Impact Acoustics SonicWave Speaker Cable Review

[gene]

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/SonicWavecablep1.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 125px; HEIGHT: 125px" alt=[sonic] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/sonic_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>While the debate rages on with the “Cable Experts”, its nice to know Impact Acoustics is on the same mission as Audioholics – a “no BS” approach while delivering the best products and/or services. If you’re after a true high performance cable that measures better than most of the costlier esoteric designs, but don’t want to break the bank, the SonicWave cable should be on your short list.<?xml:namespace prefix = o /></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">[Read the Review]</SPAN></P>

 

[jneutron]

While the debate rages on with the “Cable Experts”

What debate? Did I miss something??

Gene, that AC resistance curve for the sonicwave is way off. Can you re-do it?

Great putting the meteor and sw on the same graphs..nice to see comparison.

The sw inductance is falling quite a bit faster, I presume it's internals are larger guage than the meteor's. The graph shows all 30 nH gone by 100Khz, so I believe your auto-cancel feature is having some problem at the higher freq's.

The effective dielectric constant of the meteor is 5.5, while the sw has 2.69, both at 100 hz.. I assume the meteor has different insulation?, or perhaps it's just less parallel conductors..

How's it goin? Long time no talk.

Cheers, John

 

[gellor]

What, no listening tests? (KIDDING!)

 

[mtrycrafts]

What, no listening tests? (KIDDING!)

I think he ran out of new words to describe the sonic characteristics

 

[Haoleb]

I have to admit its the first cable review ive seen where there is not a single mention of how it SOUNDS. Im not saying that cables make any difference in sound. Just an observation

 

[mtrycrafts]

At the 'Test Equipment Lab' link, noticed Imaging Science Foundation misspelled as Imagine, two places.

 

[Nick250]

If you’re after a true high performance cable that measures better than most of the costlier esoteric designs, but don’t want to break the bank, the SonicWave cable should be on your short list.

What is a "high performance cable"?

Nick

 

[MBauer]

Expensive

Compared to good old Home Depot wire and some Parts Express spade lugs or banana plugs.

 

[gene]

I have to admit its the first cable review ive seen where there is not a single mention of how it SOUNDS. Im not saying that cables make any difference in sound. Just an observation

They sound chocolatey

What is a "high performance cable"?

Something that measures better than 12AWG generic Zip Cord.

What debate? Did I miss something??

No actually the debate amoung the soothsayers seems to have gone silent as of late

Gene, that AC resistance curve for the sonicwave is way off. Can you re-do it? The sw inductance is falling quite a bit faster, I presume it's internals are larger guage than the meteor's. The graph shows all 30 nH gone by 100Khz, so I believe your auto-cancel feature is having some problem at the higher freq's.

I know it looks odd but I measured it twice. I will do a recal and try it again this week and report back.

The effective dielectric constant of the meteor is 5.5, while the sw has 2.69, both at 100 hz.. I assume the meteor has different insulation?, or perhaps it's just less parallel conductors..

Less parallel conductors.

How's it goin? Long time no talk.

Great thanks for asking. You still smashing atoms in your supercollider?

 

[jneutron]

I know it looks odd but I measured it twice. I will do a recal and try it again this week and report back.

Okey-dokey. The fact that it drops below the dc resistance is the key, it cannot do so. Your test instrument is lying to you. My first guess is the autozero function.

You still smashing atoms in your supercollider?

Which one? The one at work, or the one at home?

Cheers, John

 

[Geno]

You didn't mention whether or not these cables "lifted veils"...

The chocolatey part sounds good, though

 

[gene]

Okey-dokey. The fact that it drops below the dc resistance is the key, it cannot do so. Your test instrument is lying to you. My first guess is the autozero function.

John,

You're a pain in the butt, but absolutely correct! It turns out my measuerments were fine but I messed up a decimal point when importing the data to excel. I did this review late at night which I suppose isn't a good thing to do. Thanks for finding this and the review has since then been updated.

Which one? The one at work, or the one at home?

If you have one at home, I'd hate to see your electric bill

 

[jneutron]

John,

You're a pain in the butt, but absolutely correct! It turns out my measuerments were fine but I messed up a decimal point when importing the data to excel. I did this review late at night which I suppose isn't a good thing to do. Thanks for finding this and the review has since then been updated.

No prob. The graph now looks better. The 1Khz resistance reading is too high, but only by a small amount, and certainly within the measurement error. It can slide..

If you have one at home, I'd hate to see your electric bill

Who said I end up owing them money?

 

[agw]

Just registered

Hi guys,
I just registered because I thought you were too funny...
Well, I think I'm going to buy a pair of Sonicwave to test them out but my question is about the length.
One speaker needs an 18 foot run and the other only 3; should I buy two 18 or one 18 and one 3?

Second question...do you guys know bettercables.com? How do they generally compare in build quality?
Thanks much
Andrea

 

[gene]

Hi guys,
I just registered because I thought you were too funny...
Well, I think I'm going to buy a pair of Sonicwave to test them out but my question is about the length.

One speaker needs an 18 foot run and the other only 3; should I buy two 18 or one 18 and one 3?

3ft seems very short with no margin of error if you need more slack to move things around. I suggest buying a 6ft length and tucking away the excess behind the speaker or your rack.

Second question...do you guys know bettercables.com? How do they generally compare in build quality?

We aren't big fans of their products. We've found some of their terminations to be a bit flimsy and many of their marketing claims are bogus.

 

[agw]

3ft seems very short with no margin of error if you need more slack to move things around. I suggest buying a 6ft length and tucking away the excess behind the speaker or your rack.

Thanks Gene, so no problem in having different lengths. I'll go for 6 and 18 then.

We aren't big fans of their products. We've found some of their terminations to be a bit flimsy and many of their marketing claims are bogus.

I hear you but those that I have bought have served ne well so far while some really expensive MIT gave me a lot of troubles with the connectors getting locked.