What speaker cable made a major difference in the sound quality of your speakers??

Synergistic Reseach Atmosphere Level 4 SC's.  The interesting thing is that the SC's I had before (Acoustic Zen Double Barrel Shotgun) were great, but the difference across all parameters when I changed over to the Level 4's was immediate and transformational.  I love the additional deep inner detail, transient speed, beautiful true high's without compromising warmth and ambience, lush palpable mids (including an incredible realism to the human voice), exacting and impactful bass and a sound stage that is deep and wide.  I have heard the Atmoshere Level 2's and they have the same incredilbe qualities for less, but I found going up in price gave me the justiable difference.  I could not be happier.

I have the Crystal Clear Audio Cable (Magnum Opus) 99.9999% (6N) Silver and made a huge difference in sound Quality.  http://www.crystalclearaudio.com

@sabai - Interconnects are pure silver with insulation. Connectors for interconnects have insulation, they’re KLEI pure Harmony, so they’re pure silver. I’d need insulation, though. Kids and pets abound in my house.

Sorry folks my link to Townshend Audio in my earlier post was not correct it should be: www.townshendaudio.com

Sorry for any issues caused.

'Jaw-dropping' is asking a lot of any improvement, as others have said. However, I have found that all the cables can tune a system to a really valuable degree. I used some home-made copper cables for a while that were virtually identical to Wireworld Polaris (old polaris). I also had QEC Silver 12 (which is actually copper) that was very, very slightly better than Nordost Purple Flars.. or perhaps a tiny bit better. However I purchased some Analysis Plus Oval 8 and they are wonderful; very easy-sounding and balanced top to bottom. Definitely in your price range used. 

toddverrone,

I understand with kids and pets -- which is not my case. You can order insulation on Ebay, as well.

Don't waste your money...check out http://www.laventure.net/tourist/cables.htm
they have a very good article on speaker wires and connections.  Thoughts and opinions on the matter. 

I use .9999 "pure" silver made my own speaker wires, and interconnects once again all silver.  They have blown away every name brand and that is no b.s. 

I understand that some or most can not make their own, the above mentioned website also sells them complete.  Still cheaper than highly over priced name brands.  

It is worth a read....that is free...the result could be priceless.

rrwolfgram,

My silver wires also blew away every brand name I have ever had. Thanks very much for this link.

Transparent.

I put together some .999 silver loudspeaker cables a few months ago using info from the website @rrwolfgram mentioned and couldn't be happier with the results. Total cost for an 8' pair was just shy of $200. 

Audio Note SPx silver Litz, one of the few components I doubt I will ever replace.  The retail price is very expensive but I managed to buy mine as a demo from an Audio Note dealer within your budget.

I have to agree with @grannyring . The Duelund 16GA tinned copper is an absolute giant killer. It smashed my $3000 Argento's. 
At $10 a meter, it's a no brainer. 

@rrwolfgram and @wtf - so funny, I’ve been reading that site and a few others like it since @sabai posted about making his own silver cables..

Did you guys use the spaghetti Teflon tubing for insulation? Was it difficult to thread the wire through? Did you use close to the same size tubing or oversized? Thanks in advance.

My main problem is that my speakers need power, so I’ll need something fat, which gets expensive. I’m trying to decide on two possible solutions: either a single run of 10awg then make some jumpers from the same wire, or two runs, one of 12awg to the woofers and one of 14awg to the tweeters and mids. Right now I’m using cat5 diy cables (copper) that have the equivalent of 11awg to the woofers and 13awg to the tweeters and mids. They sound way better than the copper 12awg twisted pair cables they replaced. That makes me think the biwiring solution for the silver cables would sound better, but the copper cat5 could sound better than the copper twisted pair simply because of the larger combined gauge (9awg vs 12awg) instead of the different architecture.

Thoughts..?

Auvio Square Parallel Premium 12 G speaker cable. $0.48/ft (no longer available?)
It's 99.95% O2 free copper, 50% of the strands are silver coated. 
It's not a "jaw dropping" improvement; but a solid one. Wish I could get more.

An 8’ long DIY stack of 3/8" wide .999 silver foil, each foil wrapped in Teflon tape, stacked, and drawn through an earth-grounded shield of tinned copper-braided tubing. About 1.5 lbs. of silver in all, at the commodity price of $750 plus a long afternoon of work.

@dgarretson .. what is the braided copper for? Is that one of your conductors​? Or are you dividing the ribbons into the pos and neg conductors and using the braided copper as a shield?

The latter: as a shield floated from the conductors. I soldered a wire to the braided copper sleeve and connected that wire to the ground pin in an AC outlet. Each conductor is in a separate sleeve.  Shielding improved upon the earlier unshielded version.

@toddverrone .. the whole project didn’t take much time at all. I used 16 gauge wire and 14 gauge jacketing. The wire threaded easily enough and just needed to be guided deliberately. Here’s a link to my blog post about the build where you’ll find a couple of links to exactly what & where I purchased the materials I used:

https://melvinsfoolishthings.blog/2017/03/20/loudspeaker-cables/

Aauugh, I just had to read this thread. I have a pair of Morrow SP-7's on the way and now I read all these glowing reviews of the Clear Day's. I moved up to the 7's from the 5's on a trade-up deal. I think I'll let the Morrow's burn in good then pick up a pair of Clear Day's and sell which ever I don't like. The good thing about cables in this price range is that it's actually affordable to try different brands. Anyone care to comment on the SP-7's?

Buy fine round dead soft silver (not sterling) from riogrande.com, stick it in a thick untreated cotton rope, add TechFlex on outside and don't use termination for speakers or amps. Bigger is better! Don't go thinner than 12 gauge - 10 or 8 gauge is better - depending on budget. Make sure you're buckled up, when you turn on your system ;-)
Decibell

Clear Day is more in your face than SP7, imagine most listening to rop/rock
would prefer Clear day, someone listening to a symphony the SP-7 .
Of course SP-7  costs much more .

All round the AudioArt SC-5e is better than either , at a few bucks more than Clear Day .

None. I use ESL's, which require a series resistor for tuning the step-up transformer. So I removed the resistor and inserted Nichrome resistance wire, of the same total resistance, between the mono blocks and the speakers.

Essentially, I substituted the highest class resistor for a second class resistor, and have no 'cables' whatsoever. These non-existant cables are very transparent, I have to say.

@falconquest , you don't have to purchase the Clear days. Just talk to Paul at Clear Day. He will let you know which configuration will work better in your system. Then he will send you the cables, without taking your credit card information. Audition the cables, and if you don't like them, simply return them back to Paul. Good luck in your search.

@schubert
My experience between the Clear Day Double Shotgun vs. the Morrow SP7 runs different than yours, likely due to different systems, I'm guessing.  I found the SP7's and the Clear Day's both to provide a somewhat recessed presentation, but the SP7 just sounded mechanical and phasey in the upper mids/low treble in my system at the time (EAR 890 driving Vandersteen Quatro's).  Mike Morrow generously doubled my trial time to allow for complete cable break in, something he said these really required.  I ran them in with music playing through them for easily over 700 hours, but I still found them wholly uninvolving, and even weird sounding.  I will write it up to a "system dependent" interaction issue.

For the record, I listen to the full range of music from classical symphonies and chamber music to jazz, to rock and EDM and everything in between.  The Clear Day's definitely sounded better to my ears, and that is what I bought from this shootout (even after Mike offered to sell the cables to me at 1/2 of the 30% off price that I originally was to pay).

The nice thing is that both Morrow and Clear Day allow for home audition before committing, so why not try them?

I use Clear Day Double Shotguns in both of my systems listening to jazz, rock and classic r&b - sounds good to me across all 3 genres.

I"ll also second Silnote Audio IC and digital cables.

Use Audio Art power cables

jbrt1m

I wasn’t clear enough , I don’t think Clear Day is an "in your face" cable, just more so than SP-7 .
I use AA on every thing for Synergy , where they shine is coherence and harmonics and a very deep and tuneful bass with no "boom" . Best female diva , choral and opera I've heard to include 6K worth of MIT .

The Vertere Pulse D-Fi interconnect and Snaics together with the Pulse X mini loudspeaker cables, into a all-Naim system.
Warmth, detail, coherence, richness, natural voices and not trace of dullness or artificiality. The whole set (the 'SNAICs' are the two special ICs connecting power and signal to and from the PSU, the preamp and the power amp) cost me something like £1550 (loudspeaker cables were 2 x 6 mt).
Nothing I've heard or owned has had a 'jaw dropping' effect to me, but they have my total respect. Made in London, UK.

When I went from Omega Micro Planar 1s copper ribbons which were a significant improvement over the many different cables I've had in the past to Omega Micro Planar 2 copper ribbons. What's the difference? In a nutshell greater resolution, leading to more accurate tone, better separation of voice and instruments, more realistic sounstaging and imaging and greater overall resolution of detail. This cable is decidedly not a "tone control" as some cables clearly seem to be to me. It is a conduit to allow more of the music through. I have found Nordost cables to have similar qualities as well.

Pretty much any 12 gauge speaker wire bought at Home Depot, Lowes or Radio Shack.  If you have the money to buy ludicrously expensive cables, put that money where it counts most and buy better speakers for your ears and tastes or be a slave to cognitive dissonance.

Thank you for saving us from this Tom foolery Edward. We've obviously been fooling ourselves for years and just needed you to set us straight. Praise jah!

Totally agree Todd.  It's just how human beings work.  Not limited to audio cables. It's true of all of us but especially when we consider ourselves "philes" of any kind. But hey, if you enjoy getting into the mystical nuances of subjectively undectable sonic details and it's worth it to you to do so, then have a blast, I don't really care.  But maybe someone reading this forum does.  After all, this is a place to buy things we otherwise couldn't afford new and so I assume getting ripped off is more painful for those buying here than those with the money to buy new at appointment only audio shops. Your mileage may vary.  Try doing some well controlled double blinds though if your confident.  Just a thought. 

Totally agree Todd.  It's just how human beings work.  Not limited to audio cables. It's true of all of us but especially when we consider ourselves "philes" of any kind. But hey, if you enjoy getting into the mystical nuances of subjectively undectable sonic details and it's worth it to you to do so, then have a blast, I don't really care.  But maybe someone reading this forum does.  After all, this is a place to buy things we otherwise couldn't afford new and so I assume getting ripped off is more painful for those buying here than those with the money to buy new at appointment only audio shops. Your mileage may vary.  Try doing some well controlled double blinds though if your confident.  Just a thought. 

My bad, double post.

  . . . then have a blast, I don't really care.

Will do!  But, then again,  I never really needed your permission.

C'mon.  I'm not really the kind of guy who is into giving or not giving permission.  Do what you want. I do have opinions however.  You guys are too touchy.  Have a coke and a smile steakster.    

I am about 240 hours into the Clear Day Double Shotguns after removing older Audioquest all copper Earth series cables from my system.  The "heaviness" of the AQ cables' contribution to the overall sound was obfuscating the transparency that the rest of the system was capable of delivering but not with THAT much copper as I had two pair of the Earth biwiring my Vandersteen Treo CTs.  

As usual John Rutan from whom I purchased the Treos warned me that I had too much cable for the speakers and as usual he was dead on.  Hearing into the soundstage now is so satisfying.  Hearing subtle details that were masked by the overly "bassy" sound before the Clear Days makes listening to even very familiar tunes an experience of rediscovery. To be clear, the Clear Days are reproducing bass just fine...the key is they're not overproducing it to the detriment of the music.

And yes, as virtually every Clear Day poster has mentioned, Paul Laudati is a true gentleman and will want to counsel you about how his cables might fit best with your system.  Listen to him.  From my experience, he does really know his product and how it is likely to interface with your components and speakers.

@edward506 (why does the @ only sometimes work?) - I totally get where you’re coming from. I was sceptical as well, read all the articles saying all that matters is resistance, maybe capacitance.. I bought blue jeans cables and didn’t even bother with power cables. Curiosity eventually got me to at least want to try messing around with cables. No way I was paying crazy cable prices though, so I chose to make my own cables.
My cables now are all DIY. I eventually realized that it was worth spending a little bit of money on the conductors and connectors and exploring different architectures.

Saying cables make a difference doesn’t mean I am advocating dumping tons of cash into a decent set.. there are other options.

Not sure on the "@".  I'm new to posting on the forums though I've been collecting listening to and ogling audio gear for over twenty years.  I appreciate that. Fair enough.  I'll do some more listening to various cables.  I still, so far, find the speakers and room acoustics to be the most critical.  But you only know what you know and can be surprised by what you don't.  

Edward- you are completely correct. Having components that play well together, well made speakers that the components can handle and acoustic treatment of the listening room all impact the sound of a system more than exotic cables will, as long as the basic cables are of sufficient gauge and quality. But once all the pieces are in place, cables can help bring out even better sound.

Nelson Pass did some interesting research on cables and published an informative article. I made my own with 6 strands of OFC 16G, silver solder, and gold plated terminals. I like them. Better that the 12g I used and you can tell. I can't see spending $2000 on cables. That's nuts. 

Don't forget or underestimate the connectors. In my present system, and all through it's iterations, Zu Event Mk I gave me the best sound. Getting them at a bit more than half price went a long ways as well. But the best sound I've gotten from them was when I had Zu swap out the spades for the bananas on the amp end. 

The connection may have not been the best because of the five way binding posts but it was the change of metal that elevated the sound.  Simply going from copper to rhodium over a berylium core gave me a couple orders of magnitude more detail, separation, clarity, and focus.

Even the bass was better resolved and more defined as well as a better front to back soundstage due to the more pinpoint imaging. It makes me wonder if I had some of my first cables terminated that way, would I have every looked for more.

All the best,
Nonoise

Thanks for the responses.  I'll look for that article by Nelson Pass and give it a read.  I'm moving now and will be reconnecting my system.  As good a time as any to try some different cables after I've treated the room. That can get costly quickly doing trial and error so perhaps I'll begin by tinkering with different metals and go the diy route myself.

While the price point I am going to mention has nothing to do with the question the OP asked, perhaps it can shed some light on cable differences.

As a new Audioquest dealer, I had the opportunity to audition their two top of the line speaker cables on my system.
The wel signature and the wildwood.
The only difference in the cable was some of the Silver strands of the top of the line Wel were replaced with copper in Wildwood. There was still a significant amount of silver in the Wildwood and the winding topology and dialectic active bias was the same.
The audition started with the wildwood and it was fantastic, providing details and timing cues I had never heard previously.

Upon going to the Wel, there was a significant upgrade beyond what I heard.
So my point is that even at the very high of cables, where few compromises have to be made, there are benefits to be had that are not subtle.

I did the test for a golden eared installer who found the same, and I read another opinion that stated the same finding among the 2 cables.

toddverrone I would highly recommend Rio Grand over ebay. Have used them several times over the years. 

where are you located- emailists ?

To your point Edward506, I totally agree with you that room and speakers would be much more important than cabling. Not to belabor the point and I truly am like you, I don't care one way or another what people believe, maybe some can't hear and I respect that view as well.  I used to believe the same until I listened and I could clearly hear differences, ic, remember the first time it happened to this day. Some make more of a difference than others, some make no difference and some make PROFOUND differences. I have several very expensive cables that I no longer use but still like. They have been replaced by a couple pair of home brewed cables with silver and gold wire that are quite special, the wire wasn't cheap either. Also I have coper  ribbons I use for my tt set-up to pre which I prefer over the homebrews in THAT application. Believe me, listening to cables makes you a better listener, but it can take work at times, enjoy!

For me, the Straight Wire Pro Special SC speaker cables in bi-wire configuration is a great match for my speakers (vintage Von Schweikert VR-5 HSE), setup and room.  I believe they run about $10 a foot nowadays, which isn't bad.  I also use Straight Wire Solo interconnects which made a HUGE improvement over the previous interconnects I had used, including the stock interconnects included with the Camak connectors that came with my used vintage Mark Levinson ML-9 amp at Saturday Audio Exchange several years ago.  
You can view my system here:

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/5523

And you can also view my review of the Straight Wire Pro Special SC speaker cables here:

http://ayllonmedia.com/news/straight-wire-pro-special-speaker-cables-strike-the-right-balance

Cheers,


Juan 

Tellurium Q Ultra Black speaker cables and jumpers ,the impact was huge took my system to a completely differnt leauge. 

Jafant. I'm in Manhattan . TriodePictureSound