Yes a cable discussion :)

Hi Arj,

GREAT topic,

My thought is that Mains cables often do things that are not expected of them, and often make atleast as much a difference as the interconnects.

Flying in the face of logic.... to me, speaker cables seem to make the least difference.

But Most of all, the action of All Cables Is VERY system dependent...

What is sauce for the goose is Not sauce for the gander.

Cables do make a difference, let me list some desirable properties of the cable:

- Preferably be thin
- Should be gauge 16 or less
- Should have a tough outer covering if you want to take it thru concealed wall pipes
- Oxygen free for long life

Can you add more points. Do cables specify ohms/ meter spec.

- Debu

Hi Debu,

Which cables are U referring to ?

Interconnects, Speaker or Mains Cables ?

They are ( IMHO ) 3 different animals altogether..

I would think that the quality and type of the connectors are equally important.

For e.g. I'd favor banana type plugs for the speakers as against the spade lugs (or simply wrapping the cable around the binding posts). Also if biwiring, then using both A and B speakers binding post on the amp is preferable to having both the pairs of wires wrapped around a single set of posts - purely from a firm contact perspective.

One reason why one should use good quality interconnects is that you have lower chances of shorts or broken strands of cable inside the sheaths. The humming that was there with some of my cheap interconnects, vanished when I upgraded to the DAC and MX cables.

Hi Debu, Which cables are U referring to ? Interconnects, Speaker or Mains Cables ? They are ( IMHO ) 3 different animals altogether..

I was referring to speaker cables.

Raftuq I agree that good connectors can may a difference.

hi raftuq

Looks like u have got some experience with bi-wiring.

I just want to reconfirm, when bi-wiring can i attach the wires to same binding post. I will be buying the Marantz SR-4600 within a couple of weeks. I have the Sonus 2605 which is bi-wireable. and there is no option of speaker B in SR-4600.

SUNILYO schrieb:

hi raftuq Looks like u have got some experience with bi-wiring. I just want to reconfirm, when bi-wiring can i attach the wires to same binding post. I will be buying the Marantz SR-4600 within a couple of weeks. I have the Sonus 2605 which is bi-wireable. and there is no option of speaker B in SR-4600.

Yes, Sunilyo, your understanding is correct.

If only one pair of speaker is supported by the amp, then both the blacks from left speaker go to the single black binding post for left speaker on amp and both the reds of the left speaker go to the single red binding post for left speaker on amp; ditto for right speaker.

The problem one faces is that two wires twisted together are quite thick and wrapping it around a single binding post on amp is a shade flakey IMO. Minor movement of the amplifier also sometimes may get one of these connections off the binding post. Some people therefore attach a banana plug for one wire and the other wire is wound round the same binding post. Alternatively you could use a spade lug instead of winding it round the post - but these lugs are hard to find (at least in BLR).

Lugs are not hard to find at all....Monster makes the soldering and the dry crimp(solderless) variety of bannas and spades. try em out.

manek.

You are right Manek, they do make them, however I couldn't find this in BLR. THE place for all such stuff in BLR is S.P. Road. I buy my stuff from Sanson (have I got the spelling right) who stock all MX stuff. They, and all the other stores in this area do not have the lugs. Some shops suggested that I look around in a electrical hardware shop.

The lugs available were way too small for speaker wires.

Ditto for EMI suppression cores (http://www.konicaelectronics.com/products.asp?catid=3&grpid=91). I wanted to try these out in my setup, but Sanson doesn't stock these.

Can someone please point me to a nice "Biwiring for Dummies" guide? I think I've understood biamping pretty well, but biwiring is still beyond me

I think there are two places you can check...If there is a Harmon Kardon/Infiniti outlet "fx audio". They usually stock monster products. Second place to go is Profx, delears for kef, polk audio. They have QED bananas and spades and are I might add very good !

Manek.