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Budget cable chaos??? Is River Cable the new star?

Sometimes, I wonder that some audiophiles waste more time trying to determine what "budget" speaker cable to buy, than a cables costing 5 to 10 times as much. I include myself in that inglorious lot

Budget cables keep popping up on Audiogon almost daily. And, "The Cable Company" has few to none to loan out for audition in your system.

Let's see to date: there is Anti-Cable Reference, Clearday, Clearview, JW Cryo, Canare, etc, etc.... Now, I have uncovered a new budget cable company called RIVER CABLE an internet company. Their speaker cable looks well made and attractive to display, AND PRICING is ridiculously inexpensive. They basically offer three models: the entry level "Starflex". Flexgyny 6 and Flexgyny 8 (top of their line) The few reviews I found, claim that the latter two speaker cables are very good for the money, but sound distant in the midrange. The Flex 6 model I was informed is a better choice for longer cable runs because of the extra copper used. Not sure what that means or is even accurate. I have garnered that copper based speaker cables tend to sound warmer,and often more musical than the more analytical and cool silver based cables

So again begging the patience of the membership, has anyone auditioned or owned these RIVER CABLE speaker cables, and if so, how do they rank in sound quality with the others in the ongoing "budget buffet"???. I think the industry should put a moratorium on the number of so-called "budget cables" issued each year. There would probably be less buyers's remorse,and suicides among audiophiles

NOTE: Please, don't just respond by saying: "you will have to JUST try them to see what works in your system" Oh, bollocks!!! as the Brits say. The Audio business is not a consortium of roving Renaissance Faires tossing cables to the crowds for personal use. Get Real!! Thanks, Jim

sunnyjim

Showing 2 responses by almarg

almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I took a look at their site, and at the descriptions of the three speaker cables Jim mentioned. FWIW, here are my comments:

1)What is most impressive to me about the site is what is NOT there. No techno-babble, pseudo-scientific nonsense, far-fetched theories, or other BS.

2)It is reassuring to see that they provide essentially complete descriptions and specifications of their cables.

3)The description of their background supplying professional markets for 20 years or so is also reassuring.

4)As are the facts that they make their own cables, and subject them to thorough testing, monitoring actual signal waveforms.

5)The photo on their home page is certainly impressive :-)

On the other hand, I have no idea why they say that "low capacitance in speaker cables is especially important with dynamic coil speakers," and emphasize that the capacitance of their top end speaker cable is an extremely low 10 pF/ft.

Normally inductance is a more important parameter than capacitance in a speaker cable, and the inductance of their speaker cables is nothing special.

FWIW. Regards,
-- Al
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Be careful with Goertz! The Goertz speaker cables achieve ultra-low inductance at the expense of having ultra-high capacitance, which, if used without a "Zobel network," has been known to cause some amplifiers to oscillate and self-destruct. Especially some solid state amplifiers.

The M1 has one of the lowest capacitances among the various Goertz models, but it is still pretty high at 500 pf/foot. That's 50 times higher than the River Flex8, and probably more than 10 times higher than most other speaker cables.

If you want to go with the M1, ask the supplier if they can provide a Zobel network with it, and/or ask the manufacturer of your amp for their opinion, telling them the particular length you would require. Especially if your amp is solid state.

Regards,
-- Al
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