Proposed soundbar - check

MyRealNameToo

Grumpy_chap said:

MyRealNameToo said:

The non-optical version is £600 https://www.richersounds.com/chord-company-epic-digital-solid-rca-to-rca-1m/ 

And this is RicherSounds, a good company but dont do top tier stuff. You can also get the £41,975 kettle lead per https://shop.loud-clear.co.uk/products/nordostodin2powercord?variant=39416381014149&country=GB&currency=GBP

Seems perfectly good value to me.  Nothing is more important than a quality cuppa so I was about to rush out and order one of those kettle leads to ensure that I have only the very best in every part of the tea making process but, unfortunately, the socket is not the same profile as my kettle.

Seriously, what do these top-end cables actually do that is of value in the domestic setting?  I can understand there could be some critical industrial applications where signal interference can have highly negative outcomes or audio reproduction scenarios but, in a domestic setting, the acoustics of the room will more than outweigh any miniscule reproduction loss through the cable.

That said, I have experienced issues with poor quality cables for VGA and HDMI applications on PC / display connectivity.  The most recent was only yesterday when my wife had a new display switch and set up using the HDMI cable supplied with the new switch and it did not work.  Swapped back to the cable she had before the new switch arrived and everything worked as it should.  That is quite possibly simply a damaged cable / misconnected pin.  Not worth investigating as the whole lot was only £39 for the new switch box including the non-functioning cable.  I have also had cheap ethernet cables simply not work but often feel they still offer value as you can buy a pack of 10 online for pennies so just discard any that are DoA.

Your true rich audiophile will have bought a "mains conditioner" that claims to have removed any signal interference from the power, ensure a constant 230v/50hz supply and then you use the Cord power cable to plug your PreAmp, Power Amp, Phono Stage etc into it... some may say the power amp doesnt need one as much others will have mono power amps so will need at least 4 such kettle plugs. 

My view, and its not just envy, if you have £42k to buy a power cable you are buying some very expensive electrical components and if they could benefit from conditioned power etc then they would be built into the device itself. I have seen a £150,000 pre amp and it came with the same £3 kettle plug as my normal hifi. 

In theory digital works or doesnt work, there's no in-between. Durability may be a question but you dont need to spend those sorts of sums. Analogue is more susceptible to interference and so spending a bit more on speaker cable etc could in theory provide some benefit over 50p/m bell cable but again there are likely sensible limits. 

At the end of the day there are always people willing to buy snake oil and if it makes them happy does it matter? A friend went over a year running his UHD Blu-ray player on a £5 Amazon Basics HDMI rather than the £150 AudioQuest one after I switched it and only noticed when moving things about (obv after he claimed he thought the picture looked off the whole time but hadn't said a word all the time before)

JSmithy45AD

"Analogue is more susceptible to interference and so spending a bit more on speaker cable etc could in theory provide some benefit over 50p/m bell cable but again there are likely sensible limits."


That's not just a theory though, analogue without doubt benefits from better cables. My previous comment applied purely to connecting a cheap TV and soundbar together via digital optical cable.

Yorkie1

I notice that the kettle lead is exclusive of shipping costs!! 

MyRealNameToo

JSmithy45AD said:

That's not just a theory though, analogue without doubt benefits from better cables. My previous comment applied purely to connecting a cheap TV and soundbar together via digital optical cable.

Vs bell wire? Absolutely. Will the £2,520 Chord Signature -v- the £30 QED XT40i make much difference (both 3m terminated) I personally think is much more questionable. The law of diminishing returns does get so close to 0 improvement fairly quickly.

JSmithy45AD

MyRealNameToo said:

JSmithy45AD said:

That's not just a theory though, analogue without doubt benefits from better cables. My previous comment applied purely to connecting a cheap TV and soundbar together via digital optical cable.

Vs bell wire? Absolutely. Will the £2,520 Chord Signature -v- the £30 QED XT40i make much difference (both 3m terminated) I personally think is much more questionable. The law of diminishing returns does get so close to 0 improvement fairly quickly.

It was you who brought up bell wire as a comparison. The QED cable is £100+ for a 3m terminated pair BTW, but if you're spending say £30,000 on a pair of speakers then you will pay for better cable, regardless of how "little" the difference may be.

Grumpy_chap

All this talk about speaker wire has made me think as I just ordered speaker brackets so that I can mount the speakers from the stereo at high level and across the room (we are decorating this year so I can chase the walls to do the job properly). 

So, one speaker will be a couple of meters up the wall from the amp while the second speaker will be up the wall and along in the ceiling void about 5 m and then down to the speaker.  Do I need to have the same length of cable for each speaker?

I can also connect the TV to the amp as the new furniture will allow me to put it all together.  Do I put the "left" speaker to the left (and "right" to the right) when looking at the TV and the stereo?
OR, is it reversed, so the speakers assume I am in the TV looking out and left / right accordingly.
I am assuming the former.
The speakers, stereo and TV will all be on one wall, so my positioning options are looking into the TV or looking out.

JSmithy45AD

Grumpy_chap said:

All this talk about speaker wire has made me think as I just ordered speaker brackets so that I can mount the speakers from the stereo at high level and across the room (we are decorating this year so I can chase the walls to do the job properly). 

So, one speaker will be a couple of meters up the wall from the amp while the second speaker will be up the wall and along in the ceiling void about 5 m and then down to the speaker.  Do I need to have the same length of cable for each speaker?

I can also connect the TV to the amp as the new furniture will allow me to put it all together.  Do I put the "left" speaker to the left (and "right" to the right) when looking at the TV and the stereo?
OR, is it reversed, so the speakers assume I am in the TV looking out and left / right accordingly.
I am assuming the former.
The speakers, stereo and TV will all be on one wall, so my positioning options are looking into the TV or looking out.

Yes, both speaker cables have to be the same length as they'll be out of phase otherwise. Shorter is better if possible (and cheaper).

Left & right as you're looking at the speakers.

Vitor

Same length and bi-wired ideally if speaker allow that. Also the speakers must be at ear height when you're sitting. 

Grumpy_chap

Our speaker only has one pair of terminals on each speaker.
I could run parallel wires to the same terminals but I assume that would not add much.  Might even detract if the lengths of the two pairs of cables were not exactly the same?


(With sincere apologies to the OP - I did not intend to hijack the thread or take it off topic, at least no more than it was already veering with all the chatter about billion-pound-per-metre wires.)

Vitor

- I could run parallel wires to the same terminals but I assume that would not add much. - 

Correct. Nothing to be gained.