what cables to use?

carlos3621 · « **on:** 15 May 2006, 05:39 pm »

hello ,
im in need of some advice on what interconnects to use, and what speaker cables,
i have the following equipment;
bryston sp1.7---- bryston powerpac 120 (x3)----- and pmc LB1 speakers.
i dont know if i should be buying silver/ copper balanced interconnects.
and also for the speaker cables.
ive been looking so far at, bettercables.com ,,,, signal cables.
thanks

Jason Nugent · « **Reply #1 on:** 15 May 2006, 05:52 pm »

I went with Bryston for my speaker cables, and Blue Jeans Cable for my XLR interconnects. Their prices are amazing, and they use no-nonsense Neutrik connectors and either Belden or Canare cable. They are Belden certified and make really nice stuff. bluejeanscable.com.

carlos3621 · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 May 2006, 07:44 pm »

what type of cables are those,, silver or copper?

nicolasb · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 May 2006, 09:05 am »

Using silver wire is just silly. Use a slightly thicker piece of copper instead.

Jason Nugent · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 May 2006, 11:30 am »

Quote from: carlos3621

what type of cables are those,, silver or copper?

Belden 1800F or Canare L-4E6S are both types of copper cable. Like I said, they make "no nonsense" cables that work very well.

carlos3621 · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 May 2006, 11:36 pm »

thanks for the reply,, i guess ill just save my money and go for good copper wires.

Vtech2000 · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 May 2006, 01:02 am »

Let's consider the old automobile analogy - say you are a driving enthusiast and you paid a lot of money for your exotic, high performance driving machine. When it is time for new tires, are you going to put a fine high performance tire on the car that will allow the full handling potential of the vehicle to be realized? Or are you going for any old cheap retread, just to save some money, and not be able to fully enjoy the great handling characteristics of the car you paid so much money to enjoy?

I believe all components in a system - those directly in the signal path and in the power supply path - affect the signal and make a difference - of course including cables. As a rule, consider cables that are relative/proportionate to the other equipment in the system. Until you experience for yourself a truly great cable in a genuine high performance system, you will never know the difference a good cable makes.

nicolasb · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 May 2006, 11:59 am »

Quote from: Vtech2000

Let's consider the old automobile analogy - say you are a driving enthusiast and you paid a lot of money for your exotic, high performance driving machine. When it is time for new tires, are you going to put a fine high performance tire on the car that will allow the full handling potential of the vehicle to be realized? Or are you going for any old cheap retread, just to save some money, and not be able to fully enjoy the great handling characteristics of the car you paid so much money to enjoy?

Using ultra high-end cables is much more like embedding diamonds in a car's hub caps: they may look impressive, but they make no practical difference to the car's performance at all.

sts9fan · « **Reply #8 on:** 17 May 2006, 12:43 pm »

Quote

I believe all components in a system - those directly in the signal path and in the power supply path -

Shockingly a snakeoil dealer is saying snakeoil works!!!! Next in the news if you jump in a pool you WILL get wet!!!
You heard it here folks..

Bob Reynolds · « **Reply #9 on:** 17 May 2006, 03:34 pm »

I agree with Jason Nugent. Blue Jeans Cable is hard to beat. Every audio, video, balanced and unbalanced interconnect I have in my systems are from Blue Jeans Cable.

They build quality cables with ZERO hype. It's refreshing.

I've used Bryston's (Van Damme) speaker cable and their connectors for the last 3 years or so. No regrets. However, with the recent change from Spendor floorstanding speakers to M&K stand mounted monitors, I have switched to Belden 5T00UP speaker cable. It's a 10 ga. twisted design instead of the Van Damme twin lead design. You might take a look at Zebra Cables as a source. Blue Jeans Cable carries the same wire, but their connector selection is poor.

-- Bob

Bob Reynolds · « **Reply #10 on:** 17 May 2006, 03:46 pm »

Anyone that has really listened to various cables knows that cables do make an audible difference. Even power cords. The problem is that it is almost impossible for most folks to determine whether the difference is good or bad. It's a very expensive game to play with unpredictable results.

Stick with quality materials and terminations and spend the savings on music or that component upgrade.

-- Bob

sts9fan · « **Reply #11 on:** 17 May 2006, 03:54 pm »

Quote

Anyone that has really listened to various cables knows that cables do make an audible difference. Even power cords. The problem is that it is almost impossible for most folks to determine whether the difference is good or bad. It's a very expensive game to play with unpredictable results.

Stick with quality materials and terminations and spend the savings on music or that component upgrade.

totally agree thats why I use bluejean all around.

nicolasb · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 May 2006, 04:35 pm »

Quote from: Bob Reynolds

Anyone that has really listened to various cables knows that cables do make an audible difference. Even power cords.

Sure, but whether the difference is due to the cable or to purely psychological factors is a whole other issue.

Speaker wire needs to have low resistance. Line-level interconnects need to have good quality shielding that doesn't introduce significant stray capacitance. Under certain circumstances a coax digital cable can effectively introduce jitter if it allows pulses to reflect to and fro along the cable and thus make the leading edges of the actual signal pulses less sharp. All cables can suffer if there's corrosion at the contacts.

But that's about it, really.

I remember a couple of years back the speaker manufacturer Quad hired a multi-award winning sound engineer (a guy who mixes music recordings for a living) to demo their new speakers at an exhibition. This was a guy whose job was music recording and reproduction, and was widely recognised as one of the top men in the world.

His choice for speaker cable to show off Quad's new speakers to the best possible effect was a set of cables normally used as mains flex for Black & Decker hedge trimmers. If they're good enough for him, they're good enough for you....

guest39615 · « **Reply #13 on:** 18 May 2006, 04:25 am »

i remember reading that story ,and the recording enginneer was Tony Faulkner, one of the best classical music rec. Ingenier for sure.

bsmith15 · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 May 2006, 11:07 pm »

I have tried several higher end I/C and speaker cables (Cardas, Acoustic Zen, Nordost) and found that I liked Signal Cable products just as well for much less cost (www.signalcable.com). Frank is a pleasure to deal with and his products top notch. No hype on the web site and you can order different lengths and terminations.

The good thing about cables is, for the time and effort, you can purchase used on Audiogon or other sites and usually re-sell for no loss if you decide on another brand.

eddiem67 · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 May 2006, 08:21 pm »

I dont know about you guys, but I would rather invest my money on acoustics for the room before spending money on cables.

Sasha · « **Reply #16 on:** 23 May 2006, 01:49 am »

I completely disagree that cables do not make a difference.
They make as significant difference as changing a major component in the system, speakers or amplification.
If your system is transparent enough, you will easily hear enormous differences cables bring. Whether good or bad, is dependent on the synergy between components, and ultimately on your taste.
Point and case:
Just today I tried two completely identical power cables on my amp, PS Audio Plus, one being brand new one, and one being used (burned in).
The difference was unbelievable (yes, power cables make huge difference, not to mention changes interconnects or speaker cables make).
Although more money does not mean better cable, in general it is applicable.
As good as cables from Signal Cable may be (since someone mentioned them), they are certainly not a match to let’s say Acoustic Zen cables.
I have heard speaker cables from both manufacturers and it is absolute nonsense that there is no difference, the difference is enormous.
However, if in your system you do not hear the difference, it does not mean there is not one, it just means that your system is not transparent enough to let you hear it.

jamesp · « **Reply #17 on:** 24 May 2006, 01:55 pm »

I fiddled around with cables with a NAD AV and Dynaudio 42's (fairly revealing speakers) and noticed differences but nothing major. I recently upgraded to the B100DA with Totem Forest and was using a Phillips $10 digital cable. Went and got a fairly inexpensive AudioQuest VDM-1 digital cable and it seemed like everything suddenly came into focus. I guess that is the best way to put it without getting into too much detail. I was not expecting to hear that much of a difference.

Maybe the AudioQuest is truer to the 75ohm specification than the Phillips digital cable or is better shielded.

denjo · « **Reply #18 on:** 24 May 2006, 03:47 pm »

I recently bought Black Sand Silver Ref IV power cords to connect to my amplifiers. The difference was not subtle, it was obvious. Bass lines were the first immediate difference, like I has just installed a quality Sub! Cheapest upgrade I've ever made in a long while!

Tman · « **Reply #19 on:** 26 May 2006, 04:40 am »

If you are hearing noticable differences in cables then one or both of them has something very wrong with their design.Belden and Canare are both world class wire companies.This is what I use in my 70 grand system.Don't be a sucker,stick with the big players who have real engineers designing their cables.You,I or anybody else can be in the esoteric wire business at the drop of a hat.That is sometimes why these wires do sound different because the guy making them has no idea what he is doing and they are actually introducing more distortions.
Some audio companies have millions invested into their designs.Do you really think they are going to use a power cord that will compromise the end result of all that money and time tied up in R+D?

what cables to use?

guest39615