QED Bi-wire Silver XT cables for B&W 803D, what do you guys think?

[kurnitb]

Any inputs are appreciated. Thank's.

 

[markw]

I'm sure they will work as good as any other cable. As for better, well, if you want to believe that, feel free. I'm sure their price will add to that belief.

 

[j_garcia]

I'm sure they will work as good as any other cable. As for better, well, if you want to believe that, feel free. I'm sure their price will add to that belief.

Let's just put it this way: speaker wire is the LAST place to spend your money, because it makes the least difference. Your speakers and amp are solid; speaker wires aren't going to improve your experience.

Do this, be done:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm

 

[jinjuku]

I'm certainly not going to tell you what to hear or not to hear. What I would say is come by your opinion honestly. You should evaluate a 'standard' cable from the likes of Belden/Canare/Monoprice and what ever interconnects you want in a SBT (Single Blind Test) fashion. That is you don't know which cables are in use at any given time.

If you can't follow the bouncing ball after 20 tries 90% of the time then save yourself some money. There are three ways this works out:

You only hit 50-60% of correct guesses = You are just guessing. Saved your money and standard cabling

You hit it 90%+ of correct guesses and you LIKE the copper cable better = Saved your money and get standard cabling

You hit it 90%+ of correct guesses and you LIKE the QED Bi-Wire Silver XT. Now you get to decide if the difference, while preferred, is worth the cost.

The cost seems low either way so you could easily demo both.

 

[fmw]

You can't hear wires. Sorry.

 

[Adam]

You might not be able to hear wires...but you can normally see them. So, if I spend extra on wires, it's mostly for aesthetics.
I know others here do that, too. I figure that if I'm going to be looking at them all of the time, I might as well like how they look. Thanks to suggestions from another member here (ImcLoud), I assembled my own last year. The first image below shows the components (wire, cable sheath, wire "pants" for the ends, banana plugs), and the second image shows one of the assembled cables. That cable sheath material comes in a number of colors and patterns. Making them was really easy - the most time consuming part was stripping that particular cable because it has an outer plastic sheath around both wires in addition to the sheath around each wire.

 

[Swerd]

I'm certainly not going to tell you what to hear or not to hear. What I would say is come by your opinion honestly. You should evaluate a standard 12AWG stranded copper cable from the likes of Belden/Canare/Monoprice and what ever interconnects you want in a SBT (Single Blind Test) fashion. That is you don't know which cables are in use at any given time.

If you can't follow the bouncing ball after 20 tries 90% of the time then save yourself some money. There are three ways this works out:

You only hit 50-60% of correct guesses = You are just guessing. Saved your money and standard cabling

You hit it 90%+ of correct guesses and you LIKE the copper cable better = Saved your money and get standard cabling

You hit it 90%+ of correct guesses and you LIKE the QED Bi-Wire Silver XT. Now you get to decide if the difference, while preferred, is worth the cost.

The cost seems low either way so you could easily demo both.

Give that man five points for understanding this issue and properly stating the question in statistical terms.

Add another two points for the mention of a SBT.

I'll add my 2¢ by repeating that the OP already has excellent speakers and amp. I'm not sure what problem he might address with those speaker cables.

 

[kurnitb]

Thank's guys for all the inputs.

I'll add my 2¢ by repeating that the OP already has excellent speakers and amp. I'm not sure what problem he might address with those speaker cables.

My original thoughts was whether it was sufficient enough to use qed cables or do I need to purchase better cables as they say about audio, all of the chains play some parts.

 

[jinjuku]

Thank's guys for all the inputs.



My original thoughts was whether it was sufficient enough to use qed cables or do I need to purchase better cables as they say about audio, all of the chains play some parts.

Cables should generally do one thing: Get the signal to the next piece in the chain with as little change made possible. If you want to purchase a proven cable get Mogami Gold. The $$ spent compared to the rest of your setup will be pocket change.

 

[markw]

Thank's guys for all the inputs.



My original thoughts was whether it was sufficient enough to use qed cables or do I need to purchase better cables as they say about audio, all of the chains play some parts.

By all means, get "better" cables. But first, please define "better".

 

[kurnitb]

Okie dokie, thank's guys. Really appreciate all your inputs and feedback.

 

[BMXTRIX]

What gauge speaker wire are you currently using? Is it generic/unknown stuff without the capability of carrying the electrical signal from your amp to the speakers? I really believe that all the science that tells us that cables sounds the same is better than the other religions that are out there. But, putting together a nice looking cable is a perfectly reasonable thing to do even if it sound exactly the same as the cheap 12 gauge wire from Monoprice. I'm personally not a fan of seeing any of my speaker wires so I ran stuff in-walls and through ceilings and floors.

 

[kurnitb]

Hi BMXTRIX, I am currently using QED silver anniversary XT (not bi-wire). I was wondering whether I would need to get the genesis or the X-tube to optimise the performance of my system. Prior to this, I was using a pre-made speaker cable from my local hifi dealer and there was a significant difference in the sound that these produce (sound was more crisp and clear). I have just recently upgraded my speakers and amplifier, so I was thinking whether my current cables are bogging down the performance of the other components, if so then I might want to upgrade to better quality cables. Thank's again.

 

[j_garcia]

Bi-wiring serves zero purpose. You say you heard a "significant" difference with speaker wires and that really does not hold true in my experience. As long as the wire you are using is of sufficient AWG for the the speaker's rating and the length of the run, the differences should be minimal. There are some factors which could account for small differences, but I've tried some very expensive speaker wires just to hear for myeself and found very little difference over the years. While it is true that everything has some influence on the overall sound, speaker wire has the least of that influence IMO.

Take a read here:

Speaker Wire

Size for size, however, copper is exceeded only by silver among the materials commonly used for electrical applications. Silver is more expensive but there is no listening difference, provided the resistance is low enough.

I credit the success of the speaker wire industry to their expert sales and marketing ability. However, it is my experience that ordinary copper wire, as long as it's heavy enough, is just as good as name brands.

Looking at this from a different perspective, there will always be those who will want expensive wire, not because there is an audible difference, but because they may value pride of ownership and prestige in a similar way to that of owning a Tiffany lamp or a Rolex watch.

 

[fmw]

Hi BMXTRIX, I am currently using QED silver anniversary XT (not bi-wire). I was wondering whether I would need to get the genesis or the X-tube to optimise the performance of my system. Prior to this, I was using a pre-made speaker cable from my local hifi dealer and there was a significant difference in the sound that these produce (sound was more crisp and clear). I have just recently upgraded my speakers and amplifier, so I was thinking whether my current cables are bogging down the performance of the other components, if so then I might want to upgrade to better quality cables. Thank's again.

You may have heard a difference but, in fact, there was no difference. All of we humans suffer from hearing bias. We tend to hear what we expect to hear. The entire high end audio industry thrives because of this human characteristic. If we had done the listening test in such a way that you didn't know which cables were in the system at a given time, you wouldn't have heard any difference because we would have controlled the hearing bias.

 

[jinjuku]

Hi BMXTRIX, I am currently using QED silver anniversary XT (not bi-wire). I was wondering whether I would need to get the genesis or the X-tube to optimise the performance of my system. Prior to this, I was using a pre-made speaker cable from my local hifi dealer and there was a significant difference in the sound that these produce (sound was more crisp and clear). I have just recently upgraded my speakers and amplifier, so I was thinking whether my current cables are bogging down the performance of the other components, if so then I might want to upgrade to better quality cables. Thank's again.

If you didn't come about this in a blind manner I personally treat it as mere conjecture at best. The worst person to fool in this regard is oneself and you do owe yourself a level of honesty that many cable proponents are afraid to do (they talk the talk but will not walk the walk).

 

[kurnitb]

Hi fmw,
I was initially using this old QED silver anniversary XT cable that I didn't know initially that it was any good at all because they came with speakers that I've purchased off ebay. I then purchased this A-grade (my hifi dealer mentioned) cables, so I thought they might improve the sound quality of my system and I tried to compare them. How I tested it was that, I've set the sounds from a mono source and had my cables wired each to one speaker (qed to the left and the other to the right). Then what I did was that I stood in front of each speaker while playing the track again and again and after listening to the tracks, I discovered that the sounds were presented with more clarity with the QED cables not muddy and mushed up together when I compare them. Then I had asked a friend of mine to listen to it and had asked which he thinks was better and he agreed with me. That's what led me to the question of whether these old QED cables was any good. Anyways thank's guys.

R.

 

[fuzz092888]

Hi fmw,
I was initially using this old QED silver anniversary XT cable that I didn't know initially that it was any good at all because they came with speakers that I've purchased off ebay. I then purchased this A-grade (my hifi dealer mentioned) cables, so I thought they might improve the sound quality of my system and I tried to compare them. How I tested it was that, I've set the sounds from a mono source and had my cables wired each to one speaker (qed to the left and the other to the right). Then what I did was that I stood in front of each speaker while playing the track again and again and after listening to the tracks, I discovered that the sounds were presented with more clarity with the QED cables not muddy and mushed up together when I compare them. Then I had asked a friend of mine to listen to it and had asked which he thinks was better and he agreed with me. That's what led me to the question of whether these old QED cables was any good. Anyways thank's guys.

R.

Listening in mono is definitely different than listening in stereo. Plus it wasn't a blind test, so the bias is heavy.

 

[jinjuku]

Were the cables switched between speakers is the first question. The 2nd question is was some standard, stranded, 12AWG used also to compare. That would be interesting.

 

[BMXTRIX]

jinjuku is dead on with his statement, and I would strongly recommend that you do indeed perform a comparison for your own mind to know. A single blind test of the cabling, where you have a friend switch standard 12 AWG cable with the cable you are using now. See how it goes with testing of inexpensive cables vs. premium cables. Generally speaking, people can't hear any difference, but if you visually see the cable, and if you aren't comparing the same source, with the same speakers, in the same configuration several times over, then you are going to lean towards the cables that you picked out that cost a lot of cash. Instead, you want to allow sixty or ninety seconds between testing cables and have someone change them out randomly. Sometimes change them, sometimes not. So you don't know what you are listening to. If you can pick out the premium cable 90% of the time, then they are delivering some sort of sonic difference... which is darn near impossible, but may be something your hearing allows for... somehow. When you stand next to a friend and say "Hear how much better this cable is compared to this one?" - they tend to agree, and may even hear it. It is a common tactic used in sales because it works. But, it doesn't make it real.