapping out your wire for something wth lower resistance. 0.4mm is about 26AWG, and that's very thin indeed, as speaker cable goes. I've used 30AWG in the past, on a low-Q unit with a low output impedance amp, which is a useful trick, but ideally, you want to be matching your driver / speaker to your amp. That way, you don't need to resort to using wire as a tone control to rebalance the sound. I suspect your Almarro amps & 208s would sing happily with something like 14 - 10AWG wire in place, & no active pre required. Cheap experiment -grab some mains cable & give it a shot. Shouldn't cost more than a few £. :^)

[Derockster]

Hey Scottmoose,thanks for your reminder of the basic honest truths in terms of cabling and resistance vs capacitance.I guess i opened a can of worms I could have left closed.Reason being I really like this cable and what it does in my system.It is very neutral and not at all forward or bright sounding.It has a very full sound and it has great bass all for it's size.In regards to what you said about the almarro/horn setup singing with a larger cable that might well be true but I do want to try with an active preamp.I want to add a naim preamp to my system with an onboard phono card thus reducing the number of interconnects in my system.Wil let you know the outcome.Regards from sunny Barbados derockster  ps are you from England

[andrewbee]

I have Jerico horns with the original 208 Sigma. I use whatever cable I have. Cat 5 works as well as 16 AWG OFC copper speaker wire .
A short length ~10 feet of speaker cable does not make a significant difference in UNLESS you make some multi-braided wire with very high capacitance or use Nicrome wire or some other extreme solution. IOW, typical wire works perfectly well. Amplifiers are what are affected by the speaker wire, not the speaker itself.


Andrew