Re: TV and sound over CAT5

["Timothy Morris" <timmorris@xxxxxxx>]

>
> For running speakers at any decent power level I would recommend
> the use of
> 2.5mm cable. Twin & Earth mains cable is probably cheapest but not
very
> flexible or pretty. Figure of 8 Twin Flex (79/0.2) is my
> preferred choice as
> this is robust but flexible and not over expensive. I personally
> do not buy
> Monster Cable or other similarly branded cable as in my opinion it is
> overpriced hype. All that you  need for speakers is a good quality
heavy
> guage cable to maximise the current transfer between amplifier
> and speaker.
>
While I wouldn't dream of taking issue with on your electrical knowledge
Keith, I'm afraid I couldn't let this pass without comment.

While QED 79 or 46 strand is more than adequate for piping
"audio" around
the house, for example a pair of speakers set high up into the wall in the
kitchen, bathroom or bedroom for background music, audiophile cables do
have
their place.

I have a £15K home cinema system. The bulk of the cost has gone into the
audio side of things. I have 6 power amplifiers worth around 5K. For those
interested 4 mono Audiolabs driving a pair of KEF 104/2 main speakers
(£1800), bi-amped, which means that there is a seperate amplifier driving
the bass and treble section of each speaker, an Audiolab for the rear
speakers and one for the centre too.

When buying the speaker cables I did a double blind test. (The cables were
changed by the guy from the Hi-Fi shop, and I didn't know which I was
listening to). I compared some cheap(!) Monster cable at around £4 per
metre
against some specialist LAT International cable from the US at £23 per
metre. The test was performed at my home, as especially when you get to
this
level in Hi-Fi, the room accoustics have a major influence on the quality
of
the sound.

The difference between the two is beyond belief. The more expensive cable
is
less congested, each instrument is much better defined, and the stereo
soundstage on good quality recordings is outstanding. I should say that the
furniture in the room is placed around the Home Cinema system rather than
the other way round, and particular care was taken over the placement of
the
speakers, so that the tweeters are at ear height when seated, the axis of
the speakers crosses just in front of the main listening position, and both
are situated at least 2 feet from any room boundary.

The chap at the Hi-Fi shop has the same amplifiers and speakers as me, and
recently spent about £1500 on interconnect cables between the pre- and
power-amps. I have listened to his Hi-Fi, and do prefer the sound of his
system to mine, whether that is his room, or his cables I don't know. When
he gets a set of demo leads in I'll perform a blind test again.

However, in the context of distributing whole house audio, you are right
that 79 strand is the way to go. The point I'm trying to make, is that it
isn't overpriced hype - 'audiophile' cables do have their place. Apart from
the fact that twin and earth isn't pretty, the copper doesn't have the same
level of purity as the stuff that is used in even 'bog standard' 79 strand.

Tim.


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