Hello Audiolovers :) I need some input on cables.

[aqcmiu]

Hi guys- I do not mind spending the money high grade cables but not a ridiculous amount of money for no apparent truth.

So I need your advice. Please tell me how much performance does it increase by if one were to buy nice speaker cable like Nordost, Transparent, Kimber, Audioquest, etc..Currently I am running Monster XP cables to my speakers.
Pretty inexpensive cables and it does the job.

So is it a gargantuan contribution in sound or am I just wasting money? Should I go for the better cable or leave it as is? If it does improve by a large amount, then I will shoot for the stars.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[its phillip]

Save your money.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

[Ares]

+1 on what Phillip said, save your money and buy better gear, room treatments or just take the wife out for dinner. I use 12 gauge automotive wire since I have spools of this stuff lying around, check out Home depot for wiring or Monoprice. Nobody will hear the difference as long as they can't see it.

 

[3db]

+1 one Ares and +2 on what its phillips is saying. Anyone telling you cables DO make a difference doesn't understand the principles of physics or electronics and grasps at subjective mumbo jumbo to substantiate their claim.

 

[markw]

If you really want to get pissed off...

...go buy some inexpensive generic 12 - 16 gauge lamp cord/speaker cable at Lowes or Home Depot and replace your Monster cable with it.

Let us know if you hear any difference.

 

[highfigh]

Anyone telling you cables DO make a difference doesn't understand the principles of physics or electronics and grasps at subjective mumbo jumbo to substantiate their claim.

But they're so sure their fancy new cables make flowers bloom and little birdies sing, how could they possibly be wrong?

 

[dem beats]

Cu is Cu is Cu.

Copper wire will all be the same. I braided cat 6 cable because I'm masochistic. I can't tell the difference while listening between that and monoprice cable.

If you're talking about interconnects, rca, hdmi there might be some factors worth talking about, but in the end it doesn't matter if the connection is good and it's copper.

 

[3db]

But they're so sure their fancy new cables make flowers bloom and little birdies sing, how could they possibly be wrong?

Ain't that the truth!!

 

[adwilk]

Just make sure you don't install the cables upside down or backwards and you'll be just fine.

 

[HexOmega]

Save your money.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

This is good reading, especially the chart showing maximum wire length vs. gauge. That is really the most important aspect of choosing speaker wire, aside from buying quality wire in the first place.

 

[Midwesthonky]

Just make sure you don't install the cables upside down or backwards and you'll be just fine.

I hate when that happens. Then you have to run around trying to figure out which one is installed backwards.

The only issue I have ever seen from speaker wire was in a previous house. Previous owner had pre-wired a basement room for surround sound using bi-metal wire where one is copper and the other wire was either tin or aluminum or a combo (but clearly not copper). I didn't use the wires and just left them hanging out of the wall. During a big thunderstorm, lightning took out the neighbor's transformer and put so much energy in the air that an arc was produced across the gap between the hanging wires. Had to go change my shorts.

 

[Pyrrho]

Just make sure you don't install the cables upside down or backwards and you'll be just fine.

It is bad when the music comes out upside down or backwards.

 

[Alex2507]

It is bad when the music comes out upside down or backwards.

Not if it's country music. Your wife comes back. Herpes goes away and your dog is resurrected.

 

[BMXTRIX]

It's just worth agreeing with everyone else that while you have a lot of marketing telling you otherwise, the simple truth of the matter is just true simplicity.

Wire is wire.

You are shooting for copper wire of the right gauge, and if you get two wires, one that costs $1,000 for 10' and one that cost $5 for 10' and they are both 12 gauge, they will sound the same. Not just to your ears, but to digital audio test equipment. They can't measure a difference, you can't hear a difference, there is no difference.

I'm sure, if possible, I would not be the first to recommend that even the Monster cable that you claim is cheap, is still far more than you should have spent and if it was returnable, it would be recommended that you do so.

Here you go - 100' of cable, at about 30 cents a foot:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&p_id=2817&seq=1&format=2

12 gauge - FTW!

Oh, and I actually use Monster Cable quite often because it works very well in-wall. Best stuff I've used so far out of a half dozen brands I've tried, I go back to them. So, I don't dislike Monster as much as some other people do. But, I won't pay their ridiculous consumer prices. Got 500' of cable for 190 bucks. shipped (14/4). That's better than Monoprice can sell it to me for. Still, on a one-off install, stick with the good stuff, but NOT the expensive stuff!

 

[skizzerflake]

Sometime back in the 90's I read a double blind study where a bunch of nutcase audiophiles tested a bunch of expensive cables, some Radio Shack level cables and "Romex" (the heavy wire used for outlets in your house). Romex won. Audiophiles protested that double blind studies were invalid and that you HAVE to know what you're listening to to make a good judgment. What BS. As long as you make good contact with reasonably well made cables, you're good. A $5 vial of contact cleaner will save hundreds or thousands on elite cables. Clean contacts actually DO make a big difference, much more than any "oxygen-free" BS.

 

[jinjuku]

So is it a gargantuan contribution in sound or am I just wasting money? Should I go for the better cable or leave it as is? If it does improve by a large amount, then I will shoot for the stars.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Well, some people would say it makes a difference. These are the same people that on two different audio forums that have declined for me to send them cable that were and were not burned in (another audiophile myth). I offered two sets of cables. They would be randomly marked. They could listen to them however they wanted and then tell the community at large which two where burned in.

The reactions have been hilarious.

 

[j_garcia]

Sometime back in the 90's I read a double blind study where a bunch of nutcase audiophiles tested a bunch of expensive cables, some Radio Shack level cables and "Romex" (the heavy wire used for outlets in your house). Romex won. Audiophiles protested that double blind studies were invalid and that you HAVE to know what you're listening to to make a good judgment. What BS. As long as you make good contact with reasonably well made cables, you're good. A $5 vial of contact cleaner will save hundreds or thousands on elite cables. Clean contacts actually DO make a big difference, much more than any "oxygen-free" BS.

There is a benefit to OFC! However, audio ISN'T one of those things.

Many owners of high-end audio and video equipment value oxygen-free copper. Behind this demand is the belief that oxygen-free copper will have enhanced conductivity or other electrical properties that are significantly advantageous to low frequency (audio) signal transmission. However, conductivity specifications for C11000 ETP and C10200 OF coppers are identical. In practice, nominal conductivity differences between the three grades listed above are less than .1% of .1% at room temperature.