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Upgrade to internal speaker Cable

M

mil46

pfm Member
Has anyone upgraded their speakers by changing the speaker cable within the boxes? I have a pair of Neat Elite SX. They sound great. Just curious really. And before anyone responds with " why do you want to upgrade the cable if they sound great?" ......

- Im bored
- Can they sound better?
- Why not
- I have some offcut Chord Odyssey that I can put to good use.

I have Nordost Blue Heaven 2 as my main speaker cable driving them on Densen Amplification. I have looked inside the speakers and the cable is an all copper nothing special kind a cable. Just curious if anyone has tried it and if its worth doing?
 
Tried in the past but it didn't make any difference. Capacitors do make a difference but good ones are expensive and there's still no guarantee that you'll improve the sound.
 
Decent thick wire rated for the max current and nice clean solder joints, nothing will improve on this.
 
I have done it before, shameful to admit! Retirement time. I found a noticeable difference and was happy with the results, definitely a change and improvement. I used Chord Epic cable from some jumpers I never used which matched my own Chord Epic speaker cable.
 
Whilst repairing my JBL k2 speakers, as well as upgrading crossover components, I decided to to replace the thick "monster" cable with thin DNM solid core.
Yes, there was a big overall improvement in clarity.
 
Wouldnt someone like @CJ14 pretty much wipe the floor with these cable debates being a wonderful audio engineer who made some of the best ampifiers of this century and who is also a cable designer?

Personally I would trust the inventor of the Claymore amp over this Arkless person above.
 
Borntorun said:
Wouldnt someone like @CJ14 pretty much wipe the floor with these cable debates being a wonderful audio engineer who made some of the best ampifiers of this century and who is also a cable designer?

Personally I would trust the inventor of the Claymore amp over this Arkless person above.
Click to expand...

Now Borntorun, that is a bit unfair, I love and admire anybody that take a gamble/challenge to design new idea but even more for those who start from basic and do not copy.
Copy for me is hard that why I try not to look at other folks works and circuit, the reason is I can recall circuit and PCB layout from 40+yrs ago, and sometime when I am playing with a idea up pops this cct from a MOD project whoops, so I try not to peak. The big hassle for me is I did computer studies for 3 yrs when I was 50 yrs old, and I still can;t get my head around digital lies. Analogue, PSU, Amps,RF even Xrays but digital not a clue, and as for programming well the dyslexic smack that out of the court.
But thanks for the thought.
 
CJ14 said:
Now Borntorun, that is a bit unfair, I love and admire anybody that take a gamble/challenge to design new idea but even more for those who start from basic and do not copy.
Copy for me is hard that why I try not to look at other folks works and circuit, the reason is I can recall circuit and PCB layout from 40+yrs ago, and sometime when I am playing with a idea up pops this cct from a MOD project whoops, so I try not to peak. The big hassle for me is I did computer studies for 3 yrs when I was 50 yrs old, and I still can;t get my head around digital lies. Analogue, PSU, Amps,RF even Xrays but digital not a clue, and as for programming well the dyslexic smack that out of the court.
But thanks for the thought.
Click to expand...

I thought I was being complimentary about your skills! I have a Claymore that I had passed on to me from an uncle and its still in use daily.

Do you agree that cables can and do sound different?
 
fatmarley said:
Tried in the past but it didn't make any difference. Capacitors do make a difference but good ones are expensive and there's still no guarantee that you'll improve the sound.
Click to expand...

To many variables in capacitors, often it can be trial and error.
The Impedance at all frequency can on pure cap be calculated but they are not pure, you have to consider inductance common mode included, ESR, Temperature, Air pressure, external noises, vibration some audible some not, with just a few here listed we stick them in a close unit with vibration, changing air pressure and temperature, and we expect it to sound good, sorry not always.
 
I have changed the internal cabling, plus relocated the crossover in separate enclosures outside the speaker, with upgraded capacitors (film caps in the treble element and electrolytics in the bass), and damped the cabinet internal walls.... it made a very decent difference.

I have changed several things at once, so its difficult to be sure, but my bet is that the biggest impreovement was relocating the crossover, upgrading the components and then the new cable (in that order of impact)...

If you're going to bother opening up the speakers and getting the soldering iron out, I'd consider doing the whole hog if you can :)
 
Borntorun said:
I thought I was being complimentary about your skills! I have a Claymore that I had passed on to me from an uncle and its still in use daily.

Do you agree that cables can and do sound different?
Click to expand...

You were and thank you , oh yes cables make a lot of difference but not all can be heard.
Just a small check list to consider in designing a cable.
Inductance, normally small.
Common Mode inductance small, but if designed well you can use this to your advantage.
Capacitance small,
Leakage energy a hard one to check.
External RFI and EMC,
Oh and chemical combination of wire connection including solder and technique most folk forget this one.
And temperature this can effect the connections and the dielectric material, and chemical leakage from the solder can also play a part.
Oh and Humidity nearly always ignored at your peril.
And small but it does effect connection and that is air borne pollution's, to hear them properly the air needs to be inert but I found breathing hard without oxygen,
 
RichShortland said:
I have changed the internal cabling, plus relocated the crossover in separate enclosures outside the speaker, with upgraded capacitors (film caps in the treble element and electrolytics in the bass), and damped the cabinet internal walls.... it made a very decent difference.

I have changed several things at once, so its difficult to be sure, but my bet is that the biggest impreovement was relocating the crossover, upgrading the components and then the new cable (in that order of impact)...

If you're going to bother opening up the speakers and getting the soldering iron out, I'd consider doing the whole hog if you can :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response to one and all. Whilst I can do a bit of soldering to replace the cable. Upgrading components is way above my skill set. , I'm afraid. Didn't think it would spark as much discussion.
 
RichShortland said:
I have changed the internal cabling, plus relocated the crossover in separate enclosures outside the speaker, with upgraded capacitors (film caps in the treble element and electrolytics in the bass), and damped the cabinet internal walls.... it made a very decent difference.

I have changed several things at once, so its difficult to be sure, but my bet is that the biggest impreovement was relocating the crossover, upgrading the components and then the new cable (in that order of impact)...

If you're going to bother opening up the speakers and getting the soldering iron out, I'd consider doing the whole hog if you can :)
Click to expand...

I did some damping experiment with Etude in Belgium many year ago, Marc Van Meobeke and I discovered random sound proof material out performed every man made type. We used long hair clean sheep skin from a paint roller company based in Germany.

Electrolytic in speaker not good, as the current peaks and wains the bloody things change values, go back to Poly Carbonate type. Philips made some nice one's at 63V and 100V value 1 - 100uF check them out. Or try them from a washing machine starter cap, check value first in cap bridge.
 
CJ14 said:
You were and thank you , oh yes cables make a lot of difference but not all can be heard.
Just a small check list to consider in designing a cable.
Inductance, normally small.
Common Mode inductance small, but if designed well you can use this to your advantage.
Capacitance small,
Leakage energy a hard one to check.
External RFI and EMC,
Oh and chemical combination of wire connection including solder and technique most folk forget this one.
And temperature this can effect the connections and the dielectric material, and chemical leakage from the solder can also play a part.
Oh and Humidity nearly always ignored at your peril.
And small but it does effect connection and that is air borne pollution's, to hear them properly the air needs to be inert but I found breathing hard without oxygen,
Click to expand...

Very interesting! These are the reasons why your cable sounds different to say a basic Van Damme cable? (I have you EWA LS20 and was a much improvement over the VD I had before)
 
The LS25 and the new LS50 is much better.
The best for me was the mains cable,I was shock how bloody good it was and kept go back and forth, it even out performed my mains conditioner . crazy.:confused:
 
CJ14 said:
You were and thank you , oh yes cables make a lot of difference but not all can be heard.
Just a small check list to consider in designing a cable.
Inductance, normally small.
Common Mode inductance small, but if designed well you can use this to your advantage.
Capacitance small,
Leakage energy a hard one to check.
External RFI and EMC,
Oh and chemical combination of wire connection including solder and technique most folk forget this one.
And temperature this can effect the connections and the dielectric material, and chemical leakage from the solder can also play a part.
Oh and Humidity nearly always ignored at your peril.
And small but it does effect connection and that is air borne pollution's, to hear them properly the air needs to be inert but I found breathing hard without oxygen,
Click to expand...
Wow!! . Maybe best I leave well alone.
 
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