I have ARC with Wilson speakers and have had Transparent Ultra G5 for a couple years and had not issue but tried some Shunyata Alpha V1 just to experiment and they really brought my system to life with greater detail and imaging without any brightness(which I am extremely sensitive to).
I'd like some recommendations for speaker cables
I understand this is a touchy subject. My intent is NOT to have this result in that typical cable discussion. All opinions welcome.
As an update, in a previous thread I was asking for upgrade recommendations. I ended up trading for a Hana Umami blue. It's great and I appreciate the advice.
I've since bought a set of long (25') XLRs to run between my amp and pre-amp, which has enabled me to move my component rack behind the listening position closer to the media. It was between the speakers. Now, the only thing between the speakers is my amp, and it's at floor level. This has made a huge difference in the soundstage, the accuracy and the location of things in the sound space. Great improvement.
The XLRs I was using to run between my amp and pre-amp were entry level high end cables. I replaced them with normal Mic cable. Well, high end mic cable. And the high end mic cable is way better than the audiophile high end brand cable. I'll go as far to say the audiophile cable is awful. I've since ordered another pair of XLRs, from a different manufacturer, to replace them.
I also replaced my speaker cables with mogami 3103 that I terminated myself. They sound "darker" and less detailed then the cable I was using, which I'm unsure of the manufacturer of my previous cable. I plan to re-terminate my previous cable in bananas to compare some more. My previous cable was, maybe, too bright. Don't get me wrong, the Momagi is good, just not what I think I prefer.
My main question is, If I'm looking for detail and a "brighter" sound, what speaker cables would you recommend I try?
Also, do most dealers let you try cables? It's not ridiculous to think I could work with a dealer to try to hone in on what I like, right?
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A point I was not clear on. A the shield on shielded lug connector wire must be connected physically to the housing or ground of a component at preferably the reference or signal source end as opposed to an RCA connector where the shield can be grounded to the reference signal end the of connector housing. Many high end cables use internal conductor design such as Litz wire or other twisted conductor configurations, or thin flat conductor configurations, as a shield by electromagnetic field theory and creating a Faraday cage that does not permit EMI from entering the core signal path. There is no requirement for a physical ground yet the cable is shielded. Read more is if you desire on Faraday’s law and a Faraday Cage. Conclusion, not all shielded cable designs need a physical ground. Some companies combine physical shielding with wire configurations, using both electromagnetic field theory and physical shields to ground. |
I believe that speaker cables are the most important ones in "the loom." I've owned Nordost, Siltech and Skogrand, all of which were very nice. But my end state cables are the SilverSmith Fidelium. These are also the least expensive; can it get any better? Take a peek at "The Super Cables Cook Book" which is a classic that makes the case for foil cables. The idea of electromagnetic waves traveling over the surface of the cable is powerful, because it's true. Hear it for yourself. These are now the only cable in all of my components. |
What a discussion. You have to look at the entire audio path. To not do so might create what some call "bottlenecks". I personally have a set of AudioQuest Robinhood cables and they sound good to my ears. I have to caveat that my ears are not what they used to be. They are if I remember shielded and they have some sort of contraption on the end that supposedly sucks up and interference picked up along the way so you supposedly get a more clean signal into you speaker. I have also found for my desktop system a set of speaker cables that are like maybe if I remember correctly about $200 for about 8ft of cable from a direct sales company called Clarity Precision. They are not the bestest but I feel pretty dang good for what you pay. BTW I use the Audioquests on a pair of LSA Signatures and have excellent depth/width/timbre for my ears. I also like the idea of using the cable companies lending library. I wouldn’t get into an over the top discussion with them. tell them the price range and go from there. Good luck. Oh, one more thing I tend to like my music more on the warm side of things. I find too much clarity, especially in the higher listening range, can be harsh to my ears. Give me a nice warm wide and deep soundstage in ink blackness and I'm just too happy. |
@mambacfa +1 for Silversmith Fidelium. I haven't tried many speaker wires because I really didn't think they'd make much difference. My previous set were Synergistic Research wires that were $350 about 25 years ago. Anyway, a friend with $90k speakers uses Fidelium cables and really liked them. So, I tried a pair. Big difference. I had several conversations with Jeffrey Smith in the process of trying to understand what was going on. Very nice man. Smart guy. Unless it's changed, he has a nice return policy. You might give them a try. |
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