Surround Sound and HiFi Cable

ristac · 31 Dec 2023 at 10:20

What do you all use. Years ago I picked up some used QED Silver XT and Anniversary cable with airlocks attached on each end at a very reasonable price from a HiFi forum market place.

We are soon moving, I am unable to take the cable with me, partly because we had a new French door fitted so part of the cable was buried under it out of sight, partly because two further runs of it are behind other immovable positions and skirting

I will be using decent surround sound, Monitor Audio radius 90 speakers and a Pro-Ject turntable.

hornetstinger · 31 Dec 2023 at 14:10

Kabeldirect decent price.

ristac · 31 Dec 2023 at 22:49

hornetstinger said:
Kabeldirect decent price.

Noticed a few others elsewhere suggest these

SamyBoy13 · 1 Jan 2024 at 21:36

Honestly, for AV set up cables such as from Kabeldirect which can be purchased on rainforest are a reasonable solution. Make sure you buy a decent thickness for long runs. 2.5mm seems like a sweet spot between retaining sound quality and fitting between side skirts etc., if you want to hide the cables.

My only concern is that the QED silver XT is silver plated oxygen free copper cable. Silver makes the sound little more detailed and sometimes bright in wrong speaker/amps combo. In my personal view, the difference between copper and silver is audible but not night & day. Plus once you run room EQ I doubt if you will be able to notice it at all.

JasonM · 2 Jan 2024 at 15:15

My main speakers (in front room) use 4mm DCSK, DCSK and Kabledirect are both German, so probably from same factory.

Don't skimp for the sake of £20, the cable your installing could be used for next 20, 30+ years.

Never owned silver speaker cable, but do own silver interconnects. It's true silver often brings out more detail / clarity.

dholdi · 2 Jan 2024 at 15:25

When I installed our surround system I used the Van Damme Blue and to my old ears it sounds great.

Blue Series Studio Grade Speaker Cable | Van-Damme

Van-Damme grade speaker cable is useful for the recording studio environment, recording studios, live and presentation markets.

www.van-damme.com

Our room is only small so used 2.5mm.
It was a few years ago now, not sure of current cost, it was quite reasonable in comparison with what you can pay.

Armageus · 2 Jan 2024 at 15:29

Dcsk and kabledirect 2.5mm here

JasonM · 2 Jan 2024 at 15:35

dholdi said:
When I installed our surround system I used the Van Damme Blue and to my old ears it sounds great.

Blue Series Studio Grade Speaker Cable | Van-Damme

Van-Damme grade speaker cable is useful for the recording studio environment, recording studios, live and presentation markets.

www.van-damme.com

Our room is only small so used 2.5mm.
It was a few years ago now, not sure of current cost, it was quite reasonable in comparison with what you can pay.

I forgot about Van Damme, their cables are very very good. Their studio cables are used by the likes of Abbey Road, often the Van Damme cables are better than 'Audiophile' cables costing many times more.

Lowe · 4 Jan 2024 at 14:35

Van Damme OFC. I used it professionally for years, so it's a no brainer for me at home too.

theone8181 · 5 Jan 2024 at 07:02

JasonM said:
My main speakers (in front room) use 4mm DCSK, DCSK and Kabledirect are both German, so probably from same factory.

Don't skimp for the sake of £20, the cable your installing could be used for next 20, 30+ years.

Never owned silver speaker cable, but do own silver interconnects. It's true silver often brings out more detail / clarity.

Why would it sound different? If anything I'd have thought silver to be worse as imo it tarnishes more than copper.

Armageus · 5 Jan 2024 at 07:26

theone8181 said:
Why would it sound different? If anything I'd have thought silver to be worse as imo it tarnishes more than copper.

It doesn't - it conducts all audio frequencies in the same way as copper, any difference is placebo or audiophile nonsense

Does silver used in interconnects "sound" different than copper?

I searched ASR and didn't find the answer. If I missed something, add the link; thank you. Question: Is there something about a solid silver or a silver alloy that can change an interconnect cable's performance in the audible range? If so what, and are there any measurements available?

www.audiosciencereview.com

apple_man77 · 5 Jan 2024 at 07:50

Van Damme Blue 2.5mm will be all you need mate.

I use it all round in my cinema room with some fairly high end kit with no issues at all so should be fine for your MA's.

200sols · 5 Jan 2024 at 09:47

theone8181 said:
Why would it sound different? If anything I'd have thought silver to be worse as imo it tarnishes more than copper.

Snake oil is big business.

theone8181 · 6 Jan 2024 at 11:36

200sols said:
Snake oil is big business.

Oh yea I get that, very easy when nobody takes any results other than it sounds different.

hornetstinger · 6 Jan 2024 at 11:39

200sols said:
Snake oil is big business.

Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Gold Extreme Level UK Mains Fuse (13A)

Future Shop is thrilled to unveil Quantum Science Audio (QSA), renowned for its expertise in the audiophile fuse domain. With over 22 years of delving into 'Bottle Neck Distortion', QSA fuses offer remarkable system enhancements previously underestimated in the industry. These fuses focus on...

www.futureshop.co.uk

whats profit margin on that

Firestar_3x · 6 Jan 2024 at 13:55

I've exclusively moved to Monoprice CL2 for the cinema room, come on a drum, designed to be installed in walls, pure copper and colour coded cores.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=2817

Gone through a few 250ft drums and i'm really happy with the quality, can be purchased in the UK.

Jamauk · 6 Jan 2024 at 15:51

Currently I'm using Cat6 (Non-CCA) cables for all speakers. A bit controversial I know, my neighbor questions how capable it is of handling the kind of currents the Linn speakers and Tag McLaren amplifiers give/receive, to be fair he probably is a good judge considering he built my Tag amps and the Linn Aktiv crossover. He uses Linn cables on his setup (Aktiv Linn Nakamichi).

I'm curious to know others opinions on this.

Firegod · 6 Jan 2024 at 16:31

For my little 2.1 HiFi setup in the office I use Chord ClearwayX speaker cable with their ChordOhmic connectors.

JasonM · 7 Jan 2024 at 06:17

Alpha audio measured speaker cables and differences were shown on test equipment.

Megatest speaker cables - real measurements, samples and blind test!

What a bizarrely intensive, educational and special speaker cable test this has been to do. The aim was to establish a link between measuring and listening.

www.alpha-audio.net

The things that effect cables are resistance, capacitance, dialectic and also the shielding if any on a speaker cable.

Silver is around 8% lower resistance than copper. Van Damme use silver coated copper for their interconnect cables, their cables are used professionally around the world. Silver cable is also used in aerospace, and ministry of defence uses silver cable for communication signals.

robj20 · 7 Jan 2024 at 07:28

JasonM said:
Alpha audio measured speaker cables and differences were shown on test equipment.

Megatest speaker cables - real measurements, samples and blind test!

What a bizarrely intensive, educational and special speaker cable test this has been to do. The aim was to establish a link between measuring and listening.

www.alpha-audio.net

The things that effect cables are resistance, capacitance, dialectic and also the shielding if any on a speaker cable.

Silver is around 8% lower resistance than copper. Van Damme use silver coated copper for their interconnect cables, their cables are used professionally around the world. Silver cable is also used in aerospace, and ministry of defence uses silver cable for communication signals.

Aerospace use silver plated copper. It's more about the insulation than the actual cable.
Namely high fire resistance, chemical resistant, and low smoke, plus abrasion resistance.
It is 100% nothing to do with it sounding better.