Speaker Cable Recommendations

[Vertigo-1]

Well those 12 gauge wires in that pic are Radio Shack cables. I found a very definite improvement primarily in the bass after I got the Taras...as if the RS cables were just simply restricting the bass. Like I said, I found the Taras worth every penny ever since I got em, and they're built well and look good and offer a audible improvement for their price (which is the most important thing when talking about cables IMO, that there be an AUDIBLE difference to begin with, and that we aren't just digging for pots of gold under the rainbow), so I'm likely to take them up to the next speakers that I'd get...the Totem Acoustic Hawks.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by Vertigo-1 so I'm likely to take them up to the next speakers that I'd get...the Totem Acoustic Hawks.

At which point you'll sell me your Triangles, right?

 

[Ctn]

http://members.tripod.com/~tsc/cables.htm says the RSC 500/1000's are laid back??

Do you think this is true Vertigo?

 

[Vertigo-1]

LOL, gentle laid back sound. Well I don't think they sound laid back, but I haven't heard any other speaker cables before so I wouldn't know. My own system right now sounds very smooth and warm, with great amounts of detail and an enormous soundstage.

 

[Ctn]

ooo nice

coz right now Im thinking of picking a pair up but if its way laid back, its gonna sound heaps laid back in my system.

My speakers seems like it isnt even there

but with surperb midrange. Hopefully can get an audition with it first

If you have the time, can I trouble you to post a brief review of them Vertigo

Better still if you have icq

 

[Vertigo-1]

Well I wish I could offer a review, but I don't think I'm qualified to since I've never heard more expensive speaker cables, and I've never heard similarly priced cables. I have no reference, so I can't quite pick apart the Tara's inherent tonal quality. The best I can offer is the improvements I got from generic cables.

1. The bass. As a test CD, I used the last two songs on the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack sung by Coco Lee, which have some low hitting drum notes towards the end of the song. Before the Taras, those bass notes literally were not there. They just disappeared into thin air...I couldn't even hear them. At first I thought maybe bookshelfs just couldn't handle bass that low, but after getting the Taras, those drum hits became audible. So I know for certain from this test that the Taras do audibly improve, or increase, bass. This became more evident as the Taras burned in.

2. The imaging...it just snapped into place, and I could hear things more precisely in the given soundstage. With the generic RS cables, things were like mush within the soundstage, and it was hard to pick things out.

3. Depth...before the Tituses I had never really experienced depth. It had depth to begin with, but with the Taras, I could hear even more further back into a soundstage. There was more front to back than ever before.

4. Details...the Tituses by themselves are excellent at producing small details at low listening levels, the primary reason why I chose to go with them, not even considering they're Class B or whatever. The Taras simply improve on this trait. When I game, I pretty much use speakers only, and I game at low volumes...never wall shaking levels. After I got the Tituses, I discovered that there were a LOT of minute details to both the game soundtracks and sound effects that I had never heard before...details I had only previously heard on headphones.

5. I don't think they did anything to the treble, or to the midrange. I don't think I can characterize the cables themselves as anything either because of how tonally different my amp and speakers themselves sound. My amp totally, noticeably sounds warm, and for the Tituses, I've heard them being called anywhere from bright and detailed to warm and smooth. Part of me when I bought them was hoping for the "bright and detailed" characteristic, but I ended up getting the "warm and smooth" characteristic. Given that, I have no idea what to call the Tituses.

That's about all I can say on the Taras. I'm not the type to enjoy tweaking around with cables as I think they by far offer the lowest bang for the buck and have the highest diminishing returns, so I tend to just get a good decent cable and settle in with it. I am for now very happy with the Taras though.

 

[Ctn]

That's a pretty good "brief" review Vertigo.

Now im tossing up whether to get the 500s or not hehe

Your warm and smooth sound might most probably comming more from your amp but then again might be a combination of your amp and Tara's

Its funny though I hear more detail on my speakers than I do with my headphones.

I'll see if I can demo the cables before I buy it

 

[Dusty Chalk]

I'm a bare wire guy, myself. When that's possible. The fewer connections, the better.

 

[Ctn]

How do you rig up a square cable to the speaker posts without damaging the cable? I like bare wire myself but the RSC are rectangular in shape

 

[pigmode]

Quote:

Originally posted by morphsci This is my previous suggestion for good quality cables at very good prices: Check out Canare starquad 4S-8 speaker cable. You can buy it online at Markertek. You then have the option of how you want it terminated, can make it exactly the length you need and you save a pretty good chunk of change, at 0.41/ft you can get two biwire 8ft runs (32 feet) for $13.12 plus the cost of terminations, heatshrink, techflex, etc. Bottom line you should be able to do the 8ft biwire runs for under $25. Hard to beat and it sounds pretty good. Plus since it is already a four conductor cable you have a lot of flexibility in wiring it up. I actually use two of the four 16 awg conducters for each speaker connection thus giving an effective 13 AWG conducter. BTW, I use it on my den system to biwire a pair of Wharfedale 7.2 anniversarys to a pair of ASL waves using 12 foot runs. Sounds pretty good to me.

I picked some up. There are 4 wires in each cable and you are combining the wires and using one cable per speaker right?. Can there be any disadvantages to this, or is it all for the better?

 

[Drag0n]

Signal cable looks like a good buy to me.