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Post by uhcoogsfan on Oct 1, 2009 12:03:20 GMT -5
I've read a couple of reviews on the new cables and I have to ask a question. I am not second guessing or trying to start something, I'm just trying to learn. But can you really hear a difference in cables/wiring? In reading on another site they say no. But there are some on that site that claim all receivers sound the same. I understand their reasoning but I know there is a big difference in sound between my Marantz & Pioneer receivers, at least on music. I could see the gauge of the wire making a difference in sound but other than, that wire is wire isn't it? Currently I am using 12 gauge wire with banana plugs I put on the ends and was wondering if the U series would make a difference. Thanks!
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Post by bigred7078 on Oct 1, 2009 12:13:27 GMT -5
Some people fully believe they can tell differences between cables, Others fully believe there is zero difference.
My advice to you is that you need to experiment for yourself. You will get all kinds of answers, but they really wont tell you much besides that persons opinion.
Emotiva does not make any claims that you will get improved sound quality. They just wanted to make a great quality cable, thats it.
P.S.- guage really only matters in reference to distance. For example if you are running a long distance from across the room say from 25-50ft you may want to use a heaftier gauge wire. For say that short distance of 3ft you obviously dont NEED the same gauge as the longer run because its less distance for the signal to travel. BUT many still prefer to have that hefty 10-14 gauge wire all around. Also if you cut the wire yourself and if its not professionally terminated at the tips with the bananas the wire will corrode at the tips and can have a negative impact on SQ. But that can take years.
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pitbullmike
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Post by pitbullmike on Oct 1, 2009 12:39:52 GMT -5
I beleive some people make themselves beleive that they hear a difference so they can justify there purchase. I for one will still buy the Emotiva cables just so I can say I have them
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Post by uhcoogsfan on Oct 1, 2009 13:17:21 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies, I find it amazing on how much wire can be. I've had pretty much made up my mind to go with the U series.
Mike when did you get the 8.3's? At our Texas get togather hadn't just bought the Def Tech's? How do compare the two?
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Post by doug917 on Oct 1, 2009 13:55:11 GMT -5
I have always stated as long as a cable has proper shielding, the proper gauge wire for the length, and is terminated properly at both ends there should be no difference in sound. The X series Emotiva cables I have got excel in all the areas above (much more so than other cables I have used). I haven't picked up any of the U series yet, but have seen them at Emofest and they looked darn solid as well.
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Post by doug917 on Oct 1, 2009 14:00:26 GMT -5
It doesn't hurt that they look amazing too!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2009 14:56:22 GMT -5
I heard a difference in speaker cables between my Tara Labs Klara Prisms and the U-series Speaker cables, but basically they sounded the same. The kicker is, the Tara Labs cost $140 while the Emotiva cables cost a fraction of that. And, as Doug mentioned, they look fabulous.
Incidently, I have a roll of lamp cord wire, nice guage but I forget what it us at the moment, that I have for basic emergencies, etc. I terminated a pair with banana plugs and hooked them up. Compared to the Tara Labs and the Emotiva U-series, they had a harshness (or perhaps less resolution) on the high end. The bass was nowhere as near as deep and round. YMMV.
Next up for me are the interconnects, which are a bit harder for me to hear a difference. I'm still experimenting with them
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TJHUB
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Post by TJHUB on Oct 1, 2009 15:12:04 GMT -5
Without a doubt, some speaker wires and interconnects can sound different. I've heard it, and some of my non-believer friends heard it. I am also not talking high priced cables or wires. For speaker wire, I have Belden from BJC, some Home Depot 12awg RCA brand zip cord, and some Calabrine's. I could easily pass a blind test between the Belden's and the other two. I wouldn't be able to tell a difference between the RCA's and the Calabrines.
I run the Calabrine's because they are pretty, I threw the Belden in the trash.
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Post by grapenuts on Oct 1, 2009 15:15:45 GMT -5
I have definitely heard differences, but that could be chalked up to gauge over distance, termination quality, quad braid/tribraid/di-braid....the actual set up of the wiring and shielding...so on and so forth. Over very short distances, you may be hard pressed to hear anything different at all. I would say sibilance is something I'm pretty sensitive to. I can hear subtle differences in products ability to hush the sibilance. But again, over short distances the most important thing, IMO, is the quality of the terminations, aesthetics, and cost to consumer that defines what kind of cable I want in my rack.
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Post by monkumonku on Oct 1, 2009 16:08:55 GMT -5
Without a doubt, some speaker wires and interconnects can sound different. I've heard it, and some of my non-believer friends heard it. I am also not talking high priced cables or wires. For speaker wire, I have Belden from BJC, some Home Depot 12awg RCA brand zip cord, and some Calabrine's. I could easily pass a blind test between the Belden's and the other two. I wouldn't be able to tell a difference between the RCA's and the Calabrines. I run the Calabrine's because they are pretty, I threw the Belden in the trash. So you are saying that the HD zip and the Calabrine speaker wire sound the same and both are better than the BJC wire? Why?
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Oct 1, 2009 16:25:59 GMT -5
Personally I have heard a difference between various speaker wire and interconnects. The reality is that you should judge for yourself. If you can hear a difference great, but if not, well then don't spend the money.
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Post by jmilton on Oct 1, 2009 16:30:20 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2009 16:54:56 GMT -5
I'm with grapenuts, for a short distance, I would be hard pressed to hear a difference. I've tried it many a time and never heard anything to make an expensive cable purchase worth it. When I made my own cables in my sig, there was a difference trying the monoprice bananas vs the vampire ones. As you can see, I kept the vampire ones
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2009 17:07:28 GMT -5
I would say sibilance is something I'm pretty sensitive to. You don't ssthay.
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Post by littlesaint on Oct 1, 2009 18:43:07 GMT -5
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Post by vincedog3 on Oct 1, 2009 18:51:27 GMT -5
Those X and U series cables look so awesome, it's a shame it has to be in the back on the gear so you can't see them all the time. I like those cables. I just have to find with I want to re cable first. Probably my Tascam 52 Reel to Reel. Balanced in and out from the ERC-1 Most likely.
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TJHUB
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Post by TJHUB on Oct 1, 2009 19:47:53 GMT -5
Without a doubt, some speaker wires and interconnects can sound different. I've heard it, and some of my non-believer friends heard it. I am also not talking high priced cables or wires. For speaker wire, I have Belden from BJC, some Home Depot 12awg RCA brand zip cord, and some Calabrine's. I could easily pass a blind test between the Belden's and the other two. I wouldn't be able to tell a difference between the RCA's and the Calabrines. I run the Calabrine's because they are pretty, I threw the Belden in the trash. So you are saying that the HD zip and the Calabrine speaker wire sound the same and both are better than the BJC wire? Why? I ran the HD wires for about 7 years never questioning the sound differences in speaker wire. About a year ago, I finally upgraded my 64" RPTV to a plasma and I changed my entertainment center to a credenza style. This exposed my copper color cheap looking speaker wires and I wanted something nicer looking. I decided to purchase the Belden's from BJC with the thought that I'd cover them and use the BJC locking bananas. I cut the Belden's to 3m and hooked them all up. I could instantly here a very bright top end. So I swapped the HD wires back in and the bright sound was gone and things sounded "normal". I decided that maybe this is how things *should* sound and I put the Belden's back in. I was able to last about 4 days and I couldn't stand it anymore. I kept finding more and more tracks that made my eyes squint with the brightness. It was really bad. I then decided to purchase the Calabrine's, and in the end, they sounded very much the same as the HD wires. I decided that this was the way things *should* sound and I've ran them ever since. From time-to-time over the last year, I've swapped them back in just to listen for myself or show friends that speaker wire can sound very different. I find it easiest to tell the difference with tracks that are on the bright side to begin with. 30 Seconds To Mars comes to mind, and I have a particular Sade track that really shows the difference. I had a friend that wanted to buy the Belden's from me as he wanted a brighter top end from his setup. He ran them for about a week or so and gave them back to me. Now they are in the trash and I sold the locking bananas. I also used to ran some cheaper Monster mid-grade interconnects. When I purchased the Belden speaker wire, I also purchased all new BJC interconnects to have the correct lengths I needed. As soon as I introduced the BJC interconnects between my preamp and amp, I lost just a bit of top end sparkle from my speakers. It wasn't a lot, but I initially didn't like the loss of that sparkle. I decided to just live with it and now I don't even really notice or care. Everything just sounds near perfect for me, so I'm no longer messing with anything. I know there are non-believers and I rarely get involved in these types of threads, but most Emo member are open minded and not jerks like some can be (look a few posts up and you'll see what I mean). I was shocked to hear differences and I started to worry about using wire and cables as tone controls. Then I learned that it's really all about system synergy and what you think is "right". I'll never claim to understand the science of why I hear differences and some don't. It could very well be partly due to electronics and speaker capacitance, resistance, or whatever. All I know is that I don't take cable purchases lightly and I'll never purchase any from a company that doesn't have a good return policy. Of course as always...YMMV.
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Post by uhcoogsfan on Oct 1, 2009 20:12:13 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies, I knew this could be a loaded question even though that was not my intent. I just wanted to hear from your alls expereince. I tink this forum is level headed and I would get honest answers without a lot of bickering that goes on in some other forums. Thanks to all!
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hemster
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Post by hemster on Oct 1, 2009 21:00:04 GMT -5
Just ordered my X-series RCAs and HDMIs. I'm currently using the HDMI cables included with components and most are flimsy. On occassion, I find they come lose and that can't be good. I'm using cheap RCAs I picked up when Circuit City went under, so the Emo RCAs have to be better!
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on Oct 1, 2009 21:07:03 GMT -5
I have always stated as long as a cable has proper shielding, the proper gauge wire for the length, and is terminated properly at both ends there should be no difference in sound. The X series Emotiva cables I have got excel in all the areas above (much more so than other cables I have used). I haven't picked up any of the U series yet, but have seen them at Emofest and they looked darn solid as well. What Doug said!!! ;D I must say the X-Series RCA's I got are quite attractive.
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