Help with first cable upgrade.


I have a Musical Fidelity v-150, rotel rp-3000 turntable and an old Sony CD player.  I have 2 sets of speakers B&W CM2's and JM Lab chorus floorstanding speakers I may have to part with due to space.  My power cables and interconnect cables are cheap stock.  My speaker cables are a 20 year old or so set of MIT shotgun cables.  Any recommendations for budget friendly cables that may help the bass or soften the brightness of my system?  Thanks.
shimanole

Showing 15 responses by shimanole

Thanks everyone.  Will try the least expensive first and see how is goes.  I'll follow up with any noteworthy feedback.
The Audience AU24's are way out of my price range so I'm looking at the rest.  I also found a used pair of Audioquest Rubies for $80 online and might give those a shot.  Thanks again.
Jnorris.  Thanks very much for your post.  I think I will seek an equalizer of sorts as I agree my system is somewhat low end and maybe my expectations should be tempered like the treble.  If I find a cheap upgrade for a power cord, speaker cable and interconnects I may pull the trigger with fingers crossed.
I spoke to tech folks at The Cable Co., Audioquest and Silnote and I must say, there is a lot of disagreement regarding sound as it relates to oxidation, stranded wire, solid wire, coated wire etc.  I think deep pockets make these experiments much more enjoyable whereas for me, it's an investment in music that requires a return, otherwise, I'm just throwing money away that I could use for food lol.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to post recommendations.  I will certainly look at those cables if I pick up some replacements.

Cheers!
Yes Stuart.  I actually have an old Toshiba XR-30 (something like that) and a sony DVD/CD etc. with built in DAC that I can try also.  I'm just going to have to remove an entire closet worth of the wife's crap to get to it.  Might break out my first receiver while I'm in there The Fisher 800.  : )
Thanks Paul.  With all the recommendations to try Canare and the price point, I'll have to give them a shot.  At this point my plan is to get the Schiit Loki+ and some Canare cables.  If it still needs a tweet at the point I'll try the felt idea.
Maybe I should move this to the digital forum but wanted to follow up regarding the CD player.  The player I was using is the Sony S530D.  I ended up finding 2 others in the closet.  A Toshiba XR-30 and a Sony DVP S700.  I tried all 3 with the following CD's.  Handel/Water Music - Bob Marley/Uprising - Some Wilco, Alabama Shakes Cream.

Both the Toshiba which is just a transport (without digital out) and the Sony S700 sound better then what I've been using.  They both are actually very close but the Sony sounds a bit more detailed to me and with tighter base.  I think the addition of the Schiit Loki and some Canare cables might make the difference I'm looking to achieve.  I'll follow up once I start tweaking and will keep the felt and isolation spring ideas on the list of things to try.  Thanks all!
Thanks Paul.  I do have an old Pace soldering station and might consider the idea of DIY.  I was planning on tinkering with the old The Fisher 800 but starting with cabling might be fun.  Thanks!
Thanks mesch. 

I'd love to try out some cables before I outlay the money for the Loki.  Just let me know what you have in mind and I'll work something out with you.  Sent you a pm and thanks again.
You were right mesch.  I listened to both the Toshiba and Sony S700 all day yesterday and the Toshiba sounded better to me over the course of the day.  I was actually surprised that I could discern such a difference between the two.  The Toshiba was fun to listen to with almost everything I played while there were a few cds that were difficult to get through using the Sony.  The greatest example was Brian Ferry of Roxy Music and the song Love is a Drug.  That CD sounded awesome in the Toshiba but intolerable in the Sony.  Vocals were so shrill on the Sony I couldn't get through it.  Don't know I would have noticed  as much if I wasn't listening to them head to head.  Should have done this years ago.  While I do think the Sony is more of what I would describe as detailed, that detail turns out to be what I'm finding as bright, so maybe just more detailed in the upper realm.  Not sure I'm even describing it correctly but the Toshiba was the clear winner for me.  Thanks for all of the suggestions.  I'm getting excited about little tweeks now that I know I can identify them.
I want to follow up after trying some new cables that were provided by a fellow poster.

I replaced a pair of stock interconnects with Blue Jean LC-1's and a stock power cable with a Cobalt Cable power cord.

After much swapping of cables, there was a noticable difference with almost all of my digital music.  While subtle, there was definitely (to my ears) a less sharp edge to some tracks that I found a little painful with the stock cables.

The most noticable difference, however, was found by accident.  I was turning up the volume on a disc (with the stock power cord) but had yet to hit play so I was only hearing (what I assume is the electrical signal/hiss/distortion whatever.)  I decided to do the same thing with the new cord and there is definitely less noise at the same volume level.  I don't know technically what I'm no longer hearing at the same degree but I have to assume that this translates in the music as well?  I will be replacing all of my power cords and interconnects in the near future as I'm a believer that an improvement can be had without a fortune being spent.  Thanks to all for your recommendations and sharing your personal experiences.
Thanks mward.  I'm shopping for the transport now as well as an old CEC CDP 3300 for a second system.  I'm sure I'll end up with the Loki but I do believe the cable upgrade has made enough of an improvement to be worth the expense of even a minimal upgrade over stock cables.  Thanks again.
Hey thanks audphile1.
Things have changed slightly since my last post.  I just picked up a Musical Fidelity A3 24-Bit CD Player for $150 in near perfect condition.  I put this in the system last night along with a PS Audio upc 200 and there's quite a difference.  Now, the mid-range seems a little heavy almost drowning out some of the highs, although the clarity of each instrument is much more detailed in a good way.  I removed the Blue Jean cables and replaced them with some Tributaries Silver interconnects that came with the components and that solved the mid-range issue but the highs are a little bright.  Included with my purchase was another pair of cables the Wireworld Equinox lll which I'm going to try later today.  It appears I'm looking for something that falls in the middle of the Blue Jean cables and the Tributaries.
I moved the Blue Jean cables over to a really cheap Onkyo amp with the Toshiba CD player and those seem to be a perfect match running through a pair of JM Lab chorus speakers.

How much if any improvement is there in using XLR cables as opposed to RCA?  Just curious.