ST-70 loves this speaker cable (so do I)
David A. Anderson
I've recently been braiding a biwire set of DIY speaker cables for my
system based on a recipe on Chris VenHaus's web site:
http://members.xoom.com/cvenhaus/diycatfivecables.html.
I just finished terminating the set of cables for the monitors tonight
(this speaker system has two-way monitors and separate woofer
enclosures). The cable is equivalent to 15ga. braided from individually
teflon insulated 24ga wires.
To put it bluntly, I've rarely been so amazed by an improvement to my
system. I let my amp and preamp warm up and then popped in Kind of Blue.
Instantly, I was in a three-dimensional musical space with a combination
of timbral accuracy, syrupy smoothness, and detail I didn't think my
system was capable of. There was nothing subtle about it. I got instant
chills with the first few notes of Flamenco Sketches, the first track I
selected. The most impressive thing is how the speakers disappeared as
individual sound sources; it became all an integrated image.
Gone is a whitish haze and grain that had been bothering me in the treble.
The wire I replaced was 14 ga. OFC stranded, PVC-coated speaker wire.
I highly recommend this recipe even though it is a pain to do all the
braiding. It's much cheaper than Kimber 4/8TC to which it's similar.
I terminated them by crimping Radio Shack gold-plated spades on the
wires. These spades work really well with the old binding strips. RS
makes them both for 14-16ga wire (278-316A) and 10-12ga wire (278-311A).
It's one of those times that RS does something right.
As a final note, I posted a couple of weeks ago, asking if the ST-70 would
mind the extra capacitance of this cable, and I got a couple of responses
from people (and you know who you are) telling me not to worry with all
the trouble and to stick with standard 14ga stranded speaker wire. With
all due respect, guys, that was just plain wrong, and I would challenge
any of you to a speaker cable showdown with this stuff. I can't wait to
finish the bass cables.
Flame away if you want, I'm enjoying the music too much to care.
A Happy Tube-O-Phile,
David Anderson
xov...@my-deja.com
cables. This is great! I have spent a lot on mine, and quite a bit on
upgrades for my two ST70's. My cables are a double run of Kimber 8TC. I
have been amazed for a long time now at how good they sound. Please try
a double run of your DIY cables "Biwired". Enjoy, Greg R.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Erik Ivanenko
Why do you have to solder all the wires together, when you are crimping on the
final contact? Can't you just crimp them all at once?
xov...@my-deja.com
Erik Ivanenko <erik.i...@utoronto.ca> wrote:
> I read the build instructions, and have to ask...probably a silly
question...
>
> Why do you have to solder all the wires together, when you are
crimping on the
> final contact? Can't you just crimp them all at once?
>
speaker wires should be crimped not soldered due to the high amount of
current flow and other factors. Also, I would guess it would be a lot
faster to just crimp, and they would sound a lot better. Regards. Greg
R. xov...@hotmail.com