Favorite cable brand.


Interested to hear opinions regarding brand favorites. My personal favorites, at the moment,  are Kimber and Goertz. Two very different sounds yet both quite enjoyable. What are your favorites?
128x128wturkey
I don’t have a lot of experience with entire looms, as opposed to mix-and-match, but I have had Zu Cable and Acoustic BBQ looms. Audiogoner Bill Dion used to make the Acoustic BBQ; while I gather he no longer does, you still can find some of his products in the used market. Although I have used individual Kimber, Audience, and Morrow cables that were more expensive than the Acoustic BBQ, it was only the latter that made me want to acquire a full loom. Unless I make wholesale changes in my system, which I don’t expect, I don’t anticipate buying anything else, as the Acoustic BBQ sound that good to me.
My methodology re. cables has always been KISS. - low capacitance, low inductance and low resistance, with as short of run as possible.
I have no desire to tune my system with ridiculously priced cables. Speaker cables:Ted’s "INTEGRITY" 8’ - 24AWG single strand OCC coper in a PTFE sleeve for ea. lead - one pair doubled (as per D. Schroeder) for ea. speaker. IC cables: CABLEPLEX C1 Silver. Power cable: what ever the manufacture supplied with, or recommends for their unit - effectively and safely getting 120V power from your outlet to a component is not rocket science.....Jim


Quote:

douglas_schroeder
3,018 posts
04-27-2021 10:46am
Any recommendations where the cables were used in mixed sets should have a qualification. The house sound, how the cables were designed to sound as per manufacturer, is not obtained unless, and ONLY unless they are used in a complete set. I have demonstrated this with many systems (i.e. dozens) with several genres of speakers over the past 14 years of reviewing.

I would like to point out that Mr. Schroeder has not changed all of the wiring in his components and speakers, so is not getting the full "house sound" that he refers to. He never will because all components and speakers are a mix of parts, each having their own metals and materials.
"House sound" is ambiguous anyway, because almost all manufacturers strive for realistic sound reproduction.
Bottom line is whatever mix sounds good to you is the one you should keep (for the time being anyway).

With that said, I really like MIT Oracle interconnects, Zentara interconnects, Silnote interconnects, MG Audio and Sablon speaker cables, and for power cords; Triode Wire Labs, Shunyata, Synergistic Atmosphere (source components), and a few others depending on the component. I have not found one brand to be best for every component.
I’ve owned and still own a lot of systems and throughout all of them the one combo that works time and again is the Audioquest DBS interconnects and MIT speaker cables. There is a synergy with these two that as one ascends each line produces more image solidity and 3D imaging down into the bass range. 
The new MIT EVO one speaker cables are something to behold...
rilbr, I have, in fact compared internal cables in speakers, and I write about such things in my reviews. There can be quite an improvement when the speaker is involved in matching brands. The argument about components is nonsense, a desperate ploy to find an objection in order to write off the recommendation.  Legacy Audio did an upgrade to the Whisper DSW and the article involved changing the internal wiring to 10AWG Clarity Cable, and Clarity Caps (no company relation to Clarity Cable) for what was called the "Clarity Upgrade". As a result, Bill Dudleston measured a 2dB improvement in the bass response, which he was not expecting. I also discuss working with the "internal" wiring with the PureAudioProject Trio15 Horn1 Speaker. 

I am actually working on speakers currently to assess the effect of changing the internal cables to make them homogenous with the IC and SC. I have been encouraging speaker manufacturers to give more attention to the internal cabling - which the community will benefit from - with some success. I am not naming brands at this point, but will share some in reviews. 

Let me guess; you have never actually compared sets of cables, but are simply using a flimsy, fallacious argument in an attempt to discredit my recommendation. Your argument has the same force as those who attempt to discredit the efficacy of aftermarket cables by referring to the miles of power lines, transformers, house wiring, etc. This is some of the most inane logic offered by audiophiles, thinly disguised skepticism, cloaked in high minded logic. And, it's wrong, just as your comment is wrong as an excuse to not work with sets of cables.

As I have said previously, most audiophiles are too cheap (or, conversely, are limited in terms of budget), too lazy or too skeptical to actually do it, so they will not learn for themselves. They will keep trotting out the received wisdom. Can they get great sounding rigs? Sure. Will they optimize them? No, not a chance. You do not get optimum performance from random, undirected activity, i.e. ad hoc mixed sets. Reference to the speakers and components will not change that. The community needs to stop pretending they are so fastidious in making their rigs when they pay no attention to cables, but simply mix them up without regard to any baseline. 

It sounds, oh, so thorough, "I have not found one brand to be best for every component," but that does not mean you even know how to assess the varied cables. I assert that you do not, if you have not worked with entire sets. Now, perhaps you did acquire sets of all these cables and compared. But, something tells me that if you had, you would have been quick to point that out. Ergo, I think you have little experience in the matter, and very high skepticism, which essentially means all you have are weak arguments, just like everyone else who has not worked with complete sets of cables.   :) 

Am I interested in further debate with you, if you find that assessment dissatisfactory? No, not at all. Enjoy your system.  :)