DH Labs Silver Sonic Q-10 Speaker Cable

[Phil Rose]

Because of a thread on another forum where our very own ThomasW recommended DH Labs Silver Sonic T-14 speaker wire I decided to order a bi-wire set. Not until the cables were on their way did I find that DH Labs "just" introduced their Q-10 cables. See this link for details of the cable:http://www.silversonic.com/docs/press/Q-10-12000.htm

I called up DH Labs and asked if I could return the T-14 bi-wires and get a pair of Q-10s in bi-wire configuration. They were very happy to do the exchange and charge me the difference for the Q-10s.

Anyway, enough background, I just installed the cables and am very pleased with their performance. My AT1505 seems to have better control of the woofers in my B&W 802s and the highs are just great.

Now I don't know if there really is a difference from the 12AWG Carrol OFC cable that I replaced other than increasing to a 10AWG OFC silver plated cable without any real blind testing but it seems to be better. If it is the placebo effect I think that it worked very well and I'm happy. If you are thinking of getting some special speaker wire, take a look at the Silver Sonic Q-10s. The are pretty inexpensive in terms of what you can spend, look good with their single dark green heavy body and sound (or make me think that they do) GREAT!

[Bing Fung]

Thanks for the info Phil, Thomas had directed me towards those before, and I would say they seem like a bargin for silver content cables.

I did not buy them for they were still a bit out of my price range, I eventually would like to try them out though....

Placebo? Sure what ever make you happy, I know doing things like that make me happy, every time I look at them. They can't detract performance, right?




Bing

[ThomasW]

Good choice

There is a definite "sound" to any silver based wires and it's not placebo effect. Some people object, stating they're "harsh". I disagree, my feeling is that like the best components they are "revealing". And as usual the amount of "difference" is directally related to the quality of the components in the signal path. To my ears and in both my systems, the D.H. Labs are the most transparent cables I've auditioned. The internal wiring of the Whisper clones are done with T-14

To listen for differences with the T-14 or Q-10 pay particular attention to the overtones (harmonics) from bells, chimes etc. They will sound more like the real thing. These are the easiest differences to hear. The entire treble spectrum will be impacted though.

I've auditioned pure silver wires, and silver plate like the D.H. Labs. I think the plate combines the best of characteristics of copper and silver. Copper having better bass, silver better treble.

I was wondering when Darren (he's the "D" in D.H. Labs), was going to get the Q-10 info on his website. He emailed me regarding them about 2 months ago, but was slow in getting info posted.




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[Phil Rose]

Thomas,

I'd have to agree with you on your assessment of the performance of the silvers. I did notice that the highs opened up as well as the bass got tighter.

This whole experience is really troubling to me since I've always been skeptical of the reported performance differences in wire being a EE and all. That is why I had to put the placebo caveat in my original post because, I'm really surprised at the change that these cables made.

When I looked on the DH Labs website I didn't see the Q-10s and that is why I ended up getting the the T-14s in the first place. I later went to the Audio Review website and saw them mentioned so I called up to ask about them. BTW I sort of figured that Darren was the "D" in DH Labs. He seems like a very nice guy and was all to happy to take care of me.

If you look at the link in my first post that is the only info on the Q-10s that I could find on the DH Labs website. If he updated his site to include prices and make the Q-10s a little more visible he might generate some more traffic/sales.

I'm still shocked at what I hear! :B

[Andrew Pratt]

Phil i'm not an EE but do have a science background and sort of figured that same as you (cables are cables to a point) that all changed when I finally heard the difference b/t some interconnects at a friends place in a blind test(IXOS gamma weave vs tributaries) I still have a problem believing there's a difference b/t coax digital cables or different optical cables but I was proven wrong before so ???

[ThomasW]

Andrew

I've tried an expensive tos-link vs the "included one" and there was no difference.

There is a significant difference in standard interconnects. The Silver Sonic BL-1 is my current standard for reasonably short runs. Anything longer than 15' I use generic RG58AU from Radio Shack.

Just kind of a "heads-up" regarding BL-1. It's not a coax. It's a balanced twin lead, with a foil shield and separate ground wire (drain), so it needs to be terminated in a special way for best performance. Telscoping ground is what the termination is called. The red is (+) on both RCA ends, The black (-) and ground (drain wire) are soldered to ground on the "source" end RCA, and only the black is soldered to the "destination" end RCA. The "drain" wire is floated at the destination end.

For video, the Canare 75 ohm is hard to beat. It comes in a ton of colors, and that makes it easy to deal with the R-G-B stuff




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[Bing Fung]

I have to agree on the Canare's, when I added those to my system they made a significant difference over the component cords I had.

I can't tell a difference between my Toslink optical and digital coxial on either my CD or DVD player, as I have both cords connected on each player. I certainly notice a difference when I switch to analog as I have those connected as well. I can't say I like the analog all the time, as most times I prefer the digital outputs.

I feel the speakers cords are certainly not placebo, for I have noticed a difference from my superflex 12 awg to the 11 & 13 awg IXOS gammas. There is a sound stage believe it or not and, the detail is still there, just not as harsh or something like that. I can't put my finger on it but it is a different sound.




Bing