Speaker cable - How much should i spend

C

CelestialSoul

Audiophyte
Hello guys,
My system is as follows:
Amp: Marantz PM 7003
Speakers: Wahrfedale Diamonds 225
Source: Marantz NA 8005

Current cables costs no more than several bucks. Should i spend 300$+ on new cables (i.e AudioQuest type 4) or that would be insanity with my current system?
 
Speedskater

Speedskater

Audioholic General
The AQ4 are insanity in any system.
Spend no more than the Blue Jeans Cable 12AWG cables and maybe less.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
Speaker cables should be the least of your worries. Spend as little as you can for the right gauge cable for the speaker run and speaker impedance.
14 ga and 12 ga copper cable in most case will be just fine.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Monoprice speaker cable is an affordable wire as good as anything on the market, and I recommend it without reservation.

But I would suggest that you never purchase that cheap copper clad aluminum speaker cable which Amazon and other big online stores sell. That's real crap!
 
davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Spartan
Please do not support cable charlatans like Audioquest (altho the basic models with a generous discount are workable). Check out this site about speaker wire from a former director of McIntosh http://roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
Agreed the entry level tower interconnects for $24 or so are a pretty decent buy. I do also have some type 4 6 ft speaker cables but I bought them for under a hundred dollars and while not bad I don't think they sound any better than the silverback cables that they replaced. Remember the shorter length is usually the best sounding.
Dave
 
D

Drunkpenguin

Audioholic Chief
I used amazon cable on my speakers. Its fine.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Agreed the entry level tower interconnects for $24 or so are a pretty decent buy. I do also have some type 4 6 ft speaker cables but I bought them for under a hundred dollars and while not bad I don't think they sound any better than the silverback cables that they replaced. Remember the shorter length is usually the best sounding.
Dave
Maybe if the price was $8 or 10 instead for those, and I'm being generous. $24 is ridiculous.

ps Forgot about the type 4 in 6 ft lengths ($230 on Amazon) which is totally fucking ridiculous.
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
As long as the cables you have bought are not the copper clad aluminum ones that Amazon sells which are real crap.
A few have sold CCA cable speaker, not just Amazon. If you increase the gauge to adjust, not a big deal either.
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
A few have sold CCA cable speaker, not just Amazon. If you increase the gauge to adjust, not a big deal either.
I know that Amazon are not the only ones selling that CCA speaker wire. Refer to post #5 above.

But why use an aluminum wire which has more resistance than oxygen free copper? Good copper cable is so cheap and IMO, that crappy copper clad AL wire should never have been put on the market.
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I know that Amazon are not the only ones selling that CCA speaker wire. Refer to post #5 above.

But why use an aluminum wire which has more resistance than oxygen free copper? Good copper cable is so cheap and IMO, that crappy copper clad AL wire should never have been put on the market.
Because it's simply not that big a deal? If you increase the gauge you overcome the shortcome :) I agree avoid it but it's not like the world ends....putting things on the market is about selling, like much of audiophilia is based upon.

ps Monoprice has also sold CCA
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Please do not support cable charlatans like Audioquest (altho the basic models with a generous discount are workable). Check out this site about speaker wire from a former director of McIntosh http://roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
That was a great article thank you. Basically it's saying any decent made cheap wire that is made well enough to not corrode. If it is the right size. Will work. Just as well as those God awful ridiculously expensive ones.
 
Dmantis10

Dmantis10

Audioholic
The bottom line with any cable is it has to meet spec. Proper termination is key with any interconnect style cable.
Speaker cable needs to be the correct gauge and less then maximum length to perform it's job. Using high quality copper or Silver is also a very good idea.
Once you achieve the spec and use high quality material there is nothing more higher end cables can do for your system. Discounting companies like Audioquest I also don't agree with. They build very nice cables that have excellent top notch built quality. But for performance reasons going up and up their line I have found no performance benefits. You will gain eye candy and if thats important to you then by all means buy the ones you like the most.
Most people get all caught up in price, price has no meaning to everyone from the sense we all have different depth pockets. Some will say your wasting your money buying high end cables. From a purely performance standpoint they have a really good point. But from a eye candy and make you feel good standpoint then they are not a waste of money. Again price has no meaning here as we all have different values and depths to our pockets.
I never frown on people from using high end cables or buying the correct performance cables for their systems. I do frown on cables that fail , poorly terminated or say they can perform the job and can't.
If you really like the Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables and they are the correct gauge and length for your system then I say get them. They are very nice have very nice quality banana jacks and dress up is very attractive to look at. They will not under perform in your system.
 
D

Drunkpenguin

Audioholic Chief
I recently remodelled my theater and also ran the rest of my homes speakers to a new av closet. 18 speakers total. I used amazons 16 guage cca wire on all of it and i didnt notice a difference on any thing. I previously had some higher guage copper.

I took a physics class in college and according to my teacher my dog might hear a difference from one cable to the next, but my human ears cannot. YMMV, maybe. Probably not.
 
Dmantis10

Dmantis10

Audioholic
I recently remodelled my theater and also ran the rest of my homes speakers to a new av closet. 18 speakers total. I used amazons 16 guage cca wire on all of it and i didnt notice a difference on any thing. I previously had some higher guage copper.

I took a physics class in college and according to my teacher my dog might hear a difference from one cable to the next, but my human ears cannot. YMMV, maybe. Probably not.
I use 14g speaker wire for whole house runs due to length of wire.
 

TechHDS

Audioholic General
There are some outrageously priced speaker cables out there. Just use a good AWG wire spec to Length! Meaning anything over 50’ should use 14 AWG. I use 10 AWG wire that I ordered for my speakers, but that’s cause I wanted to not that I really needed 10 gage cause I didn’t. It’s my setup so Mikey just likes it! ;)

Mike
 

TechHDS

Audioholic General
The bottom line with any cable is it has to meet spec. Proper termination is key with any interconnect style cable.
Speaker cable needs to be the correct gauge and less then maximum length to perform it's job. Using high quality copper or Silver is also a very good idea.
Once you achieve the spec and use high quality material there is nothing more higher end cables can do for your system. Discounting companies like Audioquest I also don't agree with. They build very nice cables that have excellent top notch built quality. But for performance reasons going up and up their line I have found no performance benefits. You will gain eye candy and if thats important to you then by all means buy the ones you like the most.
Most people get all caught up in price, price has no meaning to everyone from the sense we all have different depth pockets. Some will say your wasting your money buying high end cables. From a purely performance standpoint they have a really good point. But from a eye candy and make you feel good standpoint then they are not a waste of money. Again price has no meaning here as we all have different values and depths to our pockets.
I never frown on people from using high end cables or buying the correct performance cables for their systems. I do frown on cables that fail , poorly terminated or say they can perform the job and can't.
If you really like the Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables and they are the correct gauge and length for your system then I say get them. They are very nice have very nice quality banana jacks and dress up is very attractive to look at. They will not under perform in your system.
Well said Bro! If someone in this hobby wants to spend 500 on cables so be it their money.

Mike
 

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