I hate speaker cables

[RoboRob]

Probably a subject beaten to death but here is my contribution. The best speaker cable is no cable at all since every meter/foot of cable is causing loses. The best cable is as short as possible!

Best would be to have a mono-block (incl. DAC) build into the speaker and hook it up via fiber directly from the pre-amp to electrically uncouple the whole setup. I was wondering if anyone was delivering such a setup???

 

[Feltran]

Maybe it's just because they are trying to maximize profits, but I found it interesting that at RMAF '08 Lars of Nordost claimed that they found the best sound came from 4m cables, and all of the demos they did were using 4m Odin cables, even though that was much longer than they needed for their setup.

Also, when I bought cables from my local dealer, I only need 2m cables, but the guy at the store offered to sell me 3m cables for the price of the 2m cables because he said it would improve the sound quality.

 

[Rich]

The best speaker cable is no cable at all since every meter/foot of cable is causing loses. The best cable is as short as possible!

Like most generalities in this hobby, this one is no more correct than it is incorrect. Speaker cable does not necessarily degrade the signal in a way that can be heard by our ears. In fact, in some systems, the tone control aspect of certain cables may actually make the system sound better. So there really is no such thing as "best" in this hobby, with cables as with anything else. Anyone who says you must have cables of a certain length or a certain design and that is "best" for every system is simply showing their own ignorance.

 

[C.A.P]

Maybe it's just because they are trying to maximize profits, but I found it interesting that at RMAF '08 Lars of Nordost claimed that they found the best sound came from 4m cables, and all of the demos they did were using 4m Odin cables, even though that was much longer than they needed for their setup.

Also, when I bought cables from my local dealer, I only need 2m cables, but the guy at the store offered to sell me 3m cables for the price of the 2m cables because he said it would improve the sound quality.

At $500,000 a foot I would recommend at least 4 meters as a min too. If you only get one sucker to fall for it you have made your year. There are a lot of them too. That being said, I do agree with 8 ft being the best. I have tried 4 ft short cables from my amp to speakers and it tends to be a bit in your face. May be the extra length softens things up. I am not a fan however in using cables or IC as tuning tools.

 

[Wardsweb]

...snip... I was wondering if anyone was delivering such a setup???

Meridian bought Sooloos so they would have a digital source to directly drive their active speakers.

 

[Craig]

Probably a subject beaten to death but here is my contribution. The best speaker cable is no cable at all since every meter/foot of cable is causing loses. The best cable is as short as possible!

Best would be to have a mono-block (incl. DAC) build into the speaker and hook it up via fiber directly from the pre-amp to electrically uncouple the whole setup. I was wondering if anyone was delivering such a setup???

That would eliminate electrical issues. However you still have to convert an electrical signal to a light signal then back to an electrical signal and then from Digital to analog and then flow that electrically to an amp and then speaker.

Perhaps all these conversions and intersections are potential sources of signal loss distortion or jitter. A good concept but challenging to execute. Optical cables are best to use if AT&T glass cables and fiber optic converters are used at each end.

 

[kach22i]

At $500,000 a foot I would recommend at least 4 meters as a min too.

I know some starving musicians who will come to my house and play for much less.

Problem is they will drink all my beer, pee on the toilet seat and empty the frig.

 

[RoboRob]

That would eliminate electrical issues. However you still have to convert an electrical signal to a light signal then back to an electrical signal and then from Digital to analog and then flow that electrically to an amp and then speaker.

Perhaps all these conversions and intersections are potential sources of signal loss distortion or jitter. A good concept but challenging to execute. Optical cables are best to use if AT&T glass cables and fiber optic converters are used at each end.

Theoretically you are right and it would be nice if even more conversions could be eliminated from the process!!!

regards,
Rob

 

[jvitez]

i know some starving musicians who will come to my house and play for much less.

Problem is they will drink all my beer, pee on the toilet seat and empty the frig.:d

roflmao! :rofl:

 

[twich54]

pee on the toilet seat .

much higher class of musicians than I've got, mine would go in the corner with the cat ! ......

 

[tonepub]

The Sooloos system works very well with the powered speakers, I can vouch for that!

 

[Tosh]

Maybe it's just because they are trying to maximize profits, but I found it interesting that at RMAF '08 Lars of Nordost claimed that they found the best sound came from 4m cables, and all of the demos they did were using 4m Odin cables, even though that was much longer than they needed for their setup.

Also, when I bought cables from my local dealer, I only need 2m cables, but the guy at the store offered to sell me 3m cables for the price of the 2m cables because he said it would improve the sound quality.

The higher resistance in the speaker cable will reduce the damping factor (by the eeniest amount) and reduce control of (mainly) the woofer. Perhaps they liked that effect?

OP: Roll your own cables; then at least you're getting some of your money's worth.