Rawshack 54 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Hi everyone, I'm running my Rega I/O into some Wharfedale Denton speakers and it all sounds jolly nice, but I realise that I'm still using my QED 42 strand cable from a long, long time ago. I think that maybe I might get better performance if I upgrade, but wondered what I should be looking at. I spend a lot of time fawning over turntables and amps. but very little time around cables Cheers in advance Alistair Link to post Share on other sites
Ittaku 4,759 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 23 minutes ago, Rawshack said: I'm running my Rega I/O into some Wharfedale Denton speakers and it all sounds jolly nice, but I realise that I'm still using my QED 42 strand cable from a long, long time ago. I think that maybe I might get better performance if I upgrade, but wondered what I should be looking at. I spend a lot of time fawning over turntables and amps. but very little time around cables You will see wildly different explanations for what makes a good cable, and unfortunately there is little validated science to tell you what is correct. The only thing that is almost universally agreed upon is the larger the overall wire gauge, the better. Speaker wire can cost anywhere from 20c to $100,000 (no exaggeration.) Most people will tell you to audition the cables but there are obviously limits on what you can get your hands on in advance. Good luck on your journey. Link to post Share on other sites
andyr 6,089 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 2 hours ago, Rawshack said: Hi everyone, I'm running my Rega I/O into some Wharfedale Denton speakers and it all sounds jolly nice, but I realise that I'm still using my QED 42 strand cable from a long, long time ago. I think that maybe I might get better performance if I upgrade, but wondered what I should be looking at. I spend a lot of time fawning over turntables and amps. but very little time around cables Cheers in advance Alistair What length are your spkr cables? Andy Link to post Share on other sites
Rawshack 54 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 Just now, andyr said: What length are your spkr cables? Andy HI andy - sorry I should have stated that. around 5 metres each side (give or take) Link to post Share on other sites
rantan 10,334 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 2 hours ago, Rawshack said: Hi everyone, I'm running my Rega I/O into some Wharfedale Denton speakers and it all sounds jolly nice, but I realise that I'm still using my QED 42 strand cable from a long, long time ago. I think that maybe I might get better performance if I upgrade, but wondered what I should be looking at. I spend a lot of time fawning over turntables and amps. but very little time around cables Cheers in advance Alistair @Bill125812 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Rawshack 54 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 1 minute ago, rantan said: @Bill125812 I never cared much for Huxley 1 Link to post Share on other sites
rockeater 791 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I would start by dipping your cable ends in DeOxit! and also wiping with it your speaker terminals. You will find this will be the greatest improvement in cables/connectors you can make. Unless of course your terminals were made with very thick plating of proper gold. Then the improvement will only be marginal. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
andyr 6,089 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 1 minute ago, Rawshack said: HI andy - sorry I should have stated that. around 5 metres each side (give or take) I have a slightly different take than Con in terms of thickness - ie. overall copper area. For 5m, I would say 18g is perfectly OK (which your 'QED 42 strand' cable is) - with 16g probably a bit better. Where you will get better sound ... is from using multiple, thin, individually insulated, solid core wires in place of stranded (like I can make up for you ). Andy 4 Link to post Share on other sites
buddyev 4,528 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 @andyr makes very nice quality speaker cables - I have them on my B&Ws. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
evil c 6,297 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Mogami W3103 speaker cable, around $15 per Metre. It is very good, will provide 90% of the performance of say Foilflex speaker cable at much less expense. I have had both and still do! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Ugly 916 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 I would also hit up @Bill125812 . His canare cables are hard to beat for the money. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Bill125812 3,726 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Canare 4s11 over a 5m run would be a great option. But if you want to go to the next level, I would go with Solid copper. I owned lintons, the dentons big brother, and tried a few cables on them. They just loved the Neotech solid copper cables. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
rantan 10,334 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 2 hours ago, Rawshack said: I never cared much for Huxley Perhaps not, but he was 100% correct in that particular instance. He knows sod all about speaker cables though and @Bill125812 is the man. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Southerly 118 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 10 hours ago, andyr said: I have a slightly different take than Con in terms of thickness - ie. overall copper area. For 5m, I would say 18g is perfectly OK (which your 'QED 42 strand' cable is) - with 16g probably a bit better. Where you will get better sound ... is from using multiple, thin, individually insulated, solid core wires in place of stranded (like I can make up for you ). Andy So many can't be bothered to see if there is anything better than QED 42 strand stuff. Used 4 x solid core 26AWG for i/connects for more than 10 years. Are your conductors used inside air core dielectrics? 1 Link to post Share on other sites
sir sanders zingmore 12,442 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 14 hours ago, buddyev said: @andyr makes very nice quality speaker cables - I have them on my B&Ws. Oh I didn’t realise that. Given the quality of his other gear, I’m sure they'd be superb. Link to post Share on other sites
andyr 6,089 Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 5 hours ago, Southerly said: Used 4 x solid core 26AWG for i/connects for more than 10 years. Are your conductors used inside air core dielectrics? No, haven't tried that, Stuart. Andy Link to post Share on other sites
Rawshack 54 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 Thanks everyone for replying to this thread, especially as I am such a moomin when it comes to cables. I've ordered some from a member on here and I'm looking forward to testing them out Cheers Al 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Wimbo 2,456 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 I've been using Zaphs RG213U coaxial for a few years now. Took a while to run in, but after three days they sounded very good. Hard to make up though as the shield is one conductor. Link to post Share on other sites
Southerly 118 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 If anyone's interested, on TNT-Audio there is the UBYTE 11 speaker cable I made this over 15 years ago. and I'm still using it until I make my own design. It's cheap to make using CT100 or CT125 co-axial as the base. 100 & 125 refers to 1 mm or 1.25 mm solid core copper kept exactly the same distance from the copper foil and copper braid shielding inside air cored polyethelene dialectric. The copper foil and braid is used as return not shielding. Link to post Share on other sites
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