Cables - again yawn...

I've been getting used to my new hi fi kit (see other thread about chinese stuff) and I'm not really up on cables to balance it.

I've been playing around with a couple of throw away speaker cables which seem to be oposite ends of the spectrum. One is a big thick (11 AWG) speaker cable which is great for bass and underpins everything with a deep boom I can feel, but with an expense of the highs and recessed mids.. the other is a 16 AWG silver plated coper cable which loses the bass, brightens the highs and brings the mids out quite a bit.

I want something in between, something which keeps the bass of the first cable with the highs/mids of the second cable.

Any ideas - I'll go to about £50 per m unterminated.

Also an I/C with the balance of a QED Quintex only with higher detail.

cheers

 

If the cable lengths are modest, say <5m you will find that the differences are caused by visual bias - the big fat cable sounds bigger and fatter 'cos that's how it looks etc.

Very thin cables, long ones with high loop resistance can subtly change the sound (and measurably) but that isn't the case with most cable designed for home or studio use.

I'd recommend World Designs speaker cable at £1.95pm, or Canare professional cable if you want something good, audiophile looking but cheap.

Failing that, pick up some 13 amp mains flex.

For interconnect, the cheapest QED cable is as good as it gets sonically, ie it will sound like any other competent cable but is nicely made and durable, so worth a few quid.
For DIY, I'd recommend Klotz La Grange instrument cable (cheap, low capacitance and very tuff) coupled with Neutrik Profi RCA plugs. THe Neutriks sound no different to any other plug but importantly they have a sprung outer connection so they always connect to ground/return before live - stops nasty accidents with bangs and buzzes through the system.

 

For speaker cable i would go with something from Chord - they will have something at your chosen price point or easy to pick up second hand on ebay from people upgrading. I've always found them to be well balanced cables in a variety of systems

 

Yeah , I demo'd the system with chord cables , though not sure which ones - knowing my luck it was £2000 worth or something

 

I got some Mogemi speaker cable. Tested it against stuff costing between 2 and 10 times the price. Great cable and not expensive.

 

missing link cables let you try before you buy

 

How about Cyrus?

 

I've just bought a decent IC (QED Silver Spiral) and picked up 2m pairs of QED Silver XT speaker wire as a tester...

brings out a sort of EQ boost in the upper mids and highs... sounds really detailed but some CDs bring pain.

It can't be miss matched kit as CD/Amp are both Primare which is meant to be soft sounding and the Quad 22L2 didn't sound bright in the demo room. I guess it's the room acoustics.

13x15x9 ft , pretty bare..leather couch/chair,large LCD Telly, wooden floors , one large 7ft tall window spreading nearly the whole of the room width and a rug on the floor.

Without sticking funny looking home made boxes of rockwool on the walls, what's a good soaker upper of high frequencies that doesn't cost the earth ?

Samantha : Where can you buy thick Mogami speaker cables from in the UK ? All I can find online are 8 way jack looms and mic leads etc.

Maybe it would be cheaper just buying a decent quality stereo parametric EQ or something.

cheers

 

chord oddy gets my vote.

 

Have a go with the 'anticables'. Work great for me

 

yeah , I've ordered a couple of lengths of anticables , also some QED Revelation to see if they make much difference.

hopefully , they will both arrive tuesday

 

Sorry - can't help. I bought mine 2nd hand.

 

I think it's patrick dixon on FinkPish - he sells them iirc...

 

I found the QED SS quite a nice sounding cable but a with a tad of bass overhang vs VDH MKIII, and a tad too top happy for me, with the MK III lacking something up top, for my ears and kit any way.

Maybe some second hand Nordost Blue Heaven....
Loved the bass and vocals