Speaker cable upgrade please help........

Try some of Paul Speltz' Anti-Cables. They run $10 per foot, per pair, terminated with spades. That is, a 10-ft pair will cost you $100.

Rsbeck, you must like pushing on a rope. :) Do you realize where you are? You're trying to make a sound, objective argument in a forum where people *want* to believe there are easily audible differences between two speaker cables.

Nicksgem10s, you should listen to Rsbeck anyway.

Regarding actual product, try www.bluejeanscable.com. These guys are just using Belden and Canare wire with decent quality terminations at reasonable prices. Their service is pretty good too. Of course, I like 10ga zip cord with WBT spades and bananas, but that's a do-it-yourself project, and the WBTs just look and feel nice.

There are, incidentally, measurable differences between cables, but almost nothing will be measurably or audibly better than 10ga zip cord. Silver is about 5% more conductive than copper. 5%. And there's no measurable difference between a silver conductor and a copper one that's 105% of the size of the silver one. Well, at least not at audio frequencies. (A smaller conductor will have less skin effect in the MHz range, but compared to MHz audio is like DC.) Resistance, capacitance, inductance. That's all there is. No one can reasonably explain why two conductors with similar specifications will sound different. There's just the assertion that they do. Would you spend $280/ft on an unsupported assertion? Not me. And as Rsbeck implies, cables don't have complex side-effects that active electronics do, like intermodulation distortion, even and odd harmonic distortions, or added noise, or the myriad of other things active circuits have to worry about. Since our ears & brains can be so easily and provably fooled, why would anyone believe someone's assertion that are differences that can't be measured or explained?

Nick, I think I read the same review you read. (Absolut Sound review on Home Depot cables 14-gauge powercord extension - you get rid of the plug and insert decent bananas - this are made of pure copper). I haven't tried but this weekend I am going to buy the cable and I will try it next week. I heard copper gives you warmer sound, whereas silver is brighter. I just bought a pair of Triangle Antal XS so I think I will go for copper.

I wonder if you can do the same thing with the interconnects. Any idea anyone?

Hi Nick,

Of your list, the only cable that I have passing acquaintance with is the Audio Magic Sorceror. As far as I can tell, it is the only ribbon-conductor cable on your list.

Regardless of your other choices, I'd definitely recommend trying at least one ribbon-based speaker cable set- in my evaluations, the difference between a ribbon-based cable and everything else was dramatic.

There has been a lot of substantial discussion about why ribbon-based speaker cables are different, both here and on AA- Unfortunately, the relevant threads tend to get trolled pretty badly, so a little patience is needed to dig out the good stuff.

A (non-comprehensive) list of manufacturers of ribbon-based speaker cables:

Alpha Core
Audio Magic
Magnan
Pure Note
Silversmith
Stealth

I'll point you toward a recent thread where a lot of cable design issues got addressed- it should get you started in backtracking to other discussions, should you be so inclined:

cable thread

Also, the most authoritative article on signal propagation theory I've found is here (.pdf format):

Hawksford Essex Echo

The article explains Malcolm Hawksford's theory of how cable design and signal propagation interact. It turns out that a ribbon geometry is one good solution to the signal distortion issues he discusses.

All FYI and FWIW only,

Good Luck,

Oops.

For whatever reason, the Audiogon formatting system messes with the Hawksford Essex Echo paper url in the previous post. Here it is for cutting and pasting:

www.essex.ac.uk/ese/research/audio_lab/malcolmspubdocs/G3%20HFN%20Essex_Echo_(cables_1985).pdf

Cheers,