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the eternal cable question

Hi Everyone,

My goal here is to whittle down the mess that is the interconnect jungle with the help of my wise, knowledgable, and generous Audiogoners.

I have been researching and reading tons of stuff, Copper, Silver, Silver over Copper, Gold, Palladium, Rhodium, Fluids, 4N-9N, 99.999%, 99.9999%, 99.99999%, OCC, OHCC, OFC, Twisted, Helix, Double Helix, Solid wire, Stranded wire, Teflon, Air, Shielded, Unshielded, XLR, RCAs,.... Head Exploding!

Some of you have given me some great advice already but I have more questions. 

There seems to be a rule of thought that Silver sounds better with Tubes and Copper / Gold sounds better with Solid State. And well made Pure Solid Silver will sound good with both. Of course I know that it will all depend on my own ears when it comes down to it. However is there some truth to that? 

Is it true that mixing metals can produce different sonic results? Example... Gold RCAs will help tone down Silver wire? Or Silver Eichmanns RCAs can liven up Copper wire? It has been suggested that I use Silver plugs with Silver over Copper wire in teflon. That is the Morrow configuration.

Is it best to go with one company if they offer all the different cables or is combining different okay? You'll see from my list below that Almadi, Cabledyne, and Cerious do not offer a full set of cables.

Should I use the same company for interconnects from the VPI to the Herron and then the Herron to the Coda? The Herron is a Tube Phono preamp. 

Would like to hear from those of you who own SS amps and or similar systems to mine. Those of you who own Tubes amps will have to convince me that your interconnects will sound good on SS.  

My current system is

Coda CSIB Integrated Amp
Oppo BDP 105D
VPI Scout Turntable with an Ortofon 2m Bronze mm cartridge
Herron Audio VTHP-1 Tube Phono Preamp
Revel F52 Speakers
SVS SB13 Ultra Subwoofer
Furman Linear Filtering AC Power Source Conditioner ELITE-15 DMI

Currently running Blue Jeans between everything with 12 gauge copper for the Revels.

They sound alright. A little grainy in the upper ranges, Sound stage fluctuates with the recordings. The biggest thing is that I can't help but think that my sound can be better.

My budget is $1500 for all the cables and interconnects. Used is good.

My current list of cables to audition consists of Morrow, Almadi, Cabledyne, Cerious Graphene Extreme, Gabriel Gold Revelations.

Thank You for your time and generosity in teaching this Audio Grasshopper the ways of the Audiophile Force.

Peace,

Mark 



meambler
sc4a
28 posts
 
There is only one way to know how any cable is going to perform in your system. Try it!

Go to THECABLECOMPANY.com and access their lending library.  

Also see JPSLABS.com, their cables are superb.
artar2
1 posts
 

Mark,

You seem to be already quite knowledgeable about audio cables, so I'm not sure if my comments will be of any use.

Usually, one can expect soundstage, and even the perception of brightness or grain, to vary from one recording to another. A revealing sound system will do that, so I'm not sure whether swapping cables will help improve the sound of your system to any significant degree.

From the components you have listed, I would personally stay with copper, especially with your budget in mind. I would choose cables from name-brand companies, such as AudioQuest, Cardas, or Transparent Audio. Those are my favorites when cost is of no consideration, and I need to control system brightness.

For me, cost is always a consideration, a big one in fact, so I would try River Cable (http://rivercable.com/) in your case.

From my experience, I don't begin to hear a significant sonic difference among cables in systems costing less than six figures, but maybe that's a limitation of my hearing more than anything else.

elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
On the original question about various metal ’sounds’, I have to add the fact the insulation can affect the sound of a cable.
I find Teflon tends to be ’thinner’ (leaner midrange and less bass but tighter) sounding, yet has greater clarity than other insulators.
Kimber has a specific blend of an insulation which all by itself increases the bass.. They use it on Kimber Hero,and the KS 11116/1016 series.
As for air, foam, paper, cotton..?
(some folks swear by cotton BTW.)
So besides the metal, the INSULATION can and does affect how a particular cable may sound.
Just to add to the muddle. LOL.
meambler OP
83 posts
 
Thanks for the updated posts everyone. I have had my Teo GCs for about 2 months and close to 300 hours on them (of that about 100 hours of actually listening to them).

My ears are very impressed with the sound coming out of my system with them in line.  No ear fatigue ever. I get sad when I have to stop listening and live my day to day life. They sounded great right out of the container and have continually improved to this point. All I can say is that for $500 the cost to performance ratio is fantastic. I'm not sure what their higher ended cables might do for my system. The good thing with the GCs is that I don't need to know.

They have now come out with Game Changers 2 for $600 for 3 meters. I don't know if they will be significantly any better then their original GCs but I do need another set between my Herron and Coda. So maybe I'll give them a try.  
4425
455 posts
 
I’m late to the thread now but i’ve been on the cable merry go round for ages and have absolutely no doubt as to what i’d do. locate used AQ Niagara interconnects then wait until I could afford a set of AQ Castle Rock speaker cables. The Niagara uses the smoothest silver you will ever hear. No copper AQ cable will compare in pure transparent musicality. I’m 100% sure that you’ll be amazed. Detail wo brightness. Great formula.
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