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speaker cables

#21
#22
elavate7 said:
so for a 2 cab stack what do you suggest?
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I have two Aggie GS-112's and when I run 'em together, I run a 3 foot Monster Cable Standard series cable to the top cab and a 6 footer to the bottom cab. You could do the same. Or you could run two 6 footers if you wanted to get anal about matching cable lengths. But using a 3 and a 6 footer together is not gonna cause any problems for you cabs or your amp. )-(
 
#23
My personal experience. not only are monster cable speaker cables not any better than proco or whirlwind "plain" speaker cables, they are worse! Because monster uses a ridiculously thick jacket on their cables it is very difficult to replace a connector on one if it should ever break. Switchcraft and neutrik wouldnt fit on the last one I had. I ended up dedicating it to my eden with the banana plug jack!
 
#24
Calaverasgrande said:
My personal experience. not only are monster cable speaker cables not any better than proco or whirlwind "plain" speaker cables, they are worse! Because monster uses a ridiculously thick jacket on their cables it is very difficult to replace a connector on one if it should ever break. Switchcraft and neutrik wouldnt fit on the last one I had. I ended up dedicating it to my eden with the banana plug jack!
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I'd agree with you that Monster Cable isn't any better than the other company's that you mentioned. And in some instances worse. I used to use Monster instrument cables but got rid of them for the fact that the thick jacket you mentioned was just that... too thick and made the cables really stiff and unmanageable onstage. I hated that and sold them. I have made up and used 12 gauge lamp cord for speaker cables and it works as good as anything on the market. I'm not that big a fan of Monster cables it just happened that it was more a matter of convenience when I got the speaker cables that I have and the Standard Series has worked fine for me. They have a much thinner and more flexible jacket than their "pro" series. I wouldn't be putting new ends on any Monster cables, I'd just get what I need.
Monster cables are still guaranteed for life and when they break, just get new ones. I have a 10 foot Bayou instrument cable that I love and highly recommend and I also have some Planet Waves cables that are great, too. None of them sound any different than the the others to my ears. And they are all lifetime guaranteed as well. I personally don't mess around with making up cables anymore unless I need something that is not available by anybody else and the chances of that are slim to none. Especially since Butchie at Bayou Audio Cables has pretty much anything you could possibly need and will make anything you want and guarantee it for life. )-(
 
#25
doktorfeelgood said:
I'd agree with you that Monster Cable isn't any better than the other company's that you mentioned. And in some instances worse. I used to use Monster instrument cables but got rid of them for the fact that the thick jacket you mentioned was just that... too thick and made the cables really stiff and unmanageable onstage. I hated that and sold them. I have made up and used 12 gauge lamp cord for speaker cables and it works as good as anything on the market. I'm not that big a fan of Monster cables it just happened that it was more a matter of convenience when I got the speaker cables that I have and the Standard Series has worked fine for me. They have a much thinner and more flexible jacket than their "pro" series. I wouldn't be putting new ends on any Monster cables, I'd just get what I need.
Monster cables are still guaranteed for life and when they break, just get new ones. I have a 10 foot Bayou instrument cable that I love and highly recommend and I also have some Planet Waves cables that are great, too. None of them sound any different than the the others to my ears. And they are all lifetime guaranteed as well. I personally don't mess around with making up cables anymore unless I need something that is not available by anybody else and the chances of that are slim to none. Especially since Butchie at Bayou Audio Cables has pretty much anything you could possibly need and will make anything you want and guarantee it for life. )-(
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I have a couple monster as well. It's ineveitable that a sister or uncle or someone will give you one as a gift. The instrument cable was too microphonic. It makes clacking sounds come out of the amp! The speaker cable I have is one that was in a bargain bin at Leos for $5.
I thought I could just get a switchcraft "bigfoot" and be done. Nope!
I also really cant justify the price premium on their cables. Folks I know who worked at Best Buy tell me the markup is 80% on those! So they dont cost anymore wholesale than a whirlwind.
 
#26
Calaverasgrande said:
Folks I know who worked at Best Buy tell me the markup is 80% on those! So they dont cost anymore wholesale than a whirlwind.
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What's even sillier is paying $50 for a HDMI cable to connect a $40 DVD player. :confused:
Guess what the respective profit margins are on those two items. :eyebrow:
 
#27
Regarding silver vs copper having less resistance, even if true its also a function of wire gauge. Get a proper gauge of copper, the resistance is negligible, and can be less than a thinner gauge of silver.

Besides, doesn't silver corrode like crazy? That can't be good for signal propagation with stranded cables.

Randy
 
#28
steveksux said:
Regarding silver vs copper having less resistance, even if true its also a function of wire gauge. Get a proper gauge of copper, the resistance is negligible, and can be less than a thinner gauge of silver.

Besides, doesn't silver corrode like crazy? That can't be good for signal propagation with stranded cables.

Randy
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+1 on gauge.

Yes silver corrodes, but silver oxide conducts. But that makes silver a good choice, for connector plating, not so much for wire.
 
#29
billfitzmaurice said:
What's even sillier is paying $50 for a HDMI cable to connect a $40 DVD player. :confused:
Guess what the respective profit margins are on those two items. :eyebrow:
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Nobody should be paying these kinds of prices for connectors.
My local cable tech turned me onto this website and I have bought a few of their cords and they are better than anything I can find in any big box store or anywhere else online. Their prices are incredible, the products are excellent, their return policy is awesome and their warranty is excellent as well. Highly recommended. :ninja: )-(
Invalid Link Removed
 
#30
FreaqyFrequency said:
Not what I was going for. I was going for the bit on attenuation and the signal level (though I'm sure there are better links than that, that's what I had on hand at the time.)

Oh, and by the way, the silver vs. copper issue isn't snake oil. Silver has been proven to be a better conductor than copper. Are the marketing words subjective at best? Perhaps, but this brand does at least have physics backing it up.

Enough on that, however. I don't want to get this thread closed down prematurely.

To sum up, either chop it up and re-terminate the ends, or get a 3-footer speakon-speakon. You shouldn't need more than 3 feet if you have a head-on-cab configuration.
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Sorry, but the silver-versus-copper issue is snake oil; the physics don't back up their claims.

Silver is a few percent lower in resistivity than copper, but many times more expensive. If a certain gauge of copper has too much resistance, using silver instead of a larger gauge of copper is silly.
 
#31
Bob Lee (QSC) said:
Sorry, but the silver-versus-copper issue is snake oil; the physics don't back up their claims.

Silver is a few percent lower in resistivity than copper, but many times more expensive. If a certain gauge of copper has too much resistance, using silver instead of a larger gauge of copper is silly.
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+1. Do electrons flow faster through silver than through copper? Yes. Does it matter? No. Even flowing through copper they do so at a speed roughly 700,000 times faster than the speed of sound, so going even faster makes no difference.
 
#32
Here is a comparison of the relative conductivity/resistivity of copper and silver, shown as the cross-section of equivalent pieces of solid conductor.

AgCu.gif
 
#33
Thanks for the graphic, Bob. That does put things into perspective.

I did a blind test between the PW switching cable I had been using previously and my Zaolla in September of last year and I definitely preferred the sound of the Zaolla (I'm going to stop myself here from using the gamut of the subjective words). Over short runs especially, however, I can see that the physical difference in performance between the two metals would be rather trivial.
 
#36
The only point in gold on electronic connections is that it dos not tarnish as easily as nickel, chrome, brass, copper or silver.
I think in some subtle way copper and silver probably can be shown to have different transfer functions. but its probably invisible when you consider how much distortion your magnet/copper voice coil/paper cone impart to the signal. Thats what really kills me about some of the audiophile BS I read from time to time. Speakers are inherently the most distorted part of the entire signal chain. Time, harmonic and phase distortion all at once, in different directions. And I am supposed to worry about the purity of the metal in my speaker cable or how the wires are braided?
Give me some 12 gauge in a nice durable jacket and some durable connectors. I am more concerned with the robustness of the amp/speaker connection than any esoteric way of making it better.
 
#37
Calaverasgrande said:
I think in some subtle way copper and silver probably can be shown to have different transfer functions.
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Copper and silver have slightly different conductivities (this has been mentioned a couple times in the thread). If you looked at the transfer functions of copper or silver conductors you would see they are straight lines, differing only in their relative resistivity or conductivity.
 
#40
Bob Lee (QSC) said:
Copper and silver have slightly different conductivities (this has been mentioned a couple times in the thread). If you looked at the transfer functions of copper or silver conductors you would see they are straight lines, differing only in their relative resistivity or conductivity.
Click to expand...

I think i mentioned it first in this thread actually. The point I was making is that even if copper and silver can be found to be like .0001%dbv difference at 1k, they are pushing a speaker, which is distortion incarnate.
But if I wanted to be a devils advocate I might try and look up the inductance and capacitance of silver vs copper. Perhaps between impedance, inductance and capacitance we might be able to quantify some audible difference between the two.
And maybe land a contract marketing overpriced cable to audiophiles.
 

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