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gene : And it looks nice
People like pretty cables and who are we to tell them NOT to buy cables that are pretty, and consequently expensive. Don't forget the mechanical quality of the terminations (compression banana plugs don't come cheap).
I just finished building up my Cat 5e cables- Parts Express has some flex sheathing (which I got in blue) and shrink tubing, thus they look great - very 'high end' (big blue snakes with snazzy yellow ends and gold spades. They also sell Monster gold plated spades that are both easy to use and very heavy duty. I ended up using three lengths of Cat 5e plenum rated (teflon insulation) per channel, and separating out the white and colored wires for each side ( +/-) for 12 solid core wires per. The cost to me to build up a 20' pair of speaker cables was in the range of $50-60, including some special tools, like a continuity tester that I didn't have.
I hooked them up with my new Roksan Kandy amp and Thiel speakers, and.......
They sound great! In fact, I've been hauling my CD's around to every high end store in the area and demo-ing some pretty expensive stuff. I had listened to this same speakers driven by top line Krell and multi-thousand buck speaker cables, and this setup sounds as good as anything I've listened to, even before I've even started tuning the system in.
BTW- the Kandy is a real bargain too. However, as this is the speaker thread. I listened to some CD's that I use- Taiko drums and Jazz, and everything from cymbals to the big drums sounded like they were in the room. The soundstage went beyond the speakers, almost a 3-D effect at times, and the image was pinpoint. One track featured someone moving back and forth across the stage playing a steel triangle or small bell- I could easily track them as they moved and the movement was very smooth- no jerks or jumps in the image. I could easily hear the attack and decay in the big drums, as well as wood blocks (used percussively ).
Obviously the Kandy was a big player here, and the Thiel's do have a reputation of being merciless with substandard equipment. BTW- Audio Advisors sells the Kandy new for a thousand bucks, they list returned/demo equipment on their site (with the 30 day return and full warranty), and I was able to pick up a returned one for $800- it arrived in great shape, looks like new, and obviously works fine- seems to be 'pre-broken-in', considering the sound right from the box. The CD player is a Rotel RCD-1072, and the interconnects are Phoenix Gold platnium level also from Parts Express- at about 30 bucks each, they seem to have all the 'whiz-bang' technology as the mega-buck ones.
I'd be happy to post more details about how I made the cables if anyone is interested. I'm an 'all thumbs' kind of guy, so (quite literally) If I can do it, anyone can.</font>
