cables 101? The brands and differant sounds?

There are some general observations. Transparent and MIT tend to roll-off the highs due to the networks, but have very strong bass unless you go for the reference versions, which are quite good in most respects. Goertz laminated ribbons, Nordost Valhalla, Empirical Clarity7 and Analysis-plus all have very low-inductance so dynamics, imaging and high-frequencies will be good.

With other cables such as Cardas, Tara Labs, Kimber, Straightwire, Monster and Audioquest, you really need to try them with your system.

Actually, our whole hobby is a necessary evil in that we would all rather have the live performance in front of us. But you'd hurt Bob Dylan's feelings when, after 45 minutes, you switched to Miles (well, I guess you couldn't) ;-) So, yes -- I agree with Bluenose that cables are also a necessary evil. I think the core advice from Bluenose is "try before you buy" -- there are 30 day trial periods aplenty. As Sean indicated, your system (combined with your room acoustics) is unique. As Tekunda suggested in another post, cable companies seldom test for impurities so there is no real assurance (except for some companies) that even two cables from the same company sound alike. Try, try, try and trust your ears!

Thanks: Sound advise. I just replaced my preamp with a ML380s feed into a ML336 and ML Prodigy speakers. I sold my source to pay for the upgraded preamp so I am source less except for my magnum dynalab 102. What IC's do you suggest for the tuner to preamp, What IC's would you recommend for preamp to amp and finally speaker cable. A short lest please to audition. Tekunda has recommended his hms grande final cables;...?

For the money, I would try a pair of Tice interconnects. They're being heavily discounted--1.5m pair @ $137.50. I got two sets and am *very* satisfied...

All Kimber speaker cables are of a low inductance design and typically offer a very low nominal impedance also. The 8 series and above are low in both inductance and nominal impedance. The 4 series still measure better than most but only half as good as the aforementioned 8's. As such, the sonic characteristics of the 8 series and above should remain pretty consistent from system to system with the lower end cables ( 4TC, 4VS, 4PR ) varying the most. Kimber is one of the few companies that CAN and WILL provide you with full technical and electrical measurements on their cables. As you might expect, they do have an actual research and development department with real "lab grade" test equipment too.

Goertz are the lowest impedance cables on the market. They are also the lowest inductance cables on the market. They are VERY high in capacitance though and this can cause some ultra wide-bandwidth designs to get squirrely, possibly even doing damage to them. As mentioned before, if in doubt about this, use the impedance matching ( Zobel ) networks that they provide free of charge.

Audioquest, Axon, Straightwire, XLO, etc.. along with quite a few other product lines that make use of multiple individual conductors wired in parallel can be configured to drastically reduce inductance. However, this may require terminating the wires in a slightly different pattern than what they do at the factory. Since most designers are aware of this, they were obviously going for specific impedance characteristics when they designed and terminated the cables in the fashion that they did.

Nordost is typically higher in inductance than some of the other cables mentioned above. Their nominal impedance is also quite high, even higher than most zip cords aka "monster" type two side by side conductor designs. This may be one of the reasons that they seem to lack bottom end in many systems. I am not directly familiar with the Valhalla design, so keep that in mind.

I have not visited the Analysis Plus website in a LONG time, but going from what i know about that design and cables in general, i would venture to say that it is most assuredly a much higher impedance design than the Goertz and probably almost double that of Kimber 8TC, 8VS or 8PR. I would also think that the Oval 9's would be slightly more inductive ( or should i say less capacitive )than the same Kimber's. This would put them somewhere between the Kimber's and Nordost's in both the inductance and nominal impedance category. That would strictly be an "educated guess" though as i have never measured them ( but have used the Oval 9's ).

While i have never used or even seen a pair, i would like to try some of Dunlavy's speaker cable. While i know that he "supposedly" doesn't believe that the difference in speaker cables is audible, he is a REAL engineer. As such, i do know that his cables were designed accordingly and do measure excellently in what most consider the "important areas".

If i stepped on any toes with this post, sorry about that. I'm trying to be Detective Joe Friday and report just the facts. Whether or not you like specific cables within your system is a matter of system synergy and personal taste. Sean
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