2. cables
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cables vs wire?

Oh boy I'm way over my head but hear goes: just bought Totem Staff and NAD bee355 amp. And i'm ready to use plain old speaker wire? What speaker cables do you recommend and does it really make a difference?

I confess I heard a difference of cables in the store but i'm lost and don't really want o spend more money.

thanks

novice who is enjoying his first really good speakers at 60.

Brian
brianwillson
stewie
187 posts
 
A third vote for Blue Jeans Cable. Great cables, prices and service. No voodoo. My entry- and exit-level cables, and everything in between.
runnin
397 posts
 
Brian, I was in the same boat as you when I began to suspect that speaker cables might not be all the same. I didn't want to spend a lot, and let's face it, the prices can be plain crazy. A regular on another forum I frequent suggested a different type of cable. One made from solid core wire, not strands of copper. Audioquest Type 4 would give me a good noticeable improvement over the Oxygen Free Copper fine strand 12 gauge I had.

I wasn't sure, but thought that for 5 bucks a foot(buying in bulk on the cheap) it would cost me about $120 for 2 12 ft lengths, and I could handle that. Well to make a long story short, I was quite impressed at the improvement. I didn't know that I was missing anything, but the new cables gave improvements.

The music sounded more focused or accurate. Again, I didn't know what to listen for or what I was missing. But the stranded cable definitely was inferior. A problem with this forum is you can dozens of responses, each different and it's hard to winnow it down to a course of action. The help I got was on another forum, and I only suggest it because it really made a difference.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,547 posts
 
Trust your own ears. Let things settle in. Give it time.
There will NEVER be consensus on this subject.

I've always stayed within my budget and found some great cabling without the hyperbole. Darwin Silver ICs and Tempo Electric SCs (with bare ends) give me everything without sacrificing anything.

Use what sounds best in the context of your system and your system only.
I can't stress that fact enough.

All the best,
Nonoise
runnin
397 posts
 
Good post Nonoise,
akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,151 posts
 
Nonoise nailed it, but one more thing to emphasize: I had both the Totem Forests and Arros in prior systems, and they were both speaker and IC cable "fussy".

Silver plated OCC copper worked best.

(1) As a modest priced cable, Chord Rumour worked well.
(2) Totem's own TRESS (knockoffs of the Chord) worked best, not surprisingly, because that is what they are wired with internally.

IMO look for a used pair and good to go. There is a set for sale on Canuckaudiomart.com
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