Speaker cable for detail and bass at low volumes

[nsherin]

Hopefully this next upgrade will be my last for a while and I can then spend some dosh on tunes. The system is pretty much how I want it, but as I listen a lot at very low volumes, I'm looking for a speaker cable that will provide me with more detail and bass.

Current speakers are a pair of Mission m70 that work very effectively in my small room, but I can't always crank the volume up. Speaker cable is QED Original - no banna plugs on them either. Amp is a Yamaha HTR5540RDS.

Don't really want to replace the speakers, as I've got no room for anything bigger, nor a great deal of dosh to spend. Only need two short 2 metre runs. I'll get the cables terminated with bannana plugs when I do go for the cables.

Any suggestions welcomed/apprciated.

Thanks!

 

[garyi]

Get a more sensitive speaker or more powerful amp.

 

[PBirkett]

Try some QED Silver Anniversary, a bit more top end detail. Or crank the bass and treble up at lower volumes.

 

[nsherin]

Thanks PBirkett. Was thinking of QED SA as a logical step up from Original, but wasn't sure of the effect it would have.

I might be able to demo some DNM Reason from someone and I'm tempted to give it a whirl, just to see what it does to my rig. Nothing lost if I'm not keen on the sound.

Well that's some of payday's money spent before I get it - again

 

[rob]

i got some QED Silver Anniversary and like paul said it will give more top end detail.one thing to remember though is this cable seems to take ages to burn in. ive had mine for around three weeks now and its just about getting there.im not dissapointed with this cable at all and initally baught it to tone down some big wharfedale speakers which it did to great effect but since then ive got some ms 902's and to tell you the truth i dont think this cable is suited to them however i think i will give the burn in process a wee bit longer before judging the cable any more.perhaps you should consider bi wiring using a silver cable to power the lf to try and tone down the bass and brighten up the mid?

 

[The Devil]

For goodness sake please get over your collective cable fetish. You are trying to address a problem with your kit by changing a cable. This is fundamentally sick and wrong.

 

[penance]

bit touchy this morning arent we?

 

[wadia-miester]

Originally posted by The Devil
For goodness sake please get over your collective cable fetish. You are trying to address a problem with your kit by changing a cable. This is fundamentally sick and wrong.

James is this the same 'Fundamentaly sick and wrong' as owning naim and mana, ? so if this is the case, it evens it up then

 

[The Devil]

It's utterly amazing that some of you guys think that using a cable as a tone control could ever be a good thing. Complete nonsense.

"I've got a 'lean' amp so I need a 'warm' cable".... Oh no you don't, you need a decent amp.

The cable chat is getting to me. Yes you need reasonable quality cables, but they definitely should not be used to try to paper over cracks in the system, because they don't.

Tony, I think you said yourself that my system was the least "Naim-sounding" Naim system you'd heard. There is a reason for that.

 

[osama]

WM, aren't you going to endorse Townshend to Nsherin? Well, I just did over there at HFC Forum + the electrofluidics if he fancies some adventure with this one.

You're one cable expert guy here



regards

 

[penance]

Townshend?
he said he hasnt got much dosh to spend

 

[zanash]

Well I don't always agree with the devil.................

but you change your cables to get a better overal sound ! IMO

You may need to consider Headphones as an alternate route to better sound at
low volumes ie you can have them louder on a personal basis.

You may have noticed that you needa certain volume setting before the sound sounds right!
I think this is to do with the room acoustics, and at a certain level
you over come some of the "room resonaces" probably the wrong terminology !

But I 've heard the phenomena in a number of rooms as the volume is slowly turned up.
So if your stuck with a volume below this threshold no amount of cable swapping will help.

 

[osama]

I believe I didn't read him say he didn't have much dosh to spend penance.

But might be worth a try for nsherin just the same. He might change his mind spending a bit more on cables


regards

 

[wadia-miester]

Well guys, the DCT do have a low end boost abou 45HZ, and is a great cable, but I'm being thoughtful of budgets here, Townshend isn't cheap, but very good WM

 

[The Devil]

One of the characteristics of a good hi-fi system is that it sounds the same at all volume levels. The harshest test of a hi-fi is to turn it way down until you can barely hear it. If you can still tell what's going on at very, very low volumes, it's a good 'un.

If there is an audible room resonance, turning the volume up won't help. The best way to avoid or minimise standing waves in the bass registers is to position the speakers so that they fire across the short axis of the room.

 

[The Devil]

Originally posted by wadia-miester
Well guys, the DCT do have a low end boost abou 45HZ, and is a great cable...

So, Tony, your idea of a great cable is one which distorts the signal.

 

[zanash]

No NO No,

It simply can't sound the same! take a look at the physics sometime and then how your ears hear things
and then room acoustics.

At high levels the nerves are over loaded and unable to transmit ....you hear distortion.
At low sp levels the ears conmpensate boosting certain frequencies

The amp will behave diferently at various volume settings, few vol pot's
are accurate at the start of finish of its travel .

The room effects sound at different volumes.

Don't take my word experiment or read the books

 

[ReJoyce]

>>> The amp will behave diferently at various volume settings, few vol pot's are accurate at the start of finish of its travel . The room effects sound at different volumes.


But thats the whole point. An excellent system in an excellent room will sound pretty much the same across the volume control. If the pot is a limit surely it should be designed better hence Bub decribing it as a test - if the pot is not consistent the amp fails the test!

Yes volume will affect you phsycologically but a system should still be able to entrance at all volumes. The reason this is a good test is if a system can play at many volumes well it should reproduce the whole dynamic range well.


Cheers

Jason

 

[The Devil]

Don't take my word, come and listen.

The sound doesn't change, it just gets louder. If you wind it up loud enough you will go deaf.

The Stapedius muscle will attempt to stop you going deaf, but there's only so much it can do.

At high levels the nerves are over loaded and unable to transmit

Balderdash.

 

[wadia-miester]

Well you should be able to tell us James as your a Doc and all
James, I'm not worried about this, some cables sound a certain way, others sound another way, who cares, as long as it gets you what your after
Jason, an excellent system in excellent room, will sound good every where arcoss the whole Freq. spetrum at all volume levels, be nice it if actually happened, not heard that particular combination yet, I feel that falls into 2 catogories LUCK and lots of cash, oh maybe knowning an acoustic guy who sympathetic to your cause, and loads of friends with lots of gear to try., be fun though