Think of cables as a charitable donation to the audio manufacturing industry and then budget the same percentage as you normally give to charity every year applied to the total cost of the rest of your system.
What gauge are those speaker cables? I would guess 12 gauge which matches what I use. I paid $44 for mine pre-made with banana plugs. Mine look high-end and audiophile-fancy. I bet you paid at least ten dollars for yours. Yours look kinda long, I would guess they roll-off anything above 40 kHz.
As for your power cable. Looks like a PS Audio. Do you recommend it for my Sprout? Do you recommend it for any system costing less than $5000 US?
What about my wi-fi cable? It’s artisanal AND audiophile. Can I put you down for a couple?
No mains cables in the photos, both cables are speaker cables…
Agreed. I have all Iconoclast interconnects and speaker cables in my system that has passive speakers. In my system that has active speakers I have Iconoclast interconnects and 32’ long BAV XLR’s going to the speakers. WWPS7 USB between my Nuc+ and Matrix converter and WWPS7 HDMI (for i2s) between the Matrix converter and DAC are new additions and improvements. I am happy with all of the purchases so far.
Also agree that the purchases are always cash not financed. Financing any habit is extremely sketchy.
You can also tell a person’s age by the arguments they use that cables are cables. What they don’t understand is that we were probably there 30 yrs ago ourselves and they just have a lot of catching up to do.
There is something good to be said for having grey whiskers
For the most part I have no interest in what anyone thinks about cables. Sadly, I do take what some say and place orders afterwards. On my Wireworld stuff I have not been disappointed. When I bought my Shunyata Delta NR cables I was horrified at the price, but happy with the results. Two days ago two Sigma power cables arrived. I probably won’t hook them up for a few days as I think I need to tear my system down to atoms and then put it back together to do it. I sincerely hope I don’t hear a difference with the Sigmas. But I am pretty certain I will. Very hopeful I will.
(One for the P20, one for the DSD, both have Delta NRs now)
I think of cables as just another component to be researched, evaluated and matched like any other part of my system. Interestingly enough my current speaker cables and interconnects ended up being a little over 10% of the cost of my system. That wasn’t consciously planned but I was comfortable with the sound I was getting for the money.
Let us know about the Delta / Sigma NR I’ve bought a Delta NR that’s feeding my DAC but all my source devices are on Siltech SPX-800’s and I’m damned if I can
Hear a difference. Both sound really good. I have some Wilson’s arriving Wednesday and I’m forced to change my speaker cable to Spade single ended from Siltech Bi-wired bananas. Too many changes.
I tore my system down tonight. Unplugged and cleaned everything. I installed the Sigma cables. I removed my audio computer and my PWT. I moved a few things around and then fired it all up. It sounds really nice. I am not sure if I hear a Delta to Sigma improvement, but whatever is going on it is pretty amazing. I suppose these cables break in as well. It is starting out nice…
A little CAIG goes a long way. The RCA plugs / jacks get dirty over time. My house gets super dusty. Always an effort to keep up with that.
This is part of the conundrum for me about attempting to compare AC cables. How many people compare: Just shutting off the device and powering it back up; shut down/remove and reinstall existing cable (with or without cleaning contacts); shut down/replace with new cable; Shut Everything down and power it all back up without changing anything else; doing what you just did…
The change is probably the cables. Did an upgrade to Alphas from Deltas on
all my gear and a Sigma on the P20. Happy with the move but hard on the wallet.
Biggest improvement was on the DAC SR and P20.
I have consistently heard an improvement after 10 or 20 hours with Alpha or Sigma power cables.
What components did you go from Delta to Sigma on?
I swapped out power cables in the new year and at first they sounded really harsh. Two days later they smoothed out and now they’e well settled in and sound great.
Everybody is so concern about cables in their system. Do you know what cables Nelson Pass use in his system? Well, Herb Reichert in Stereophile magazine say " Last year, when I visited Nelson Pass of Pass Labs at his home in Sea Ranch, Ca., I was surprised to discover that he connected all the gear in his laboratory listening room with Radio Shack cables. When I ask why, he told me, “Because I don’t want anybody else taking credit for my accomplishments.” " I guess Radio Shack can sound really good also. Some people use Radio Shack cables to smooth out a very harsh system, so it really depends on your system.
Some people are perfectly satisfied with ‘really good’ and some want to squeeze every drop of goodness out of their systems. Also, it depends on how you typically listen. Not everyone sits in the sweet spot and listens super critically like some of us OCDer’s.
Nothing in his quote endorses the goodness of Radio Shack cables.
I suspect Mr. Pass listens beyond super critically in his laboratory listening room.
I’m just saying, if a designer voices his gear with a dull sounding wire, maybe you need a similar wire for his equipment to sound right. A brighter cable can sound too bright. Like Joseph Audio, he voice his speakers with Cardas wires which is on the warm dull side, and I heard people complain his spearkers are excruciating bright with other cables.