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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 324 Registered: Oct-04 | Liberty Cable ULTRACAP THX Certified Speaker Cable: Who uses it? In lengths of 20", are there any benefits in using 12awg vs. 14awg? Are there any benfits in terminating a cable connection (i.e. banana, spade) vs. a using raw wire connection? |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 2430 Registered: Feb-05 | Hi Chris, I use that speaker cable in the heaviest gauge. I use bare wire on the speaker and power amp. I only use the haeviest gauge for my 2 fronts and the next size down for the other speakers. Excellent cable for the money and a favorite choice for many high quality home installers. I have 11 foot runs on the front and 40 ft for the rears. Sounds very good and is cheap. There is better but you have to pay quite a bit more for it. |
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Bronze Member Username: Nik3Sacramento, Ca Usa Post Number: 53 Registered: Nov-05 | banana conections are for Smokers that cant keep there hands steady win hooking up there system or people who break up there system alot i like bare wire i think its just to much money to spend on somthing thats just going to make it faster to put together there realy is no upgraded preformance from banana conections but its looks better win you hook it up and alot cleaner to |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 327 Registered: Oct-04 | What would you say is the bottom line difference between a $50 pair of cables & a $500 pair of cables? I've seen a pair of $11,000 Audioquest Everest cables, how much better are they than $5000 cables, you know what I'm getting at? Is it just snake-oil past a certain point? What is that point? |
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Anonymous | Depends who you ask. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 331 Registered: Oct-04 | I'm asking you. |
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New member Username: Just4netPost Number: 5 Registered: Dec-05 | Christopher, I am NOT an expert on this but past a certain point the wires are being just way over engineered. For instance, is a $25,000 chronograph (aka watch) necessarily better *at keeping time* than one that is $1,000 or $250. One might be titanium and gold, but ever good $250 watches can have the same accuracy, shock resistance and water pressure resistance -- for time keeping they are the same. Yet there will always be a market for the $25,000 watch. Here's an interesting link for you to find some opinion and fact weighing in on the side that says, "that ordinary copper wire, as long as it's heavy enough, is just as good as name brands". http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm I've seen the same position posted rather a lot of times on this and other audiophile forums I've been reading the past few weeks. My own EE work and experience on digital cabling systems and analog sensor cabling would lead me to believe for speaker cabling once you have good contact and sufficient gauge-to-signal ratios the primary variable would be shielding. If you have big EMI/RFI relative to the wiring then spending money on shielding would make sense. Comparing signal loss on the connection point of a screwed down wire vs. plugs and connectors of all sorts of exotic metals just doesn't seem worthy of really significant dollars. Heck, at that level wider connection separation would probably do more related to near end crosstalk than any specific connector. So, I think for $11,000 we may see Cartier thinking of entering the wire market. Diamond studded cable anyone? |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 337 Registered: Oct-04 | Thanks David, that was a good read. I appreciate a nice looking cable (or wristwatch) as much as the next guy, but man you must be ill to spend that kind of scratch on cables. So for the record, there may be prettier cables out there, but functionally speaking, Liberty Cable ULTRACAP THX is about as good as your going to get at any price. I'm completely happy with the pair of Dayton High-Definition Speaker Cables I own, but developed an itch to explore more expensive cables to see if would make a positive difference. The Dayton cables from partsexpress.com were an exceptional deal IMHO; braided protective jacket, 24K gold banana, 14awg OFC. I caught them on sale for $27! http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=181-600 I've not come across anything close to there quality/value at twice the price. |