Advice on speaker cables.
Hello. First time post here and I understand there’s no definitive answer, just looking for advice. I have a midrange system to me anyway and most of it was purchased new recently after giving up on repair of vintage gear. I’ve been using the same 12 gauge Apature copper speaker wire since 1982 and figured I would upgrade. I didn’t realize the hole I was going down. I’ve tried Blue Jean 10 white sounded dull, as well as WBC 7 gauge which I somewhat liked except bass seemed boomy at the expense of treble and midrange. Cables I’ve been advised to try are Kimber 4pr or 8pr as well as Audio Analysis oval 12. I’ve only used bare wire in the past not sure if that matters. My system is Yamaha as1200, Cxn100 streamer, Rotel 1572 mkii cd, Nakamichi oms1a cd. Speakers are Polk monitor 10a I bought new in 1982 with recently upgraded clarity cap crossovers. All interconnects are WBC. Appreciate any advice on speaker cables. Thank you.
Awesome speakers! They were produced before Polk became the Chevy Vega of audio and Best Buy specials. Seems like you’ve got a great platform to build on with your list components. Maybe a good tech and some cleaning and tweaking are in order as with your Polk's. I forgot to mention Kimber recently upgraded the PR series with Veri strand, if not for anything else they’re now on par for whatever gauge you choose with everything else in the Kimber line. |
Faustus. Thanks for the advice. Yes they are excellent speakers definitely hard to beat for the money I paid back then. I’ve don’t have many places to demo speakers but I listened to Kef R11 meta and B&W 703 S3 and the Polks without question sounded better to my ear. Perhaps the others would do better in home theater.
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@kmm84 if you can find a dealer that will let you demo, that would be huge. I loved the analysis plus 12 oval blacks. They crushed my mogamis. Those here saying you can't hear a difference is just spouting ASR rhetoric. If you really don't think you can hear a difference, no point in telling us that can there is no difference. It's not subtle on a high end and well treated room. Even in a non treated room I could tell the difference between mogamis and the analysis plus. Too bad you need 12 feet right? There's an 8 foot pair of Oval 9s selling for 395 on us audio mart. If i didn't need 10 feet I'd consider snagging myself for my second system. In my primary system the Shunyata Venom X cables beat all others including the oval 12s but they were about 3x the price. Best of luck to you! Best advice I can give you is try more than one set of cables. If you're super interested in the kimbers and the analysis plus, get a demo of them or buy one and demo the other, and then sell the one you bought if you prefer the demo. DO NOT listen to other people's advice on the internet regarding your preference for YOUR system. Although it can be helpful to narrow choices, there are too many variables for us to tell you which ones are perfect for your system. |
@jrareform great suggestions, I may look into demo options from the cable company. I just didn’t want to deal with all the hassle and expense of sending things back and forth, as well as my mind forgetting what it heard. Originally I was leaning towards the Oval 12s. And you’re right about the 12ft issue. I have plans for that room that would make 8ft work fine. Unfortunately I’ve delayed my wife’s bathroom remodel so long it wouldn’t go over well. The oval 9 cables would definitely be preferred especially at that price, the only concern I’ve had is I’ve seen pictures of the oval nines turning green. The latest version is all black and no longer transparent I believe. Thanks for all of your input and take care. |
