StratosWRC

Need to get some longer lenghths of speaker wire for the hi-fi but not really up on whats what. The old cable is QED Anniversary which has done a fine job, so may well replace with that unless....

anyone recommend anything which will blow the QED's away (without breaking the bank)?

Also is it worth bi-wiring the speakers if the amp only has 4 outputs?

[Davey]

One that is conductive would be a good start

Seriously though dont get too **** with cable it doesnt actually make that much of a difference.. As long as its a low resistance cable with decent shielding you'll be fine! Some people spend 1000's on platinum cable with lambs ******** insulation blessed by a zen princess. Pointless!

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

agreed

Dracoro

As with anything in Hi-Fi, the law of diminishing returns kicks in.

Buy the best just before prices get ridiculous.

e.g. if cable prices (per metre) are as follows:

50p
£1
£1.50
£2
£3
£5
£10
£20

Then go for the £3 or £5 one, I'll wager that the £10+ ones offer little benefit over the £3/5 ones, esp compared to the benefit of the £3 over the £2.

What hi-fi do you have, no point spending much on cable if the stereo won't realise any gains.

RobinSherwood

It all depends on the system, I was very sceptical until I was persuaded to sit through a comparative demonstration at home, swapping cables in a system I was used to listening to.

There was quite a dramatic difference between some of the cables, not necessarily better as such but just as amplifiers etc are a subjective choice, there was a difference. The most expensive was not the most pleasant sounding IMHO but other people may have disagreed, but compared to 'cheap' cable the stuff demonstrated made an equivalent difference in clarity and soundstage as buying a more expensive front end or amplification.

A lot depends on the system involved as it would be silly to buy seriously high end cable for a mid range system.

Any decent Hi Fi shop should be willing to swap a couple of cables for you to hear or even let you take a couple of sets home on sale or return to see which cable you prefer before ordering in the length you need.

OllyK

Twin and Earth

Shark Man

Yup

13amp flex doesn't do a bad job either....well it shouldn't seeing the most current a decent high power amplifier will allow to be drawn is about 2 amps, 3amps as a max @ roughly +/-32volts (approx 64volt peak to peak for 100watt per channel RMS).

Capacitance, inductance and reactance however are always present, but often very negligable. And that occurs with any cable; The length being the main factor (Assuming negligable resistivity). And even then, the passive crossovers inisde the speaker messes with the signal far more than the cable does.

Brendan Hughes

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

QED silver anniversary is reckoned to be pretty good.

Exactly how much do you want? I'm about to move my hi-fi, and will probably have two 8m lengths of Supra 200 strand available for pennies plus postage and packing at cost when I do.

PM me if you are interested. It cost £2 a metre 20 years ago.

Alcazar

NeilT

I used to work for QED (15 yrs back) when they first launched Qudos.

Needless to say I had at home pretty much all the QED cables for testing with my own system, ranging from the then £2.50 Qudos to the Silver Profile (£15 a m). On the high end systems in the R&D lab there was quite a difference between the cables. On my own system at home (a Kenwood at the time) the difference was barely noticeable.

Still got some of it up in the loft.

On a moderate budget the Qudos cable is excellent. I wouldnt personally pay anything more than a few £ a meter anyway.

I've a dedicated cinema room in my home (driven by Yamaha/mission speakers)- all wired up with Qudos and it sounds great.

Neil

StratosWRC

Looks so classy draped across the carpet.

StratosWRC

pm'd

Daz34

Bi-wiring is pointless unless you are gonna bi-amp.
Save your money.

OllyK

That's why mine was set in to the wall behind the plaster while I was re-wiring!

GazTheHat

QED Silver Anniversary. Can't recommend it enough.

I recently sold some runs on eBay for about £1 a metre. Costs around £4.50-5 p/m online.

Don't think you can buy better for around that price mark.

rgv_stu

4mm sq pro audio cable, with speakons. the cable is as good as most will need, and connections are better than using crappy banana plugs