The Truth about (speaker) cables

Was just browsing in order to check the best way to make my own balanced cables, and came upon THIS
Well there you have it, from't horse's mouth as it were..

 

this is fairly subjective isn't it:
"Buy good cable, but don't waste money on 'fairy dust'."

it also says that exotic cables can make a difference to certain speakers.

so have we really learned anything new? terms that they've used really are quite subjective

 

What it gives is the Pro Audio take on hifi cables...
When I was a sound recordist all the other guys would poke fun at hifi gear - and what's more, the average cost of cabling an entire studio is probably less than just the i/cs on a high end system!
S'funny that the place where stuff is recorded often has worse/cheaper gear than yer average audiophool - my system now is more musical than any I used as a ProSound person, and also more revealing.
Strange business indeed.

 

Another article worth a read is
"The Naked Truth about speakers cables"
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/spkcbl_e.html

 

After buying a pair of PMC speakers, I asked them which cable they reommended. I was told that they use van damme in their studio installations. Its costs a couple of quid a metre. They also use van damme microphone cable as interconnects again very cheap although I can't remember the cost.

Rod

 

theres been a couple of issues of 'directions', RA's propaganda (sorry, i mean seasonal magazine) where he, and Ray Kimber go along and kit out some studios... may be worthwhile digging a copy out to see how much was actually spent...

 

The exceedingly expensive Shunyata mains cables and conditioners are used in a large number of some of the most prestigeous studio complexes in the world, including Sony Music, Doug Sax, Astoria......

Still I guess we know best eh

 

Re shunyaya Hydra, is there a logical reason why I seem to set the volume
higher with these in place ?
I have about 5 CD's that I,ve played too death since getting the AA's
now I,ve tried computer lead> Kimber>BCD>Audiance and the volume has always set at -30DB/-32, install Hytra/ python and -26DB seems the most comfortable level
I too thought narr I,m imagineing it so swopped the Shunyata stuff for the Audiance and supprise I have to turn down the volume again

No doubt Cable sceptic's are saying "loada bollocks", well Its a fact and I,d
love a plauseable explaination if poss

 

Because you can

Seriously, Have you tried comparisons with an SPL meter? That couild well be the key

 

Maybe they are attenuating the signal Ya-Boo.

 

I know that balanced cables are meant to be noise cancelling, but I wonder what would happen to the recording quality if studios took the same care over cable choices as HiFi enthusiasts.

 

Bugger all, but records would be a lot more expensive

 

I have recently installed a new CD player in my system (Reimyo CDP-777) and the JVC Extended-K2 processing that it implements in the transport/DAC has allowed me to extract far more from my CD collection than ever before!

Out of curiosity, I purchased a few JVC XRCD mastered discs and clearly the care and attention paid in the recording process pays dividends in the listening experience. See:-

http://www.xrcd.net/Shopping/process.asp

By far and away the best 'special' CD I have tried so far is the Analogue Productions Gold Limited Edition of 'Breaking Silence' by Janis Ian (highly recommended!). The sleeve notes mention mastering with tube electronics by Doug Sax so I guess when the studios make the extra effort with mastering processes, electronics and cabling, it does make a substantial difference to the recording and playback through a hi-fi system.

If anyone is interested, a good website for obtaining high quality imported audiophile recordings is www.acousticsounds.com and it is far cheaper to buy online than pay the prices Vivante charge in the UK.

Recent experimentation with Chord Signature, Cardas Golden Cross and some custom pure silver speaker cables leaves me in no doubt that speaker cables can sound significantly different!

 

Nice. By all accounts an excellent player. I've only heard it once in an unfamiliar system and only for a short time - not enough to form a judgement unfortunately. But £9.5K for a CD player.....ouch! :yikes:

Michael.

 

A very wise move, EAR make some fine studio gear - though having compared theirs to an SSL desk there was very little difference in final mix quality..
Still, if you listen to Rick Rubin's production on the Chilli's BloodSugarSexMagic you can hear that full valve-y sound - one of my favourite test records.
I'll bet, though, that just about any studio that fits a £500k desk (like the EAR or SolidStateLogic) will just use bog-standard Canford GPO leads in their patch bays!

 

No way. They would surely be using Mogami or Canare

 

Thanks Michael, but like everything else in life, what kit can be obtained for does not necessarily reflect the inflated RRP's that are published!

Leonard,

This is an extract from the sleeve notes on the 'Breaking Silence' Gold CD:-

"Tracks were recorded at Nightingale Studio on a Studer 820, 24-track machine, 30 IPS, non-dolby at the elevation of +6/250 nu using Ampex 499 tape.
Included among the mics used on the recording dates were:
Nuemann M-49, AKG C-12, Telefunken 251, Sheffield C-9 and a custom-built tube direct box on the bass. Janis' vocal was recorded using a Telefunken U-47 and a Mastering Lab mic preamp, linked with series-one Monster Cable direct to the back of the multi-track machine with no EQ or Limiting.
The album was mixed at Bill Schnee Studio to an Ampex ATR 1/2" machine at 30 IPS, non-dolby at the elevation of +3/250 nu on Ampex 499 tape. The reverb on the album was an EMT tube plate used along with natural room sounds captured in the recording. During the mixing of the album "Some People's Lives" was recorded direct to two-track using the same vocal chain as above and Telefunken 251's on the piano. Take number two was used as the album cut.
The album was mixed using Mastering Lab modified Tannoy SGM-10's powered by Sherwood Sax, mono-block tube amps.
This CD has been remastered using the 20+16 Ultra Matrix Processing, a mastering technique that enables us to extract more information from the analog tapes to be encoded and transfered to the CD master. Essentially ist is a means of "folding down" 20 bits of digital information into the 16 bit CD medium using Sheffield's own 20 bit analog to digital converter and an Apogee UV22 processor. This combination creates the truest and most accurate CD master from the original analog recording and is the finest analog-to-digital transfer process currently available."

A bit long-winded (the techno-babble probably means more to those from a studio technical background) and clearly a 'labour of love', but the care taken is definitely evident in the listening experience with this particular album

Steve

 

Janis' vocal was recorded using a Telefunken U-47 and a Mastering Lab mic preamp, linked with series-one Monster Cable


Snoop, I believe monster cable is cheap as chips. I used to have some, it was just a few quid a metre. They probably do dearer stuff, but its a cheap brand as far as I know.

 

I don't have any personal knowledge of the Monster series-one cable, but it's like the majority of cable manufacturers (Cardas, Kimber, Nordost etc.) who have a budget range as well as the exotic!

Perhaps those who are better aquainted with the recording studio can comment on how this particular Monster cable is rated from a professional viewpoint.

The point of my example with the 'Breaking Silence' album was to illustrate that when the studio takes care in the recording process then the results are generally better.

 

That's High End - about 30p more each!!!

It's expensive in a studio setting, though still only a few quid a metre - I use Monster speaker cable, which was about £25 in 1985 - their range isn't quite so stellar, price-wise as yer Siltech or Nordost..
And it's no wonder that Janis Ian album sounds good - classic valve mics for a lovely full sound, then recorded on the Rolls Royce of tape machines, a Studer 2".. And valve monitoring as well - when I was in BBC sound dubbing we briefly experimented with Trilogy valve amps, but stuck with the good old Quad 405s in the end (better the devil you know'n'all)
Doesn't mention what desk they used - whether it was a modern "virtual" one, or an old fashioned Neve type.. I'd go for the old one every time..
But I bet all their patch cords, and the miles of under-floor wiring, were 30p/m Canford (or Canare if they're pushing the boat out..)

One of the best TV/film dubbing studios I know also uses Tannoy dual concentrics - though strangely they're acro-ed to the ceiling!