AVM - Anti Vibration Magic

[bosshoss]

It's incredible. What more can I say?

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

I'm saving AVM for the "icing on the cake"; still building the cake though. Most of my system is quasi-semi-half-decent; except I'm running $35 speaker cables (I'll spare you the detailed explanation as to why), and I'd rather wait till I have something more up-market before trying the AVM. Despite the cheap speaker cable, I'm getting remarkable sound after "up-grading" to the cheapo Nagaoka, from the Benz Micro. Most noticeable was the improvement in bass. Better control and musicality (as opposed to the somewhat clinical Benz) were also noteworthy.

Any suggestions for speaker cable (within the realm of mortals)?

(CONTINUED FROM http://www.g45central.com/forum/index.php?threads/we-need-a-technical-forum.3269/)

 

[bosshoss]

For speaker cable, I would get some second-hand Van den Hul SCS-6. I bought some on eBay not too long ago for $600 for a 3 metre pair (i.e. 12 metres of cable). If you do check it out, make sure it's already terminated, because doing it yourself is not easy, due to the thickness of the multicore silver cable, and the extreme heat required during soldering.

I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to terminate SCS-2 cable. Almost impossible to handle.

http://www.vandenhul.com/products/cables/scs-6-halogen-free

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

Thanks Mark, That's well within my $2000 budget!

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

The guy makes a good point about speaker cable termination (http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-speaker-cable/):

radergeorge • a year ago




I am a electrical engineer and have been called on to troubleshoot several high end systems with noise, low volume and other deficiencies. It really pains me when I see a system where the owner has gone all out on the cables and then connected them by winding around a screw, or sticking a dirty stripped end into a clip of some sort. Everything you gain by buying "better" cables can be negated when you do not connect them properly. For my money, I would trash all connectors and solder the wires strictly to whatever internals the speaker has. Banana plugs are marginally acceptable, but even they are suspect. It is not that I dislike them, but anything springloaded connection (yes, they are, just not in an obvious way) is vulnerable to corrosion, moisture and the same things that affect all "push-together" type connections. Also, why take the trouble to buy a thick, 14 GA stranded wire and then stick it into a fitting where the set screw only makes contact with half the conductors? A solid conductor sometimes fares worse, because the conducting surface of the set screw touches little of the wire. Not to mention that this screw is many times a soft steel, negating the worth of all that copper before it.I have seen many of these. Since I am capable of doing it, I prefer hard wired soldered connections wherever possible....I would say that banana plugs are probably among the best of what you can get short of my method. Bottom line is that I want as much of my copper in contact with the conductors in the device as possible. The weakest link will determine your real quality of connection.

 

[bosshoss]

Not just that, but you may be surprised to discover how many unsoldered connections exist inside the speaker cabinet. And the crappy wire that is used inside the box.

Just tightening the screws on all your equipment will yield a major improvement in sound quality. Especially the speaker cones, but also the amplifier and preamplifier chassis screws. And the screws which hold the internal circuit boards to the chassis.

 

[HarvestmanMan]

Ah, so this must be the garage rock division of AudioKarma. Be careful, once you start using the term "interconnect", that's when you know you're really down the rabbit hole...

 

[Outside_Lookin_in]

It's all just wires and fuzz to me