Speaker Cables Upgraded

I know there are those who thing a bit of wire 'twixt amp and speaker is just that - a bit of wire, and that nothing other than something is enough.

But I've heard enough cables to know that, within a system context, they can make a difference.  This doesn't mean all cables make an appreciable difference in all systems.  Nor does it mean that all systems benefit from changing cables.

Plus, there seems to be no direct relationship between the price of a cable, and its performance in a particular system.  So the best approach is to try a few - if you like what you hear, keep them. If you don't like what you hear don't keep them. If you think there is no difference in what you hear, keep the cheapest one.

And that about sums up my views on cables.  I don't rant about them making no difference. I don't swear blind that they can make a seismic change in a system. I don't extrapolate the experience in one system to all systems. Just try it and make up your own mind.

The 'musings system, in the last 15 years or so, has relied upon various flavours of Linn's heavy gauge multi-channel speaker cables.  So that's K400 for bi-amp / bi-active scenarios, K600 for tri-amp / tri-active scenarios and 2x K400 for quad-active for the Majik 140s.  And its just got on with its job and although I tried a number of different cables in the system over that period, the K stuff just seemed even handed and decent enough VFM.  For other systems I've found vanDamme blue in 2.5mm and 4mm gives great VFM and is even handed in the same way that the K cables behave.

A few years ago, local Naimist R tried out some SuperLumina cable against his existing NACA 5 (a cable I never liked in my system, but a great favourite for many years amongst Naimists).  In his Naim / Kudos Super 20 system it was a revelation - the whole thing sounded much more grown up. Lots of the over edgy presentation went away and the music flowed better. In Naim terms it was like upgrading an XPS to a 555DR power supply - so pretty significant. This was supported by hearing the same comparison in a dealer's place with a variety of speakers.  In every combination the SuperLumina was a step up from whatever cables were in place at or below the same kind of price.

So it had to be tried in the 'musings system and it brought similar benefit, but here its worth bearing in mind that one run of SuperLumina was only replacing 1/3 of the cables in use in a tri-active system. As is often the case with the PMC Twenty.26, after trying the cable across all the drivers, one at a time, it was the mid-range that benefited most from the cable improvement.  This closely followed by the treble and last the bass.  All sounded better with SL over K400/600.

Unfortunately its pretty expensive, and once in a system it tends to stay there as buyers are unlikely to have any reason to move on, so used examples are both infrequently available and snapped up very quickly. So this would have to be a gradual process, which was probably a good thing so the spend could be spread over time too.  The first length I purchased was negotiated in with the PMC purchase, the second pair obtained about 9 months later was secondhand and a few weeks ago the third pair entered the system, being "ex-dem" from a dealer.  It has been, therefore, a 20 month process to gradually replace 3x K lengths with 3x SL.  To make upgrades of this magnitude in an active system isn't something I can afford to do in one big lump, one of the downsides of the more complex approach.  The good thing though, is that feeling of getting a couple more improvements along the way...

Here's a picture of the full stack of cables behind the left hand speaker, for those who like that kind of thing :)

So now the system is

Terminating K400 (and K600) Speaker Cable

A few people have asked,  so here are some step by step instructions.  These assume the ability to solder and cut cables without hurting yourself...

First, cut to equal lengths (some think this is necessary, others don't but heck, make 'em equal then it doesn't matter if its necessary or not) using a hack saw

Then, you will notice there are dotted lines down the centre rib - these are the cut lines to use when separating the 2 pairs of cables at each end

Use a Stanley knife to cut approximately 120mm along these dotted lines at each end of your cable lengths. Make sure the knife goes through the rib at 90 degrees, otherwise its easy to damage the inner insulation.  Using a knife like this gives a smoothish finish on the cut edge but it is very tricky to control and keep moving in the direction you want.  An alternative is to put the cable vertical in a vice (line the vice with cloth to reduce damage to the cable sheath) and cut downwards with a very fine toothed hacksaw.  Not quite such a smooth finish, but much easier to control and make for a neat even width result.  You can add heatshrink later to tidy up completely if required.

Now you have, at both ends of the cables a pair of 120mm long individual cables pairs

For each one of these, you need to remove the thick black outer insulation - approximately 70 to 80mm long. This is the point at which it is easiest to damage the cables. at the 70-80mm point, use the Stanley knife to cut about 3/4 of the way through the thickest part of the black insulation (the bit that was once part of the central rib) and about 1/2 way through the rest of the black insulation. Then gently bend the cable through 90 deg in 4 different directions several times - this will eventually cause the black insulation to tear through, hence removing it without damaging the inner insulation.

Now strip about 8-10 mm from the end of each of the inner cables, and solder into z-plugs (like these). They work with BFA and standard 4mm sockets so are good with many different amp / speaker combinations

Use red and black shrink wrap about 25mm in length, half of which covers the inner cable and the rest covers the z-plug up to the speaker end of the bit that sticks out from the plug. Shrink wrap available on ebay.

Then use black shrink wrap to cover the joint between the outer sheath and the inner cables. This needs to be 4:1 shrink wrap which is a bit more expensive.

If you want to follow Linn guidance on direction, the triangle in the Linn logo should point towards the speakers.  Or you could experiment with both directions and see if you can hear a difference then choose.

Heat shrink around the z-plugs must cover the half of the plug that will remain projecting from the rear of the speaker or amp

4:1 heatshrink is used for the outer sheath ends

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Majik Stress Relief

The Majik 109 is a small (9 litre to be precise) standmount speaker that I use as rears for surround duty, although they're very capable as main duty speakers too.  When using them in active mode (as I do), they need 3 pairs of loudspeaker cables to bring the signal from the power amps to each of the 3 drive units in each cabinet.  The obvious way to do this (at the time, about 18 months ago) was to use lengths of Linn's K600 speaker cable.  3 twisted pairs of cables are moulded into a very substantial black sheath that keeps the 3 pairs of signal cables a good 12mm apart.

This is what I also use on the main and centre speaker too.  For the main speakers, it stands on edge along the skirting boards and hides all the other cable mess behind it.  That's not the main reason for using it of course - its a high quality, solidly constructed cable with high purity copper, but is nothing more exotic than that and comes in at a relatively affordable price - unlike some cables out there!  Linn discontinued it during 2013, which is a shame, now only offering the bi-wire K400 cable that has a very similar construction, but only 2 pairs of cables rather than the 3 pairs.

Anyway, the point here is that K600 is very very heavy.  And when plugged into the back of the Majik 109s, right up there on top of their stands, the weight of the cable puts quite some stress on the soldered joints between the cable and the 4mm plugs.  I wasn't really very happy about this, but in the 18 months since they were installed, the connections are still going strong.

Here its clear to see the stress (particularly on the white supertweeter connection) on the connectors

Having many more things to be getting on with and, curiously, still being able to sleep well most nights, this never got any further attention, other than to ask on the Linn Forum if anyone had solved this.  There was collective shoulder shrugging.

So I put some thought into last week and started searching for an appropriate solution.  There was nothing obvious, so a bit of lateral thinking was applied.  A search on ebay for brakets gave a gazillion results, but adding "stainless steel" and -"shelf" into the mix narrowed it down somewhat.  I needed something that would either clamp the K600 to the lower part of the cabinet or allow for cable ties or something.  If it allowed me to utilised the existing screw holes for the "brakit" mounting system, even better.

Back panel of the Majik 109 showing the 6 sockets and below that the 4 pilot holes for the "brakit" mounting system

Took a while, but eventually I found something that might work.  So tonight they've been installed and work well.  They're actually described as L-shaped stainless steel cubicle brackets, so I guess they're intended for the lavatory installation industry.  But whatever, here's one fitted using a 6mm countersunk stainless steel screw and cup washer:

I was particularly keen on this design because it allows for 2 x cable ties to be fitted around the K600 cable, thereby providing a good support to the cable.  And it works, as can be seen below - the cable is now supported by the bracket and ties and the connectors are free to get on with their job with no physical stress.  A good solution at 99p per speaker.  Additional benefit - the cables are held flat to the backs of the stands too, so keep themselves that bit tidier.