Speaker cables?!?

wesimmo · 30 Jul 2019 at 21:22

Hifi is the absolute worst industry for snake oil and snobbery IMO, cables included. IME, yes if you use the thin wire you used to get with cheap Sanyo midi systems you can upgrade it, but I've never been able to tell the difference beyond that.

I bought some stupidly expensive stuff when I got 5 numbers on the lottery years ago and went crazy in Richer Sounds. At one point I mislaid it in storage somewhere so bought some stop gap cabling and I've never bothered to re wire with the expensive stuff.

When people start testing to see if the HD in the NAS makes a difference to the quality of the soundstage and all that rubbish I do wonder!

GoRedwings19 · 31 Jul 2019 at 16:26

wesimmo> richer sounds don't sell expensive speaker cables, do they?

wesimmo · 31 Jul 2019 at 16:41

GoRedwings19 said:
wesimmo> richer sounds don't sell expensive speaker cables, do they?

It probably wasn't as stupid as you can pay, but back in 1994 I spent about 10-15% of my outlay on cabling. Too much.

Rroff · 31 Jul 2019 at 16:45

wesimmo said:
When people start testing to see if the HD in the NAS makes a difference to the quality of the soundstage and all that rubbish I do wonder!

Sadly that and worse goes on - I've seen people even raising Ethernet (not using any analogue component) cables off the floor with vibration dampers to improve "sound quality".

GoRedwings19 · 31 Jul 2019 at 16:52

wesimmo said:
It probably wasn't as stupid as you can pay, but back in 1994 I spent about 10-15% of my outlay on cabling. Too much.

But wasn't that because What Hi Fi used to say that a budget of 10-15% should be used on speaker cables and cabling? Shame on you for listening to What Hi Fi

hornetstinger · 31 Jul 2019 at 16:56

Why not use a solid silver cuterly between amp terminal and speakers?

wesimmo · 31 Jul 2019 at 17:01

GoRedwings19 said:
But wasn't that because What Hi Fi used to say that a budget of 10-15% should be used on speaker cables and cabling? Shame on you for listening to What Hi Fi

Yep, that was the reason, I was 18 though and had a wad of free cash in my pocket. Before the internet too really!

Dervious · 31 Jul 2019 at 19:43

This cable might be worth a try......

https://www.russandrews.com/select-ks6068-speaker-cable-with-wbt0610ag-bananas-33739993131/

Might as well order some of their "super fuses" at the same time.

https://www.russandrews.com/5a-superfuse-mains-plug-fuse-single/

theone8181 · 31 Jul 2019 at 21:36

Dervious said:
This cable might be worth a try......

https://www.russandrews.com/select-ks6068-speaker-cable-with-wbt0610ag-bananas-33739993131/

Might as well order some of their "super fuses" at the same time.

https://www.russandrews.com/5a-superfuse-mains-plug-fuse-single/

I don't understand how bullocks like that is legal to sell. I've also seen a 13 amp socket extension for 1500 quid that improves audio as well. I agree about the snake oil.

Rroff · 31 Jul 2019 at 21:47

theone8181 said:
I've also seen a 13 amp socket extension for 1500 quid that improves audio as well.

Only thing I would say, though it doesn't need that kind of money, things like ground loop isolation and other filtering will improve audio - though a lot of that is done more effectively and cheaper at the DC side.

GoRedwings19 · 31 Jul 2019 at 22:48

wesimmo said:
Yep, that was the reason, I was 18 though and had a wad of free cash in my pocket. Before the internet too really!

Tbh I totally understand. Thankfully we have the internet for more research and reviews. But I often find that the retailers that are willing to look after customers will always let you home demo for a set period.

hornetstinger · 31 Jul 2019 at 23:08

What about magic pebbles?

theoneofgod · 1 Aug 2019 at 03:18

Try find some with a red stripe. Quicker audio response that way.

wesimmo · 1 Aug 2019 at 07:46

Dervious said:
This cable might be worth a try......

https://www.russandrews.com/select-ks6068-speaker-cable-with-wbt0610ag-bananas-33739993131/

Might as well order some of their "super fuses" at the same time.

https://www.russandrews.com/5a-superfuse-mains-plug-fuse-single/

Don't forget the burn in service.

SUPER BURN IN
Super Burn-In is the name we give to a unique cable enhancement that we've co-developed. One of our most exciting innovations, Super Burn-In uses a revolutionary technique to treat Kimber and Russ Andrews cables.

There are three levels of treatment; the first is standard Super Burn-In which can be applied to almost all Kimber and Russ Andrews power, interconnects and speaker cables.

The second is an enhanced level of treatment - Super Burn-In Plus - which is a two-stage process, suitable for our PowerKords and SuperKords only.

The third level of treatment is called Super Burn-In Lite which we have developed to treat mains fuses and our PowerBar mains extension.

theone8181 · 1 Aug 2019 at 08:23

I would just love to meet some of the people that have bought these products

.

lucid · 1 Aug 2019 at 09:32

theone8181 said:
I would just love to meet some of the people that have bought these products.

You'll find them ordinary folk, and just as convinced that these products make a difference to their systems as those here are convinced that there is none. It's all a question of perspective.

Put it another way, out of every hundred people you meet, how many do you think really give two figs about graphics cards or speakers or NAS drives? One, two maybe? The rest probably think we're all potty to spend what we do. To them there's no benefit in any of this. So who's right?

dowie · 1 Aug 2019 at 13:31

lucid said:
You'll find them ordinary folk, and just as convinced that these products make a difference to their systems as those here are convinced that there is none. It's all a question of perspective.

Not really, lots of the claims made about hi-fi can be objectively tested. Frequently claims about expensive speaker cables etc.. are unsupported.

Put it another way, out of every hundred people you meet, how many do you think really give two figs about graphics cards or speakers or NAS drives? One, two maybe? The rest probably think we're all potty to spend what we do. To them there's no benefit in any of this. So who's right?

Depends on the claim being made, generally if you can objectively demonstrate the existence of(difference from etc..) and benefit of whatever is being claimed then you're probably right to make the claim.

hornetstinger · 1 Aug 2019 at 14:07

I offer a burn in service for oled owners. For only £1000 plus 50% vat I will display a full white image on your screen in text in hdr text saying"gullible moron" with black background and set it to full contrast, dynamic contrast, 100% oled light, hdr on, with contrast enhancements enabled, peak whiteness set to maximum and left for a month.

lucid · 1 Aug 2019 at 14:44

dowie said:
Not really, lots of the claims made about hi-fi can be objectively tested. Frequently claims about expensive speaker cables etc.. are unsupported.

That's not the point I made.

I said that they believe the gear they've bought makes a difference. You can't argue that point because we're not discussing what can be proved or disproved; we're discussing a person's beliefs.

dowie said:
Depends on the claim being made, generally if you can objectively demonstrate the existence of(difference from etc..) and benefit of whatever is being claimed then you're probably right to make the claim.

Again, I haven't said that any specific claims have been made. All I have done is point out the different degrees on the same value line. One person spends money on bits for their car, another on Hi-Fi gear, someone else on performance PC parts. Each person enjoys their own hobby, but the others can't understand the obsession. Their wives and girlfriends all think they're bonkers and would spend it on shoes.

dowie · 1 Aug 2019 at 14:58

lucid said:
That's not the point I made.

I said that they believe the gear they've bought makes a difference. You can't argue that point because we're not discussing what can be proved or disproved; we're discussing a person's beliefs.

Of course you can. Lots of claims/beliefs can be objectively tested. If someone believes that some magical pebble placed on their system enhances the sound then you can test that... I'd suspect that the person won't be able to perceive the difference in sound in a blind test.