For the audiophiles

[IggyP]

Here is an interesting read on Wire and speaker connections. If you are spending big bucks on wires for your stereo... You dont have to. I ran some tests like this guys.... Just to see if it was accurate and it indeed was.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

[xarir]

I agree with that up to a point. If you use cheap, crap wire then upgrade to a heavier gauge, quality wire you will hear a difference. But after a point, the audible differences diminish rapidly. Basically I believe you should use good quality speaker cables and not just any old crap, but you don't have to go all out and get MIT cables or anything like that.

Interconnects on the other hand do make a noticible difference. Again there's a limit to this but expensive interconnects do sound markedly different then the cheap ones. Whether or not the difference is better is a matter for your own ears.

 

[The Lurker]

I found a plan to make speaker cables out of network cabling. Took me two days, but the sound diff, to me and only me, would take at lest 1200$ to improve apon. And before you laugh, I have seen "cheap" 25,000$ cables with 18,000$ power cords.

No matter how much money you give me, I can find you someone to sell you a component that you can't afford. Strange though the rich tend to listen to glorified boomboxes, while the so called blue-collar workers have rigs in excess of 30 or 40,000$.

Listen to it, if you can find a difference and its worth it to you, buy it. If not shake your head and walk away, 'cause that hobby ain't going anywhere soon.

 

[Papi Chulo]

Monster Cable, would have you believe that the better sound comes from a cable with more strands, but the truth is that bass travels better through larger strands.


Truth is, not many places will give a good price on the cable.... as it is a great place to make money.

Most places are marking these products up approx 100% (ie, cost $5.00 means it is selling for at least $10.00)

There are equivalents to the high end cables... which are much more affordable.. you just need to know where to buy them

 

[Meister]

I've been told that high end stereos and accessories have the most ridiculous mark-ups on the planet. Why? Because, many guys are obsessed with (perceived) sound quality and the added cool factor.
btw, the most expensive part about the cable is the connector, if it uses connectors.

 

[IggyP]

There is also a misconception on the new digital interfaces (not that new really) such as DVI and HDMI. Monster woujld have you believe that you get better picture quality with there 149 buck cable but what most forget is we are talking digital so it either works or it doesnt. Especially over short distance.

 

[IggyP]

I improved my sound qaulity by doubling the speaker wire strands. I use a good quality 12 gauge from the hardware store and then braid two strands together (four wires). Twist the two + and the two - together and wow! I put it up against some thunderline and it was very noticibly brighter and richer.

 

[monkeychan]

I improved my sound qaulity by doubling the speaker wire strands. I use a good quality 12 gauge from the hardware store and then braid two strands together (four wires). Twist the two + and the two - together and wow! I put it up against some thunderline and it was very noticibly brighter and richer.

I did that exactly and it is really quite an improvement. I doubled the 12 GA cables and the dimension widened and the mids and treble is much more open. Don't notice anything with bass, however.

 

[monkeychan]

if you think monster is bad what do you guys think of companies like audioquest, silversmith audio their palladium cables are $4000 a meter and transparent cable that produces cable that costs ~24 000 for a 8 foot long pair

At least they actually sound better (NOT $4000 better, but they do sound better) as opposed to Monster Cable that does not result in better sound whatsoever. (except for the high-end analog interlink RCA-to-RCA audio cable, they do make quite a difference... this is during the analog days.)

 

[blackdog]

Just go to active on queen st. get some 10 guage speaker wire make sure you make the ends nice and clean and thats all you need. Thats what they use at the most expensive mastering studios on the planet. im sure its good enough for your livingroom listening to mp3s.
bd

 

[monkeychan]

Just go to active on queen st. get some 10 guage speaker wire make sure you make the ends nice and clean and thats all you need. Thats what they use at the most expensive mastering studios on the planet. im sure its good enough for your livingroom listening to mp3s.
bd

LOL! some of us don't listen to MP3 at all

PS: Telarc, the audiophile recording studio, use almost exclusively Monster and Kimber products, the same goes to Deutsch Gramophone and (now defunct) GRP studios.

 

[blackdog]

Howie Weinberg and Bob Ludwig the two Kings modern recording/mastering technology use NS-10s with with Lamp cord for speaker wire. For power amps they use cheap yamaha power amps. No joke. These guys have done the mastering on everything from the Bulgarian womans choir to briteny spears, Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Led Zep, almost every important jazz recording released in the past 40 years. Howie says that as long as the wire is heavy enough to not heat up and your amp has enough headroom things will sound great. Lanois mixes in mono on a single old beat up 15" speaker in a homemade cabinet. Go figure.
bd

 

[monkeychan]

Howie Weinberg and Bob Ludwig the two Kings modern recording/mastering technology use NS-10s with with Lamp cord for speaker wire. For power amps they use cheap yamaha power amps. No joke. These guys have done the mastering on everything from the Bulgarian womans choir to briteny spears, Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Led Zep, almost every important jazz recording released in the past 40 years. Howie says that as long as the wire is heavy enough to not heat up and your amp has enough headroom things will sound great. Lanois mixes in mono on a single old beat up 15" speaker in a homemade cabinet. Go figure.
bd

don't forget, Yamaha NS-10 series are not being used as a good-reference speakers but as a representation of bad-reference speakers. The don't do the mixing or mastering using these speakers (and lamp cord). For the actual mastering amps such as Crown or powered speakers such as Genelec are the norm. Going back to the mono mix, yes, every studio also have a mono-reference speaker because all recording must be 100% compatible with monaural sound

(yes I'm a photog, but my background is in music production and still collecting royalties from my previous works -- not to brag, just to give some background WRT what I'm saying)

 

[Berlin]

Monkey, how long have you been in music production ?

 

[monkeychan]

Monkey, how long have you been in music production ?

From 1989 to 1998 full time, part time from 1998 to 2005. Nothing at all this year. Mostly productions in UK, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia but I had several dance tunes reached number 1 in 1997 in Canada.

 

[DistantVoyeur]

I agree with that up to a point. If you use cheap, crap wire then upgrade to a heavier gauge, quality wire you will hear a difference. But after a point, the audible differences diminish rapidly. Basically I believe you should use good quality speaker cables and not just any old crap, but you don't have to go all out and get MIT cables or anything like that.

Interconnects on the other hand do make a noticible difference. Again there's a limit to this but expensive interconnects do sound markedly different then the cheap ones. Whether or not the difference is better is a matter for your own ears.

Same theory with interconnects..... only up to a point.
Your system is only as strong as it's weakest link, usually the wiring inside the amp itself, or some other component. Or even a connector.
Best bang I ever got for my buck was ensuring that I used connectors on both ends of speaker cables, no oxidation, no degradation.

Researched tons of sites and discussions for ideas, found everybody has their own opinion, everyone has their ideal wiring....pure silver, litz, crosslink, maximum wire thickness, minimum wire thickness, multiple strand, solid core, beefy connectors, minimalist connectors.....

For me it was changing from solid state to vacuum tube. That was the sound that I wanted. Everyone has different ears, everyone has different ideas of the ideal sound.

Overall, experiment with ALL parts of the stereo, do some research, do lots of listening, ignore the wiring junkies and audiophile elitists, and you too can get a decent sound for under $100,000......

btw, my total cost was just under $5,000 and it blows away every system I have ever heard anywhere.... it eats club/arena/theatre systems for breakfast. But to somebody else, it may sound like junk (yet to meet that person though )
Have even compared it to a $50,000 Linn system. But he likes his better.

As with everything on this board, YMMV. But a little research can save the bank account and put a smile on your face.....

 

[Meister]

From 1989 to 1998 full time, part time from 1998 to 2005. Nothing at all this year. Mostly productions in UK, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia but I had several dance tunes reached number 1 in 1997 in Canada.

That's awesome. Mostly European artists?

btw, what software do you recommend for laying down tracks at home on the PC utilizing MIDI and also plugging in live guitar for example?

 

[monkeychan]

That's awesome. Mostly European artists?

btw, what software do you recommend for laying down tracks at home on the PC utilizing MIDI and also plugging in live guitar for example?

about 30% Euro artist, a handful of Canadian artists, about two handfuls of Australian artists, the rest are Malaysian/Indonesian artists.

Believe it or not I don't have my own studio. I fly from studio to studio and just use whatever they have there. I arrange people's songs, produced them etc. Just like Clive Davis and David Foster do, but in a much smaller scale.

The most fun part is sometimes I arranged the song in Canada and just use pen and manuscript paper to give them the gist of it (scanned and e-mail them), then the (say) string section is done in Australia with my guidance over (at the time) phone, then the synthesizer part may be programmed and performed by myself and I send the MIDI file to UK (Music Factory) just because they have the types of sounds I want, vocal done in Malaysia, and everything is mixed down in Indonesia (usually Sony or BMG). Then mastered at either Metalworks or several other trusted partners in the GTA.

Once done, the master is Fedexed to whicever country the CD is going to be replicated (usually either Korea, Japan, or if small quantity required: Indonesia -- but not limited to those countries alone).

It's a fun but hectic job. Now I do it just for fun. If I like the song, I do it. For money I do fashion, portrait, corporate and concert photography for the artist(s) or corporation(s) private collection (not for publication). I've done some works that in the end used for Disney coffee-table book, Disney timeshare brochure, promo shots for Roy Thomson Hall etc, but those are usually known after I took the pic (and we renegotiated the contract).

 

[Berlin]

btw, what software do you recommend for laying down tracks at home on the PC utilizing MIDI and also plugging in live guitar for example?

There are tons of way for guitarists to get their tracks down with DAW's, but try this :

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/GuitarTracksPro/default.asp

Or go to line 6 and have a look at their

Toneport




http://www.line6.com/toneport/

PS sorry for the hijacking, Iggyp

 

[Meister]

There are tons of way for guitarists to get their tracks down with DAW's, but try this :

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/GuitarTracksPro/default.asp

Or go to line 6 and have a look at their

Toneport




http://www.line6.com/toneport/

PS sorry for the hijacking, Iggyp

Thanx for the info. I heard good things about the regular cakewalk sequencer before and its ease of use, but never tried it. The line6 looks like a cool gadget and not too expensive.