I like monoblocks cus I can run short speaker length reducing resistance in the 60 foot long runs as it is suggested 10 gauge or greater. I have some 4 gauge speaker cables and like the expanding bananna plugs that fit tight. For sure insulation dielectric and skin effect are important. 90 degrees if you cross other system cables. Twisting or weaving seems to help reduce emf, rf, interference. Long xlr don't seem to distract. Enjoy the science and the music.
What type of cables make the most difference
What type of cables, in your subjective experience, makes the most difference? I’m not focusing on brands, but rather, on type, ie, speaker cables, power cables, analog interconnect, digital interconnect, and anything else I may have omitted. If you don’t think cables beyond a base level of competency makes a difference that’s fine too.
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@zavato - I align with the many who have pointed out that there are too many variables at play for the question to be answered with any degree of certainty, but with one exception. If you enjoy digital music, the one cable that will make the greatest difference regardless of the huge complexity at play downstream, is the one coming before all else, the Ethernet cable/s connecting between modem and streamer/server. While fibre optic cabling is said to overcome the deficiencies common to Ethernet cables, the kind of power required to run fibre optics corrupts that goodness past a certain point of return, which a well put together Ethernet cable will exceed. And, while it is well known that the ones and zeros of an ethernet passage remain unchanged, what these cables pick up along their way as antennas is noise. Eric Geiss of ethernet-sound.com, a German forum which takes ethernet noise isolation, rejection, and filtering, to fine art, has a DIY cable he calls the drosselkabel v3, or the V3 throttle cable, coming after V1 and V2, and to be used if Ethernet is all that’s used, and if it cannot be certain any possible interference in the switching networks in the upstream chain can be ruled out. Instructions for its build can be found here - https://ethernet-sound.com/forums/topic/drosselkabel/page/50/#post-4080 What is required is any basic five metre ultra thin UTP Ethernet cable, an isolater, four ring ferrites as specified in Eric’s blog, about five additional clamp on ferrites, a single super short 10cm cat5 patch cable, and a little effort to wind the assembly together. The materials for the build will cost no more than usd120. The cable itself costs next to nothing - it’s the ferrites that cost most. While the effect of this throttle cable is best felt right before the streamer, I’ve found it super effective even before, and at any point an Ethernet cable is used. It’s combined use throughout results in an uptick to sound realism equalling almost anything else in my signal chain - this includes my server and preamplifier, the entire network of Swiss digital fuseboxes and graphene sluggos I have replacing all my regular fuses, and any other cable which has brought improvement to my system, really, any other single component you may choose. Together with my power cables, the throttle cable is the most I’ve ever wrung from any cable addition, and at multiples of a fraction of what those power cables cost me, never mind my most effective components. The only thing it does not outperform is the system grounding I have in place. The throttle cable comprehensively out performs Ethernet cables I’ve tested over weeks at a time, costing up to usd4000. Completed, it weighs over half a kilogramme, looks like a small fat snake tied up in a pretzel, and handles like sin; but for me, delivers an unprecedented level of realism I cannot do without. It has worked for every system I’ve recommended it for friends, regardless of downstream configuration or complexity. In friendship - kevin |
Do human beings live in Sri Lanka /! The answer is yes. What an awful, racist thing to say. As if the cables being made there would be of lower quality than made in USA or anywhere else in the world. The intent was just terrible. I’m sorry. I oversaw operations in India and Sri Lanka during my work history, and both those places have some of the kindest, most intelligent and sincere people you may ever run in to. |
You are wrong. But you are still on the right track. Take this logical example - A terribly built, poor measuring, compromised receiver from a no name manufacturer will not sound "better" even if you use the costliest interconnects with it. So the cables should not make a difference, but they can... for a number of reasons. Shall I elaborate? |
I’m usually pretty civil but you are seriously f’d up. All I said was I’m pretty sure WBC are made in Sri Lanka (you stated they are made in Japan). What that has to do with being racist is beyond me. This morning (many hours before reading this post) I ordered a set of top of the line WBC RCA interconnects for my phone stage, presumably made by the fine people in Sri Lanka. Get yourself some professional help. |
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