Speaker Cable poll

[toasty]

I have new KEF R3 Meta speakers but need some longer speaker cable. Currently, I have QED XT40i cable which is perfectly fine but is, purely aesthetically, too short if I want to channel the cable through the stands.

Is there anything to be gained by spending more on something like Chord Company Rumour X or should I save a few quid and get some bell wire (more realistically some more XT40i)?

There's a wide range of systems here so interested in your thoughts and what you settled on.

[danb79]

I ran my KEF R3s with my Cyrus Cast integrated amp with Chord Odyssey and then Van Damme cable; the Chord cables got sold on

The Van Damme cables are about as much as you need IMO

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305146365465?_skw=van+d...

[Tony1963]

I used to have Naim’s own NACA5 cable, but it was an absolute pig to fit into the domestic environment. So about 20 years ago I changed to Avondale Black Link: much much cheaper, easily hidden, easily bends around corners etc, small profile, easily terminated by me, and I really didn’t notice any difference in the sound, maybe a slight taming of the treble, but I wouldn’t bet my house on it. I can’t remember the price, but the ten metre pair I bought was about £200, terminated and delivered.

I’d love to try some extremely expensive cabling, for a laugh if nothing else, but there are more important things in my life.

[danb79]

Tony1963 said:

I used to have Naim’s own NACA5 cable, but it was an absolute pig to fit into the domestic environment. So about 20 years ago I changed to Avondale Black Link: much much cheaper, easily hidden, easily bends around corners etc, small profile, easily terminated by me, and I really didn’t notice any difference in the sound, maybe a slight taming of the treble, but I wouldn’t bet my house on it. I can’t remember the price, but the ten metre pair I bought was about £200, terminated and delivered.

I’d love to try some extremely expensive cabling, for a laugh if nothing else, but there are more important things in my life.

I did; I borrowed a set of 3m Tellurium Q Black speaker cables to go between the Arcam FMJ A38/P38 combo I had at that time with Spendor A6 speakers and my Rega Apollo CDP and they went up against a set of Chord Carnival Silverscreen cables I had and another set of Van Damme cables (albeit they were black then, so not sure which ones...)

Absolutely no difference, at all...

Tried it with the MA BX5 speakers I had too, my trusty AE109s and my Uncles B&W 704s he had then with his Creek amp and an old NAD C320BEE amp I had...

I'm a firm believer of that all expensive cables do is empty your wallet faster

[conkerman]

Quite like the VanDamme Studio (Blue) cable.

I used to love the cable talk Talk 4 speaker cable. Matched my old system perfectly

[Tony1963]

danb79 said:

I did; I borrowed a set of 3m Tellurium Q Black speaker cables to go between the Arcam FMJ A38/P38 combo I had at that time with Spendor A6 speakers and my Rega Apollo CDP and they went up against a set of Chord Carnival Silverscreen cables I had and another set of Van Damme cables (albeit they were black then, so not sure which ones...)

Absolutely no difference, at all...

Tried it with the MA BX5 speakers I had too, my trusty AE109s and my Uncles B&W 704s he had then with his Creek amp and an old NAD C320BEE amp I had...

I'm a firm believer of that all expensive cables do is empty your wallet faster

Surely you realised that you needed to upgrade your source and amps to get the best from it all!!??

[Soloman Dodd]

I have bought cables from Mark Grant several times, he makes up whatever you specify and delivers within the week.

https://markgrantcables.co.uk/department/speaker-c...

[Batfoy]

When I had my old Arcam set up I had some average speaker cables that I carried over when I started getting into Naim gear. My dealer was literally just across the road so I popped in one day and said that my system just sounded a bit average really and I expected better. Described the system and he handed me a set of NAC A5 cables to try. He never got them back. Honestly, it was an absolute game changer for me and I've had them ever since (15 years or so) and never felt the need to change although I'm curious to know what the really expensive stuff is like, just for funsies. Agree with another poster though, they are an absolute pig to manage as they are so inflexible. So yes, I think absolutely decent cable is worth it but bear in mind my original cabling was pretty dire so if you've got decent stuff already you may not notice that much of a change.

[dickymint]

Soloman Dodd said:

I have bought cables from Mark Grant several times, he makes up whatever you specify and delivers within the week.

https://markgrantcables.co.uk/department/speaker-c...

I just had a browse around that site as I need a couple of HDMI cables - seems they only advertise HDMI 1.4 which is pretty much useless for Atmos, eARC etc

[OutInTheShed]

Personally, I have some speakers which sound different when bi-wired. Clearer I think.
But our main system sounds fine to us using long lengths of cheap wire.

If you believe that speaker cables make a difference then logically, you'd surely move away from the 'stereo amp' concept and have an amp either built in to, or next to, the speaker?
The same logic encourages me to think about active crossovers and all that.

[pete_esp]

This is a fun subject, back when I was doing my diploma in Pro Audio Engineering we concluded that reasonable 2 core stranded was perfectly good enough.

Years later after completing my Electronics degree I found myself in my first job studying data sheets for cables with particular attention on the attenuation of signals of gigabit bandwidths. The attenuation roll off didn't happen until many hundreds of MHz so I concluded anything with a 20kHz bandwidth could be transmitted along any reasonable cables with no perceptible loss over a few meters, even tons of meters.

[MC Bodge]

At least they are sort of honest about it:

https://snakeoilsound.com/

[MC Bodge]

What is it that audiophiles think that special cables are going to achieve?

[Zero Fuchs]

toasty said:

I have new KEF R3 Meta speakers but need some longer speaker cable. Currently, I have QED XT40i cable which is perfectly fine but is, purely aesthetically, too short if I want to channel the cable through the stands.

Is there anything to be gained by spending more on something like Chord Company Rumour X or should I save a few quid and get some bell wire (more realistically some more XT40i)?

There's a wide range of systems here so interested in your thoughts and what you settled on.

I've ticked the audiophile box but only because my cable costs about £50/m. I bought it used on eBay for less than half that.

My dealer reckons Atlas 3.5 is a good match for NAIM so opted for that, but it's difficult to say whether it's better than my old Cable Talk at £2/m. My system sounds great anyway but thought I'd upgrade with my new amp, given my old cable was about 30 years old.

I've got a decent dealer who has stuff up to £500/m and is happy to lend it out. His thing is to stop spending when you can't hear the difference but I can't be arsed with cable as I've better things to do than test cables back to back.

[outnumbered]

MC Bodge said:

What is it that audiophiles think that special cables are going to achieve?

"Deeper and cleaner bass, a palpable sense of air, greater timing coherency, my wife could hear the difference from the kitchen". Probably.

[Batfoy]

outnumbered said:

MC Bodge said:

What is it that audiophiles think that special cables are going to achieve?

"Deeper and cleaner bass, a palpable sense of air, greater timing coherency, my wife could hear the difference from the kitchen". Probably.

You forgot to use keywords like 'noise floor' and 'soundstage' so if you're going to take the piss you might as well get yer chops around some of the vernacular.

[Jobbo]

I voted mid-range premium because I like QED Silver Anniversary and that’s £5-6 per metre I think. But I like it simply because it’s much less obtrusive than most cables; if you run it along the front of the skirting board its colour makes it barely visible.

For sound quality any decent thickness copper is fine for me.

[PT1984]

I use Chord Odyssey speaker cables but a Van Damme hi level sub cable. I’d happily use the latter throughout.

[danb79]

Jobbo said:

I voted mid-range premium because I like QED Silver Anniversary and that’s £5-6 per metre I think. But I like it simply because it’s much less obtrusive than most cables; if you run it along the front of the skirting board its colour makes it barely visible.

For sound quality any decent thickness copper is fine for me.

It's good cable; exactly what I've got upstairs between my Arcam Alpha 10 and AE109 speakers - had it for donkey's years now; never needed to change it

[Techno9000]

A vote for the cheapest from me.