what cabling to choose?

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dpc

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I am about to purchase kef eggs together with a denon 3803 amp for my home cinema set up. Can someone advise the best cabling to buy for good/decent sound, and what sort of price I should expect to pay per foot/metre?
 
At this sort of price range(amp wise) there are loads of choices....you could take a look at the QED range,and from my experiences,also take a look at www.russandrews.com for the Kimber cables.....the 4PS and 4TC ranges are very good in terms of sound quality,and Russ Andrews will let you try and return if not satisfied...they also offer a trade-in scheme for upgrading.:cool:
 
I saw some nice cable half the strands were silver and the other half were 99.997% OFC copper. Only problem was it was only avalable in 50 meter lenghts for about £300 but if anybodies interested I have an account with the company that sell it.
 
I cant see where £6 a meter goes if you are buying a big reel direct! Certainly I wouldnt spend anything like that much!

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12 gauge stranded copper should keep the electrons happy.
 
This is a USED system?

Can we ask the cost?

Generally the wire and cable are in proportion to the values of the system.

Most would say that for the front, 2.5mm² cable in the price range of about £3 to £6/meter servers the needs of most.

For the Front where runs are short, you can get better wire, but I see little need to run expensive wires to the rear/side speakers. In that case, straight forward QED 79 strand or similar is enough (in my opinion).

QED 79 Strand Speaker Cable - Speaker Cables - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

QED 79 Strand Speaker Cable - 100m Reel - Speaker Cables - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

While I don't know the original cost of your amp, the current equivalent models seems to be about £800 (AVR-X3000), though used are available for about £250. The AVR-3313 is currently about £580.

Again to some extent it depends on your available budget, and the distances you need to run.

In basic speaker wire for the Front/Center, Van Damme Studio Blue is popular in a double insulated wire -

Van Damme Studio Grade Blue Speaker Cable 2.5mm - Speaker Cables - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

In QED, this is straight forward 2.5mm² -

QED Original Speaker Cable - Speaker Cables - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

QED Ruby or Silver Anniversary is pretty popular at a higher price -

QED Ruby Anniversary Speaker Cable - Speaker Cable By Brand - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

QED Silver Anniversary XT Speaker Cable - Speaker Cables - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

If you want to spend some serious cash, the QED X-TUBE XT-300 -

QED X-Tube XT-300 Speaker Cable - Speaker Cables - Audiovisual Online - Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

To give you some idea of the relative sizes of AWG gauge wire -

16ga = 1.31mm²
14ga = 2.08mm²
12ga = 3.31mm²

There are places that sell common bulk twin-lead speaker wire relatively cheap -

Speaker Cables and Adaptors

That should at least give you a cross section of possibilities.

Steve/bluewizard
 
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Generally the wire and cable are in proportion to the values of the system.
This isn't true, and should never be given as advice. Wire does one thing - ONE thing only - and that's conduct an AC current. The ONLY paramater that matters is its DC resistance, which is directly related to cross-sectional area (or wire 'gauge'). Whether you're hooking up old Kef eggs to an old stereo amp, or £25,000 speakers to a £35,000 amplifier, your wire requirements are IDENTICAL.

Wires have ZERO audible impact on sound quality, full stop. If you're spending more than about £1/m inc terminations you're spending too much.
 
Guys, this thread is 10 years old lol.

Wires have ZERO audible impact on sound quality, full stop. If you're spending more than about £1/m inc terminations you're spending too much.

You are very wrong, I have heard significant differences in speaker cables and analogue interconnects.

You forgot to mention capacitance and things like skin effect.
 
This isn't true, and should never be given as advice. Wire does one thing - ONE thing only - and that's conduct an AC current.

...

Wires have ZERO audible impact on sound quality, full stop. If you're spending more than about £1/m inc terminations you're spending too much.

In your humble opinion ... right?

Saying keep wire in proportion to your system cost is meant to restrain people from spending excess money, not to encourage them to spend more.

You are starting an old debate that can not be resolved, and does not serve the goal of helping the original poster.

If you have suggestions for wire, then make them. But this is not the time to start a tired old debate that does nothing but distract from the central purpose, which is to help this person find some reasonable wire with in his budget that satisfies his needs.

Not too long ago, most would have said start at about £2/meter unless you want to buy common twin lead in bulk, that can take you down to about £1/meter.

However, with copper prices rising, the cost of basic wire has gone up, actually a couple of times in very recent history. The wire that used to cost £2/meter now costs +£3.00/meter. And what once cost £1/m now costs about £1.65/m.

The Original poster can spend as much or as little as he wants, but from a practical perspective, depending on his priorities and needs, wire in the £3 to £6 is all and more than he needs. Still, if he chooses, he can spend more, who am I or you to deny him. And who am I or you to deny him if he plans to spend less.

The suggestions I made cover a wide range of quality and prices, certainly the OP can find something in there that meet his needs, or at least suggests something that would lead him to find something to meet his needs.

Personally, I see no point in expensive wire to the surround speakers. There isn't a lot of demand on them, so common twin lead is all you need.

As to the front three (left/center/right) that is up to the individual, if he want slightly better wire there, then that is his right. But I would still suggest he not break the bank on it.

And if you want to council him to not spend a lot on wire, then have at it. But when you start making absolute emphatic statements ending in "full stop" or "period", you are wading into quicksand. No good can come of it, as you have found to your detriment in the past.

So, if you have advise and suggestions on the purchase of wire, please make them. But make them politely. Do not try to dictate truth to the masses no matter how much you believe it, simply make your case and move on.

I stand by what I said.

Steve/bluewizard
 
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I imagine the OP probably found some wire by now. If not he's had a pricey door stop for the last decade.
 
Sorry, some one posted on it and moved it to the top of the thread list. I assumed since it was at the top, it must be current.

Still the advice is available to anyone with a similar question.

Steve/bluewizard
 
The forum software should lock old threads, after a certain age or after a certain time from the last post. Other forums do it, and it would save old threads from being dredged up.
 
Saying keep wire in proportion to your system cost is meant to restrain people from spending excess money, not to encourage them to spend more.
That might be what you meant, but your advice has the opposite effect - tying cable cost to a proportion of system cost! The more expensive the system, the more expensive the wiring. Oops!

You are starting an old debate that can not be resolved, and does not serve the goal of helping the original poster.
It can be resolved, and my reply clearly would have helped the OP.

Debate resolution here.

If you have suggestions for wire, then make them. But this is not the time to start a tired old debate that does nothing but distract from the central purpose, which is to help this person find some reasonable wire with in his budget that satisfies his needs.
My suggestion is that no particular make of wire is better or worse than any other, as long as its DC resistance is suitably low. I didn't "start a debate" - I answered the OP's request for information, by telling him what he needed to know. I've satisfied his needs.

The Original poster can spend as much or as little as he wants, but from a practical perspective, depending on his priorities and needs, wire in the £3 to £6 is all and more than he needs. Still, if he chooses, he can spend more, who am I or you to deny him. And who am I or you to deny him if he plans to spend less.
Clearly the OP may spend vast sums of money on wire, but from a practical perspective his single need is low-DC resistance wire that doesn't cost more than about £1/m. His priority is enjoying music, not fussing over non-existant wire sound-quality issues. I am not denying him anything, I'm informing him. You are not... How he reacts to that info is up to him, I've in no way diminished his ability to make his own mind up.

The suggestions I made cover a wide range of quality and prices, certainly the OP can find something in there that meet his needs, or at least suggests something that would lead him to find something to meet his needs.
Yes, the cheapest option is almost certainly the only one that makes sense. The rest would be a waste of his money. As for 'range of quality' - there isn't a range of quality. They are all the same, sound quality wise (allowing for DC resistance). Cables and wires don't have "sound quality" unless the resistance is too high, or they are deliberately engineered as filters (which is the LAST thing you want from any wire!).

And if you want to council him to not spend a lot on wire, then have at it.
Thankyou, you are most gracious. :rolleyes:

But when you start making absolute emphatic statements ending in "full stop" or "period", you are wading into quicksand.
Nonsense. There's nothing wrong with emphatic statements, except for ignorant people and those of a nervous disposition.

No good can come of it, as you have found to your detriment in the past.
No idea what you are talking about. Good always comes of speaking the truth. And speaking the truth has certainly never been to my detriment, ever.

Do not try to dictate truth to the masses no matter how much you believe it, simply make your case and move on.
Truth isn't something that is 'dictated'. Nor is it a matter of choice, either... I wasn't "making a case", merely reporting established scientific fact. As for 'moving on' - move on yourself. I'll stick around in a discussion as long as it pleases me to do so.
 
You are very wrong, I have heard significant differences in speaker cables and analogue interconnects.
No, you haven't.

You heard what you expected to hear. You experienced not 'sound quality' but expectation bias, which you hold because you've been lied to by the hifi press and a gullible public for the last 30 years... Those 'differences' simply aren't there.

You forgot to mention capacitance and things like skin effect.
No, I didn't forget.

Those are irrelevant (except in edge cases) to how the wire conducts audio-frequency AC current. Edge cases would be high-capacitance wires that blow your amp up :)
 
Sorry, I was the idiot who bumped this and it wasn't to be a troll. Just daft newbie is all. My bad.
 
Thread is positively ancient.....and closed.
 
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