Signalcable

klh · « **on:** 14 Aug 2004, 10:20 pm »

Do any of you have any experience with their cables? Their prices are very good... does anyone know if they are worth it?

http://signalcable.com/

kbuzz3 · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Aug 2004, 11:03 pm »

It all depends on what your are looking for. SOTA or near. Or basic cabling Signal cables frank is very good guy. I use a bunch of thier stuff in different systems

witchdoctor · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Aug 2004, 11:03 pm »

Look for the review in the archives under cables here:

http://www.stereotimes.com/

Red Dragon Audio · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Aug 2004, 11:32 pm »

Signal Cable offers very basic, generic designs but with nice techflex covers, quality connectors at a reasonable price. They don't really have any designs you can't copy yourself if like DIY type work (except for their cable lifters which might be hard to duplicate if you don't have the right tools and know-how). But if you don't have the time and would like nice sounding AND nice looking cables, then Signal is it. I give a reference below for the same cables but lower prices and not so fancy looks.

The speaker wires they offer are just StarQuad Canare wire with techflex and nice connectors. If you can strip wire and crimp it, then you can do it too...oh and if you want to put techflex with heatshrink on there, you better know how to operate a Hairdryer.

Their power cords are just tri-wire twisted designs that you can get at any Home Depot. Their benefit comes from sheilding or larger guage wire than most stock powercords. And they look really nice with heavy duty Marinco connectors. Again, easy to duplicate.

His analog RCA/XLR cables are just off the shelf Belden cables (in fact he even says he uses Belden 89259 for the sub cable).

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/ offer many of the same designs with lower prices but no fancy Techflex.

Hope this helps.

Charles Calkins · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Aug 2004, 01:29 am »

KLH:
When I did an A versus B cable evaluation I found that the KimberKable silver streak and the Signal cable silver resolution were a dead heat. I couldn't tell the difference between them. The Bluejeanscable was just a wee bit shy of them. The Van Den Hull D102 MKII was the better cable amongst all of the cables I evaluated.

Cheers
Charlie

truant · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Aug 2004, 06:13 pm »

SIGNAL CABLES are definitely a good buy. I've had a pair of the Magic Power Cables for my IRD MB-100s just shy of a month and am waiting on the Magic Power strip. Out of the box they gave acoustic instruments a truer sound and clearly more bass extension. I'm only comparing them to the stock cords so I have no idea how they compare to the other cords I might've purchased. Since I needed two cords for my amps and knew that I also needed to upgrade my Monster power strip the price made it a relatively easy decision. I have Harmonic Technology Silver Truthlink ICs and HT Pro AC-11 speaker cables also in my system and don't feel that the SIGNAL CABLES are out of place. In fact based on my experience and some of the reviews I've read one of these days I'll probably try some speaker cable and ICs to see how they stand up to my HT cables.

zybar · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 Aug 2004, 07:18 pm »

Quote from: heavystarch

Signal Cable offers very basic, generic designs but with nice techflex covers, quality connectors at a reasonable price. They don't really have any designs you can't copy yourself if like DIY type work (except for their cable lifters which might be hard to duplicate if you don't have the right tools and know-how). But if you don't have the time and would like nice sounding AND nice looking cables, then Signal is it. I give a reference below for the same cables but lower prices and not so fancy looks.

...

Well, I went with the Blue Jeans cables for some very long speaker cable runs to my subs (between 20'-40'). It is 10 gauge so it shouldn't have a problem with the distance.

The Blue Jeans speaker cables were significantly cheaper than SignalCable.

Not sure if it is better/worse/same.

George

klh · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 Aug 2004, 07:26 pm »

Thanks guys...

Good information. I saw the Stereo Times review before I started this thread, but I have a hard time trusting their opinions. So, I thought it would be good to see what the AudioCirclites thought. Blue Jeans Cables are interesting. Basically I'm looking for good value cables that are high end but don't necessarily have to be world class. I could definitely do the DIY thing. That last place I lived had horrible interferance... I mean REALLY bad. So, I'm hesitant to get non-shielded cables. I figure, why take the chance of creating interferance if it could be avoided.

What do you thing of VH Audio DIY cables?

Any other recommendations?

Thanks in advance,

Krister

klh · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Aug 2004, 07:46 pm »

George:

After you get the cables and they are broken in, please give your impression on whether they are good for surrounds. It's so hard to find a cable that loses a minimal amount of information yet is actually affordable enough to be used for surrounds.

Thanks,

Krister

ctviggen · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Aug 2004, 08:25 pm »

I'm using Signal Cables now. I just ordered the Silver speaker wire but don't have it yet. As compared to my $700 Linn speaker cable, the copper cable is pretty nice. It has great clarity. However, I found the bass to be "different". Not necessarily lacking, mind you. But I would play a SRV song "Mary had a little lamb," and with the linn cables, the bass line was easy to pick out. With the copper Signal Cables, the bass line was harder to pick out. It could be that it's more natural, but I kinda missed the bass, so that's why I sprung for the Silver speaker wire. If I like it, I may also order the Silver interconnects.

In the meantime, I'm going to send the copper wire off to get cryoed. Then, I'll do a comparison between the cryoed copper wire and the silver wire. Additionally, I have another set of copper wire that's for biwiring (my other two sets are for biamping). So, I can do a three-way shootout between copper, cryoed copper, and silver (they're all 12 feet in length). Perhaps I'll post this, if anyone's interested.

marvda1 · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Aug 2004, 11:34 pm »

where do you send your cables to be cryoed and what is the cost?

StevenACNJ · « **Reply #11 on:** 20 Aug 2004, 10:32 am »

Quote from: marvda1

where do you send your cables to be cryoed and what is the cost?

Email Charles @ Cryogenics international for pricing. He is very professional to deal with.

http://www.cryogenicsinternational.com/audio.htm

ABEX · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 Aug 2004, 11:26 am »

Quote from: Charles Calkins

KLH:
When I did an A versus B cable evaluation I found that the KimberKable silver streak and the Signal cable silver resolution were a dead heat.

In cables there are a number of factors which need to be considered.

One is how sensitive your system,speakers I think foremost,is to change up the signal path. That is why I think some people will never believe that cables can make a diffrence. Another is the listener is to change.

Last year I went through a slew of testing to see what might work best for the least amount of $$ and tried some of the cables which have been mentioned. Although most signature changes are minute there are othrs that were quite apparent.

Another discovery was that the connectors have as much of a bearing on what will be the end result. While many people liked Daytons I and others found that Bass was ill defined.

For my own sanity I sent cables to people I knew that did design for a living and others that were dealers to get their impressions. The results were very positive.

Just thought I'd state what I had found as to the fact of synergy and sensitivity of cables within the greater framework of testing.

I did try Canare IC's and found that at low level listening I could not readily distinguish vocals info which really bugged me,but with another system or ears they might be a perfect match. I do not like to use COAX for IC's though.

Happy listening
www.nearsota.com

ctviggen · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Aug 2004, 12:54 pm »

That's who I was going to use for getting stuff cryoed -- Charles. I find interconnects and speaker cables to be very hard to compare, as I don't have a great short-term memory for music. So, if I can set up a direct comparison (just switch back and forth between two things), then I can determine what's going on. However, if I have to change out cables, then I'm in trouble, unless the difference is significant. When I went from Linn speaker cables to the Signal Cable copper variety, there was a definite difference. But I still don't know which one is better, because it's very hard to me to change these out. For instance, the Linns are only 8 feet long, which means that I have no speaker placement options. With 12 feet of cable, I can bring the speakers forward and outward. So, when I put the new cables on, I also pulled the speakers forward and outward (still toed in, though).

As an example of how bad my short term memory is, I tried to do a comparison between my Pioneer Elite DVD player as CD player and using the DAC in my Proceed AVP. Well, I didn't have my remote programmed to switch between these two, and I could not tell which one was better when I had to get up to change the source. After I programmed the remote, then it was easy to tell that the DAC in the Proceed was better,as I could switch back and forth between the two. Prior to that though, I had no idea which one was better.

So, when I stick on the new silver speaker cables, unless there are dramatic differences, I might not be able to discern them.

Charles Calkins · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Aug 2004, 02:48 pm »

ctviggen.
From an article written by Dr. Albert Von Schweikert. He said that when it comes to speaker cables the better results are when you use a solid core wire to drive the woofers and to use a braided type heavy gauge wire for the mid/treble modules. Solid core wire tightens up the bass and braided wire gives the mid/trebke a more liquid sound.

Cheers
Charlie

Carlman · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Aug 2004, 02:53 pm »

Bob... one reason is that there really isn't that much difference... Speaker cable has made the least difference of any cable in my system.

Just yesterday I compared the following in this order:

1. 16ga cheapo stranded speaker cable made by Phillips... similar to 'zip cord' however one lead is tinned copper and the other is copper... in a simple plastic or vinyl insulation. This 10' pair of cable cost about 20 cents if I had to calculate it. It was leftover from wiring some surrounds.

2. Usher speaker cable that's really super-heavy thick techflex-coated with gold spades and banana plugs... very nice... I think a little under $200.

3. Audience Maestro cables... about $300 IIRC.

They ranked in sound quality like they do in price. The best was the Maestro, followed by the Usher, and then last was the 16 gauge. So, no surprise, right? Well, they were all within 2% of each other. If the Audience was 100%, the Usher was 99% as good and the zip cord was 98% as good as the Audience.

So, the way I see it, you pay a lot more for incremental performance in speaker cable than you do in the rest of the gear.

I did the above comparison with IC's and had a much wider spread of results. Same with electronics comparisons... or room treatments..

I just think speaker cables are a bunch of hooey.

But, that's me.

ctviggen · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Aug 2004, 03:29 pm »

I agree, although I do think that they can affect the system somewhat. Every time I change interconnects or speaker cables, I notice something different about the system. Whether that difference is good or bad is something I'm not sure. I will say that I've noticed way more difference going between speakers or amps/preamps than cables, but cables do have an effect. Unfortunately, cables also tend to drain money of your wallet, as you're always thinking that there's a better cable.