Disputes often arise over the quality, brand, and of course the cost of the cable that will be used in the system, and this applies to both interconnect and acoustic. Some say that this is a scam, while others, already having a system, are constantly in search of the ideal cable for them ...

HOW TO CHOOSE A SPEAKER CABLE?

Personally, I had a case when a client wanted to replace the sound source, but by purchasing the correct cable, he solved his question. He was not satisfied with the sound, although the system is quite decent. Exposure 3010 series turntable, 2010 S2 DAC and Sysmem Audio Mantra 50 acoustics. The replacement was the 2RCA - 2RCA Van den hul Gybrid D-102 cable for Nordost Red Dawn LS. The savings came out, at current prices, - 100,000 rubles. The client was very picky and demanding. Listening before making a purchase decision usually took 3-4 hours and three to four approaches ... And then the decision came almost instantly - in just half an hour. The second case was with academicians who came from St. Petersburg to choose (during a break at the conference) and purchase a stereo set (understand, this is not an active advertising of brands, but real life experiences so that you understand what people were buying in the end). So, in the end, there was a blind listening to the already chosen technique, only the cable was changed. The set was as follows: CD-player and amplifier Exposure 2010 S2, acoustics KEF LS 50. Skepticism about purchasing a cable changed to understanding.

Someone likes that the cable does not bring anything of its own into the path, but someone likes the opposite, since there is a choice from a variety of cables. Personally, in 2014 (it's good that the opportunity arose - the family went on vacation) conducted an experiment with his own technique. The speakers were Dynaudio Exite 12, the amplifier was Yamaha 2100. For comparison, I took cables from my favorite manufacturers - Nordost and TelluriumQ. Acoustic Nord Ost Blue Heaven series, Tellurium - Black. I listened to various material (classic Baroque, Emma Shaplin, Stoa, Yello, Depeche Mode, Accept, Dimmu Borgir, Ahab) with each cable for two weeks, getting used to the sound. As a result, I settled on Tellurium, and realized that a serious cable at NordOst begins with the Red Dawn line, and for Tellurium already from the Black line. The savings in finance were more than doubled. And I'm not looking for anything better for myself, But this is not always the case, each person is individual and he has his own requirements, if only there was an opportunity to compare. I can give you the last example. The client also turned out to be very demanding, with many days of auditions ... The set turned out as follows. Integrated amplifier McIntosh 5300, acoustics - Dynaudio Contour 3.4. The kit may seem strange to some, but he chose among many components and a wide variety of acoustics. As a result, I settled on the Nordost Tyr cable, at that time they were also making bywiring speaker cables. The cable brought absolutely nothing into the path, it was absolutely neutral. The material of the conductor can vary. It is usually a conductor made of oxygen-free copper (OFC), monocrystalline or composite. In the first case, the wire is taught by cold pulling it through the die, which finally gives the shape. In this case, the wire acquires impurities, which ultimately affect the sound quality. This is where the concept arises - the purity of copper is 99.99 ..... In the second case, the wire is obtained directly from the melt using a special technology. The goal is to obtain long copper crystals comparable to the length of the cable. This is a more expensive production, but a minimum of transient processes inside the conductor is achieved. The third method of production - copper is tinned or silver plated. These are the main three ways. But it is not only the quality of the conductor that is important, but also the connectors,

When talking about speaker cables and interconnects, the following is important to note. The speaker cable should be purchased as short as possible so that the signal ultimately turns out to be closest to the original one coming from the source. It is better to use an interconnect XLR than RCA, depending on the equipment (what kind of connectors it has and whether the amplifier uses real balanced circuits). XLR or balanced, or it is called balanced, is practically not subject to interference and allows you to use sufficiently long lengths without signal loss, and, all things being equal, when using a cable with XLR connectors, the sound is louder. The difference in line-level signal between RCA and XLR cables is 14dB. In cables, not only the quality of the conductor, connectors, how flexible they are, shielding properties, but also aesthetic properties are important. I hope that this article will help you make the right choice of cable so that it does not become a weak link in your system.