speaker cables

[jimangus]

Now i now that this is not everybody's favorite subject, and i have always been of the opinion that it is all a load of b*ll*cks (twelth century monks).

However i have always since my first hi-fi set up used van den hul cable that i retrieved out of the ends bin at a hi-fi shop for a very good price. I never considered that it had any effect on the listenability of my music and hifi preformance.

I recently moved house and the speakers are a lot further from the amp etc, so i bought some of navships military wire. I must state that this guys cable usually is excellant for interconnects etc giving great results.

On paper this stuff should have sounded fine, it is four way twisted 16awg silver plated teflon cable. After moving my hifi sounded dreadful, and i spent alot of time faffing about trying to resolve what is could be, the last thing after a large amount of time and money investment was to concider the cable. I swapped it out for some cheap basic £2.50/m cable and got imediately better results. But still not being back to what i like to hear i took the plunge and bought vdh's cheapest biwire. ( i am still recovering from this expenditure)

I was dubious, but after installing, i have my hifi back. Hoooray. Sounding nice and purple prose worthy.

If any of the panel wish to try the mil spec stuf, just to prove that hifi cable can sound dreadful, this may not be the case in some circumstances however, and also shed some light on why, and also prove that i am not going mad crazy bonkers, i would be happy for some to do the rounds.

Any how, off for a pint with my mate russ andrews and peter belt. Apparently it tastes better from a pewter mug with a foil sticker on the bottom.

Regards
Jim

[prince of darkness]

[quote=jimangus;32709]
Any how, off for a pint with my mate russ andrews and peter belt. Apparently it tastes better from a pewter mug with a foil sticker on the bottom. /QUOTE]

I believe the foil only works if it's a glass bottomed mug (some capacitance effect).

[Greg.]

Yes, and it has to be half full. Absolutely no good if it's half empty

[Shian7]

And you need to fold up one corner of each curtain in the room

[buddam]

"a foil sticker on the bottom". There's another way of thinking about "the bottom", as in she gave me a slap on the bottom. Perhaps using the foil like a nicotine patch, on the bottom, would improve sound, although I think Belt products only work on people with an odd number of buttocks. I'll check the Jimmy Hughes articles in the loft - he might have written about odd number of bottoms

Adrian

[Greg.]

Adrian,

I really hope none of your colleagues or employers read your messages

You'd be ostracized and probably looking for a new job. It's good to me. Gives me a bit of faith in the system and a belief that thankfully there really are some realistic salt of the earth people working in your field.

Best wishes,

Greg

[lt_texan]

Originally Posted by jimangus

...this stuff should have sounded fine, it is four way twisted 16awg silver plated teflon cable...
Regards
Jim

Jim,

What was different about the sound?

My understanding is that a lot of the exensive commercial stuff is much, much thinner, solid, individually insulated, multistrand cables.

Dan

[freefallrob]

I just swopped from cheap figure of 8 non branded multistrand to Kimber 4PR, even in my modest system the sound is quite obviously better.

Bits of wire do make a difference....

[jimangus]

Originally Posted by lt_texan

Jim,

What was different about the sound?

My understanding is that a lot of the exensive commercial stuff is much, much thinner, solid, individually insulated, multistrand cables.

Dan

Hi Dan

The mil spec wire sounded very sharp in the upper mid, some that has been plagueing me for a while. Every thing else about this cable sounded ok, bass treble etc.

The van den hul sounds very even through out the frequency range, if not a little rolled of in the treble (not a problem as i am not deaf above 14k like some). Very smooth, naturel,and cohesive, just what i like.

Jim

[Darren D]

I was always sceptical about this issue until a couple of years ago Nick G brought his Cat5 platted cables to my place. Three pairs / six cables per speaker, that's 36 individual cables !!!

They sure made a difference to what I was using at the time. So much so Nick wasn't allowed to take them home with him :p I'm still using them btw.

Eternally grateful to Nick for such a neat platting, must have a secret hobby he's not telling us about