What are your speaker cables?

Corsentino · « **Reply #40 on:** 19 Jun 2020, 02:21 pm »

Another vote for Anticables! I'm running series 5 speaker cables, 6.2 and 4.1 Interconnects, and Level 3 Power Cords. Paul's cables have trounced everything else I've tried, some substantially more expensive and well know. I have recently incorporated a Nordost Fray II Tonearm Cable which I also find a worthwhile investment.

ElGatoRon · « **Reply #41 on:** 24 Jul 2020, 01:39 am »

I don’t believe much of the snake oil used to sell high end cables.
My cables of choice are BlueJeans Cable.
Currently running their #10 white with spades at both ends. Belden 5000 shielded solid copper conductors- $94 for a pair 12ft long
Audioholics has tested these and they test very well

johnnybravo · « **Reply #42 on:** 24 Jul 2020, 03:57 am »

Don't have Spatials, but recently bought some Emerald Physics for my man cave.
Will be using mid-range/older MIT speaker cables; hope its a good match.
If not, I will try different cables from the ubiquitous "old cable box".
Think I've got some Clear Day biwire, Music Metre Signature, Pure Note silver, Bob Crump brand (Luminous(?) forgot the name).
Any thoughts on best match?

Vince in TX · « **Reply #43 on:** 24 Jul 2020, 03:59 am »

Quote from: diyman on 9 Jun 2020, 11:16 pm

You might want to watch this video before getting too excited about solid core speaker cables.

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-length-differences-do-they-matter

You know, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I really wish I knew of this forum before I talked to the "experts" at Magnolia. They saddled me with Audioquest SLiP-DB 16/2 for in-wall to handle my 7.2.4 Atmos setup. Watching this video and looking at their gauge versus distance chart, 16 gauge was a mistake for the front channel. So not only do I have cheap wire, I have the wrong gauge wire. The only saving grace is I ran two sets of wires for the LF and RF with plans for bi-amp.

I ran the wires myself, and the walls are already closed up, so I am stuck with them now. How bad of a mistake was this? The longest run is to the LF speaker, which is probably close to 35-40' from the source. Not good.

geerock · « **Reply #44 on:** 24 Jul 2020, 02:43 pm »

Quote from: johnnybravo on 24 Jul 2020, 03:57 am

Don't have Spatials, but recently bought some Emerald Physics for my man cave.
Will be using mid-range/older MIT speaker cables; hope its a good match.
If not, I will try different cables from the ubiquitous "old cable box".
Think I've got some Clear Day biwire, Music Metre Signature, Pure Note silver, Bob Crump brand (Luminous(?) forgot the name).
Any thoughts on best match?

I have to ask you. What determined your decision to buy Emeralds over Spatials?

geerock · « **Reply #45 on:** 24 Jul 2020, 04:23 pm »

Quote from: Vince T on 24 Jul 2020, 03:59 am

You know, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I really wish I knew of this forum before I talked to the "experts" at Magnolia. They saddled me with Audioquest SLiP-DB 16/2 for in-wall to handle my 7.2.4 Atmos setup. Watching this video and looking at their gauge versus distance chart, 16 gauge was a mistake for the front channel. So not only do I have cheap wire, I have the wrong gauge wire. The only saving grace is I ran two sets of wires for the LF and RF with plans for bi-amp.

I ran the wires myself, and the walls are already closed up, so I am stuck with them now. How bad of a mistake was this? The longest run is to the LF speaker, which is probably close to 35-40' from the source. Not good.

Did you ever consider moving your equipment to one of the side walls near your speakers? You can run your cables behind your baseboard trim. And you should be able to fish the Atmos stuff up the walls from the floor up also. But you sure do have long runs from where you are located with your equipment.

Vince in TX · « **Reply #46 on:** 24 Jul 2020, 06:41 pm »

Quote from: geerock on 24 Jul 2020, 04:23 pm

Did you ever consider moving your equipment to one of the side walls near your speakers? You can run your cables behind your baseboard trim. And you should be able to fish the Atmos stuff up the walls from the floor up also. But you sure do have long runs from where you are located with your equipment.

Unfortunately that was never in the plan. Nothing is painted yet (just tape, float and texture), so ripping things apart is on the table, just not desirable. I had a dedicated 20A circuit installed in that cubby specifically for the equipment, and I already ran the HDMI and CAT6 from there to the projector.

My thought was that if it becomes a problem I would combine the pair of 16AWG wires at both ends since I plan to amp the front channel anyway (pre-amp out of the receiver). My receiver is an 11 channel, but only 9 of them are amplified. So I'd run direct from the receiver to the Atmos and surrounds, and then pre-amp to a three or five channel amplifier for the front.

EDIT: Wait! What if I were to pre-amp to those long runs, and then amp them at the front of the room?

musicdre · « **Reply #47 on:** 2 Feb 2021, 09:25 pm »

resuscitating this thread as its relevance continues. after a kind lending by a circle member - i will be using anti-cables 3.1s on my saph M3s. the difference between the 3.1s and the decent no-name-on-them speaker cables i had been using was pretty stunning. more openness, space, impact, liveliness, etc etc. the sound is amazingly good right now. not that i will not keep trying to improve it further

zimpah · « **Reply #48 on:** 3 Feb 2021, 01:01 am »

I make my own. I use well insulated stranded copper wire, twisted pairs, and terminated with qood quality banana connectors. Anything else is wasteful and is just a gimmick. No offense to Monster Cable or any of the other big names out there. It's just the honest truth.

aniwolfe · « **Reply #49 on:** 3 Feb 2021, 09:31 am »

Best cable by far is DIY HELIX Cable by Steve Reeve. I use them with my X2's. I compared them to mega buck cables from Audience, Stealth, High Fidelity and Inakustik. The only issue with this DIY recipe is that you cannot use these cable with Amps that have Balanced "symmetrical" amp design. Not many amps I know have this design but it exists. If you make or have someone make them for you, be prepared for amazement.

mav52 · « **Reply #50 on:** 3 Feb 2021, 01:08 pm »

Bluejean cables and just added a Cullen speaker cable to my system,

jtwrace · « **Reply #51 on:** 3 Feb 2021, 01:14 pm »

Belden 1313A

musicdre · « **Reply #52 on:** 3 Feb 2021, 02:00 pm »

Quote from: aniwolfe on 3 Feb 2021, 09:31 am

Best cable by far is DIY HELIX Cable by Steve Reeve. I use them with my X2's. I compared them to mega buck cables from Audience, Stealth, High Fidelity and Inakustik.

do you have a link for these? thanks

aniwolfe · « **Reply #53 on:** 4 Feb 2021, 01:16 pm »

Quote from: musicdre on 3 Feb 2021, 02:00 pm

do you have a link for these? thanks

Sure > http://www.image99.net/blog/files/d048bbacfce9bcad4a025be804771d9a-76.html

Mr. Big · « **Reply #54 on:** 8 Feb 2021, 02:13 pm »

I found analysis plus Black Mesh Oval 9 to work really well with the M3, which brought out the bottom end better, and give more weight to the midrange and highs. Just a nice balance and presence top to bottom. I have some Audio Envy cables coming this week to try out. 4 power cords and XLR interconnects for the system. Keeping the speaker cables as is.

GrsZ06 · « **Reply #55 on:** 28 Feb 2021, 01:29 pm »

Morrow SP7, spade connectors.

DRHamp · « **Reply #56 on:** 1 Mar 2021, 12:57 pm »

Cables from Pine Tree Audio. They build my speaker cables, interconnects, and power cables. Jesse at Pine Tree is great to work with and will build you whatever you need and it won't break the bank.

sarora9 · « **Reply #57 on:** 1 Mar 2021, 02:45 pm »

DIY Furutech alpha 36 (12awg) for Spatial X3's. 7 ft length.

Used bluejeans 12awg for many years and they now sound v. veiled in hindsight. Also tried Kimber 8tc for a couple months and prefered the Furutech by a noticeable margin. Wireworld eclipse mini was roughly similar to bluejeans.

jcai · « **Reply #58 on:** 3 Mar 2021, 06:17 pm »

I used to use Transparent Music Ultra and it is smooth and great. Now I also use Morrow Audio SP7 and seems get more dynamics...

Tom Bombadil · « **Reply #59 on:** 4 Mar 2021, 01:38 am »

Quote from: ElGatoRon on 24 Jul 2020, 01:39 am

I don’t believe much of the snake oil used to sell high end cables.
My cables of choice are BlueJeans Cable.
Currently running their #10 white with spades at both ends. Belden 5000 shielded solid copper conductors- $94 for a pair 12ft long
Audioholics has tested these and they test very well

Good choice. I am using something similar to those, sometimes switching to some ultrafine stranded 8GA. Over the years I brought in some higher price speaker cables to test against mine, and even some fairly common 12GA stuff I have on hand. I never heard any difference, even with speakers which would cost over $10K new.

I've spent quite a bit of money on my system over the years, but I don't spend it on things for which I don't hear a difference. I was certainly willing to drop $1000 or more on speaker cables but was never able to find a reason why.