General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by shotgunshane, Mar 7, 2017.

  1. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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  2. elmoe

    elmoe Friend

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  3. elmoe

    elmoe Friend

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    Turns out my wife would rather I pierce through the carpet with spikes than put a wood board under the speakers, so I hammered away. Not convinced it really did anything sound wise though. The spikes are definitely resting on the concrete slab under the carpet/mat. I've since received my Vidar and bass sounds great now though so I'm not too worried about it anymore. Maybe I just don't listen loud enough to have a vibration issue in the first place.
     
  4. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    For those of you with, or that have experience with, biwireable speakers, which of the following speaker wire hookups would you suggest and why? I have Magnepan 1.6QR, and amp (Ragnarok 1.5 currently) has only one set of speaker terminals per side. Speaker wire will be Mogami 3103 or 3104. I’ve read that inefficient speakers like larger speaker cables, which got me thinking.* Run is 2.5m from amp to speakers.

    1. Single run of 2x12 awg speaker wire to single wire terminals, and jumpers. [What I’m using now.]

    2. Single run of 4x12 awg speaker wire to single wire terminals (effective 9 awg per polarity), and jumpers.

    3. Two separate runs of 2x12 awg speaker wire to biwire terminals, one each of banana and spade connectors on the amp end.**

    4. Single run of 4x12 awg speaker wire to biwire terminals, so one cable internally biwired instead of a separate 12 awg run like in #3 above.

    * I used to run Cardas Golden Reference, which were 4 awg per polarity, but moved to more neutral cables to recoup money to focus on better electronics and speakers. The connectors were also broken and it would have cost $500 or more to have them reterminated. Screw that.

    ** Theoretically I could do two separate runs of 4x12, at effective 9 awg per biwire terminal, but would prefer not to due to cost unless it’s noticeably better than the other options.
     
  5. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

    I've found there to be bigger differences between speaker cables in material choice and construction technique than just throwing more copper/AWG at the "problem". Have you looked into something like Anti-Cables? I think Paul Speltz kinda got started with his whole thing by making autoformers for Magnepans.
     
  6. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    @zonto, option 1, (what you're now doing) is sufficient. I doubt you're going to gain anything out of doubling up the runs of wire since you're already at 12 ga.

    I'm not sure I believe the notion that more inefficient speakers need bigger wire. Unless you were thinking about jumping up from 18-20ga. to 12, but you're already at 12 so I'd leave it.

    If you do happen to have a few inches of boutique wire laying around, you might try that for the Maggie jumpers.
     
  7. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Started my Magnepan speaker cable journey in 2013 comparing Anticables and Clear Day Double Shotgun silver speaker cables and jumpers. Kept the latter until I compared a couple years later to the Cardas Golden Reference. The Clear Day then sounded thin comparatively, so I sold them off.

    A year or two ago, I then decided to sell the Cardas. I wanted to move to less colored cables and think that the cables may have had banana plugs that were likely causing shorts, so I moved to Mogami 3103 and pocketed the difference. The Mogami are definitely more neutral, and after using for a while have kind of gotten used to them. Ragnarok is also more neutral than the Peachtree integrated I was using before. Around the same time my system changed from (1) Cardas Golden Reference speaker cable / RCA interconnects and Peachtree integrated to (2) Mogami 3103 speaker cable / 2534 XLR interconnects, and Ragnarok 1.5. It took a while to adjust.

    I'm still using my Cardas tweeter attenuators as Maggie jumpers, but have considered trying Mogami 3104 as jumpers as well.

    -----

    Thanks both for the input. I'll hold off on futzing around with speaker cables and save the funds toward upgrading the Ragnarok this year or early next. It's also become clear to me over the past year that the Ragnarok 1.5 is not a great match with Maggies. After comparing it to numerous other amps at my local dealer on a variety of their speakers (including KEF LS50) it really isn't a great match with any speakers I've tried. Will wait for the Ragnarok 2 launch and see what else Schiit has up their sleeve this year re: new preamps to potentially pair with mono Aegirs. So far my favorite amp I've demoed at the dealer's has been a Plinius SA-103, but it's too big to fit in my cabinet and costs thousands of dollars more than Schiit stuff, which difference I'd rather invest for retirement.
     
  8. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    @zonto your speaker cable adventures mirror mine. Anti-cable to Clear Day to Canare 4S11 (due to rejiggering system, couldn't afford 2x 25ft Clear Day, but they did sound pretty great). My speakers are quite different from yours, BUT, I ended up "settling" on Dueland 16ga tin-plated copper. I'll probably eventually go to the 12ga. And I also played the whole "put some cardas golden ref in to tame a bright system" game. Those cables are like room temperature butter with a hard-candy shell of dried feces.

    It's been my experience that the grade of copper that both Mogami and Canare use is ultimately the limiting factor; comparing similarly constructed cables (i.e., starquad ~9-11AWG) between those two manufacturers is probably gonna be negligible gains/meh-city. I compared both 4S11 and M3104 and found both to be kinda dull and gray/rolled off sounding compared to the Clear Days.
     
  9. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    I have been using the Duelund DCA16 for speaker cable and I love it. But they offered a 12 gauge so I had to try it. Bigger wasn't necessarily better across the board.
     
  10. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Opinions please!
     
  11. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    I'm using 12' runs of 12awg mediabridge 2-conductor speaker wire for my KEF Reference Model Three. I started with 16 gauge mediabridge and they just didn't sound as dynamic as I remembered hearing them before I brought them home. Switched to the 12 gauge and now everything sounds very damn good.
     
  12. Don Quichotte

    Don Quichotte New

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    Hi all! I'd like to receive a bit of advice regarding my soon-to-be speakers purchase. I have created a dedicated thread on two other forums with lots of details about my expectations, room etc., but no reply so far. To cut it short, I have narrowed it down to Spendor Classic 1/2, Proac D30RS or, possibly, Harbeth SHL5+. Looking for detailed, slightly warm, tactile yet effortless sound with great feeling of space and, very important, great timbre of the acoustic instruments, especially piano. The timbres should be well differentiated, Steinway vs Bechstein, Amatti vs Stradivarius and so on. and the material that is resonating should be obvious (to "hear the wood" of the woode instruments, etc.). 23 square meters room, low to medium listening levels, amplifier and dac will follow (undecided yet, maybe I'll try the Aegirs and an Yggdrasil). I can offer plenty of extra details, but I don't want to force you to read a huge post unless asked for. Any feedback, please? Much appreciated!!
     
  13. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    Can anyone recommend some feet I can put under my speakers that will make it easy to shift them around on a wood floor? I have a spot that I like them in for listening, but it's a bit too far out into my room to leave them there all the time.

    Speakers are Klipsch Forte 3s which are about 75lbs each and have 4 non-removable, non-adjustable metal studs that they sit on. Studs are mostly flat, about .25" in diameter.

    Looking for something that is the lowest possible profile and cheap but good. Thanks in advance!
     
  14. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    Maybe some furniture sliders?
     
  15. zonto

    zonto Friend

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  16. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Even cheaper if you have it, some pieces of scrap carpet turned upside down.
    edit: and if cut to size, hardly noticeable. I've done this for heavy houseplants and couches
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2019
  17. Boops

    Boops Friend

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    @Riotvan @zonto @Armaegis Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up buying two carpet tiles from Flor, cutting them to size, and slipping under each speaker with the carpet side down. Speakers slide nicely now. The tiles are a hair over 1/8 inch thick so you can’t even tell they are under there. Total cost: $16.

    EFCCEFCA-9B08-4564-B46D-13BF991974AA.jpeg
     
  18. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Awesome possum, I glad that worked out so well!
     
  19. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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    Very clever! Good DIY hack
     
  20. Luigi Pichardo

    Luigi Pichardo New

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    One more thing, so would you consider the Schitt Freya or Saga for such a pairing? Solid state or tube? If I was to grab 2 Aegirs to pair with Salk Sound Beats. Thanks. Just gathering an opinion from you since you seem to be familiar with their products.
     

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