speaker cable help please...

[drgolfnut]

I am new to the audiophile addiction. And yes, it is an ADDICTION. I have heard much about bi-wiring speakers. Without getting into a heated debate from different camps, can someone recommend decent bi-wire cables that I wont have to sell a kidney to buy? Also, can you have a good cable and still have a thin and concealable cable?
I have heard that interconnects is where I want to place my concentration and money. But I would hate to think that I am handicapping my components by using bad cables.

[Lex]

Hello, be aware of the relationship of this board between CAT Cables.. I own both. We don't really leave open ended cable requests active at HTG. It's the one area we protect closely, as it helps to keep HTG's doors open.

To answer your question, bi-wiring is a judgement call. It doesn't always make a real difference unless you are bi-amping. It may, or it may not. As far as concealing wires. Not always that easy if you use good stuff. There are a few flat speaker wires around,but not sure who sells it. My own Cattails from www.catcables.com is about the size in diameter of a large magic marker or cigar.

It will be diffent to conceal wire that gives enough volume in size. Like 12 gauge.

I am going to leave this thread open ONLY for recommendations of flatline cable. No other recommendations of every speaker cable under the sun are acceptable here. Major manufacturers are ok like Monster, Audioquest, etc... No web brands please-

Doug

[Shane Martin]

Other than a few web brands, The only other flat speaker cable I know of is Nordost.

http://www.nordost.com/Cables/speaker-super-flatline.htm

The Biwired version of those run around $175 for a 2 meter pair. They go up from there.

Most of the other cables you will find are the same size as the catcables.

Ixos makes one but it not available for bi-wire purposes.

http://www.ixos.co.uk/us_interconnects/index2.html

It still is about double the size of the cables from Nordost.

Lex is correct in that bi-wiring doesn't always make much of a difference.

[mark4x4]

All of the Nordost cables are flat the difference is more conductors used the wider the cable. I use the Nordost Blue Heavens speaker cable and one Blue Heaven interconnect. They are both excellent but if you wanted to save some money and still get excellent sound, I"ve used the Nordost Flatline Gold MkII but they are not a biwire cable, you would have to go to the Super Flatlines to be biwireable and for the price I would jump up to the Blue Heavens.

Radio Shack has a 14 gauge ofc flat speaker cable if price is the main criteria. No where near the sound quality of the Nordost cables.

I've tried many speaker cables and interconnects and to say that interconnects will influence the sound more than speakers cables is not necessarily true. IMHO they are both just as important, they both can change the sound of your system.

Hope this helps,
Regards,
mark4x4

[drgolfnut]

When I bought the B&Ws they were bi-wired when I heard them. The salesperson sold me bi-wires for the B&Ws at the same time. So I haven't heard what they sound like without bi-wiring. Hindsight indicates I didn't do enough research before buying and was fairly naiive. Being such a novice to the audiophile addiction, I would guess that my untrained ears would not detect any difference in bi-wiring or not. Not to say that there is no difference but just that I probably will not see it. So would it be wise to say that I should concentrate my investment in very good interconnects? Those thick Acoustic Zen bi-wires I have now sure look cool. But they are about the thickness of my index finger. Concealment is not an option with those.

[Stoney]

If you want to hear what it sounds like without Bi-wire, put your shorting jumpers back in. Hear any difference?

[Aussie Geoff]

Important Safety Message

Stony.

If putting the jumpers back in it is important to disconnect one pair of the bi-wires from the speakers - otherwise you will present a direct short to the amplifier (the amp signal will go from one pair to the other via the jump cable) this may blow your amplifier or its fuses or both....

Geoff

[Stoney]

The shorting jumpers go (at the speaker end) from positive terminal of the HF input to the positive terminal of the LF input and from the negative terminal of the HF input to the negative terminal of the LF input. At the amp end they are already connected together (unless you are Bi-Amping or using separate outputs of the amp). Perhaps I am using the wrong term by calling them "shorting jumpers". Definately DO NOT CONNECT THEM ACROSS + & - TERMINALS!
My thought was that installing the jumpers would essentially be the same as mono wire from amp to speaker since the speaker cable would have the LF and HF connected together at both ends.

Borrowed this link from ggregz post in another thread.

http://www.djsociety.org/Bi-Wiring.htm

Great picture of links in and out. Install the links on the bi-wire the same as the mono-wire and the bi-wire is eliminated. Result is basically same as one wire of larger gauge.

[Kevin Haskins]

I like the Canare Star Quad stuff which allows you to internal bi-wire (which doesn't make much sense to me) or run them in star-quad configuration.

[text removed by moderator]

[David Meek]

Kevin, you've hit our only real taboo. No detailed discussion of cables' performance or price except for CATCables. Our owner is also the owner of CATCables. I'll remove the transgressing portions.