This is absolutely true. Plug in a poorly shielded cable in a horror of a nightclub where the PA, lights (flourescent), the condom machine and the flickering 'Bud Light' sign are all on the same circuit and you'll get the idea really quickly.

__________________
Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

First, I like the Quad stuff, but it sounds to me like a lot of British gear: VERY laid back and neutral. If you like that sound, Quad is great. Anyone ever play with ESL 63's or 57's? Those are SWEET with the right amps! I heard a stacked quad of them with a Marantz 8b for each pair once, and a Mac C22 pre. Blissful.

As for cables, I have used lamp cord, but then went to 14/2 house wiring for its better shielding. The solid core stuff just sounds a little "faster" to me, in my experience... hence my desire to try the CAT-5 project. Heck, if I can get 10 feet or so for free, it'll cost me only my time. I already have spades, heatshrink, and such in the parts bin at home.

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

An ex-boss of mine had a real thing for Carver stuff, for some reason. He went out and bought a pair of the 7t's (giant solid state mono amps) for his K-horns, and brought a bunch of us over to impress us with that and his Fosgate surround processor. I could hear the K-33 woofers bottoming out during his "demo" and suggested we check the drivers sometime. Sure enough, they were both torn badly and one had a BAD voicecoil rub. We ordered new ones, I installed them for him, and suggested that he try the old Dyna MK III's that his brother had sitting in his spare room. I hooked them up for him and used a little Radio Shack CD3400 portable CD player as the source (no preamp), and he was blown away. The Carvers were just a TERRIBLE match for the ridiculously efficient Klipsch. He never could reconcile this... kept his mega-watt Carvers and terrible sound for the bragging rights they brought, when he could have had something truly musical.

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

Kuan -- what's in that console, anyway? I need to go pick up a free Grundig console at a family friend's house. She wants it to disappear. I owned one once and it was amazing... hope this one is in nice shape!

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

My unofficial "motto" concerning gear on tour is: "If it can't be fixed with duct tape and a coat hanger, it can't be fixed. Get a new one."



Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

It's made by the pilot company. There's a Dynaco like integrated mounted in there and a Garrard table. It works pretty well. Makes Beatles records sound like Beatles records, if you know what I mean. ie., the small kick drum sounds like a small kick drum. It's OK for background listening, doesn't get loud at all. Maybe that's why.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Anyone want a pair of Maggie MG1bs? They have been in the closet for 10 or so yrs now so, they need to go.

Cheap if you pick up north of Dallas.

Dan

Man sell them.

http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/buysell/index.html

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I own several console's, my favorite is my 1957 Grundig Hi-Fi console, it has 6 speakers (2 are electostatic) and the sound is amazing expecially from a mono amp.

I also have a Dynaco ST-70 amp which I have mated to my Klipsch Forte's, the sound from my 35 WPC amp blows away my sons 1000W home theater receiver.

I hope to bi-amp my Dynaco's with my Pioneer SX-1980 receiver (270 WPC) because my Pioneer has better bass and my Dynaco's have a clearer mid/high end.

__________________
Ray
1998 Mercedes E320, 200K Miles
2001 Acura 3.2TL, 178K Miles
1992 Chevy Astro, 205K Miles

Resistence increases as wire diameter decreases. Why would a few ohms resistence improve the signal? Maybe increasing the resistence reduces the amount of EMF noise to the speakers?

MikeMover, does the improvement using smaller gauge occur mostly in the high-end frequencies? I'll bet it does. I'll bet that high freq is passively filtered by the narrow wire as compared to the thick wire.

Bot

Under normal circumstances, I would not expect a smaller gauge wire to improve the signal. It could be that the conductive qualities of the different kinds of wire are so pronounced that the smaller gauge wire in question actually has LESS resistance than the larger gauge wire. This could be the result of variances in the purity of the metal (usually copper) used in the manufacture of the wires. There are also other variables, such as the terminals/jacks, and the resistance they add, and also the length of the wires in question, and possibly differences in the quality of the shielding.

Another possible scenario is this: Let's assume you have an amp that you are currently running at or near the lowest ohm rating that it is theoretically capable of. Operating this amp at high volume levels is likely to be generating excess heat, and putting strain on the power supply and other components, which will negatively affect sound quality. Changing to speaker wire that increases the resistance will reduce this strain to some degree, and could noticeably improve the sound.

A lower ohm rating allows an amp to produce more power, with all other factors being equal. All amps have a minimum ohm load capability (and a maximum as well--but exceeding this causes different problems), beyond which excessive heat will be generated, sound quality will suffer, and damage to the amplifier can eventually occur. This is why you should never run a power amp of any kind with no load (meaning with no speakers connected).

Obviously, lowering the ohms will also cause the amplifier to demand more operating current (thus the increased heat mentioned in the previous paragraph). Under heavy loads (loud peaks), this often leads to a drop in voltage from your power supply, or even from your house wiring (or car alternator/battery, if you're talking car audio). This drop in current will obviously affect sound quality, and if it is too severe, will also affect the lifespan of the amp and/or it's power supply.

Hope that makes sense.

If you want to get in to the math of how ohms relates to power, etc... here's a good page to check out:

Relationship of ohms to power output

And here's a very in-depth article about voltage loss over the length of a wire, impediance vs. resistance vs. inductance in speaker coils, etc......... This stuff gets pretty deep pretty quickly:

This will make your brain hurt.....


Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

Oh well such a high contingent of card carry Audiosaurus here.

I started my Stereo in late 60's , bought my first used amp, a Quad 22 and II.
Back then I had no comparision of they were almost the best. Until 12 yrs later I had an opportunity to buy another old pair of Quads again, then I start to appreciate the old tubes.
Most recent i got a Heathkit int amp, it sound very sweet.

Also had my share of high powered amps in between, the harshes would be Phase Linear 400, is like hitting Iron. Mac with Auto-transformer were the most mellow of any trans amp.

Just fitted a pair of low power 15" spk into a floor tom. It cleared the 15 diam, a friend cut the wood mount for me. Need more power and a good crossover to thoroughly test it. I found one spk with reverse phasing porduce a little bit more bass.

Attached Thumbnails

 

An interesting looking project, but I must ask.......

Why?....


Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

They sell these kits for u to install them. Just want to see how well will they sound.
I have these spks sitting around anyways. This tom I bought from garage sale for 5.
Would have been ideal to find 2 toms. 2 in one is not sufficient space for a 15.

I have a 1956 Telefunken Opus Royale Hi-Fi. It was my grandfathers. His five sons went shopping for it with him and bought it for him I believe. (they went store-to-store with one record that they played on all of the models they looked at.) Cost around $800 in 1956! I didn't believe the price until I saw an ad for one recently from 1958. Prices were from $300 to $1,600. They bought it at a high end furniture store in Cincinnati and had to wait for it to be shipped from Germany.
It has been refinished twice. First by grandfather's fourth wife who butchered it. More recently by my father. He did a nice job but did not return it to its original blond finish. I've been trying to find a picture of it in its original condition so I can get it back the way it should be finished.
Still sounds great. It even has an extra speaker cabinet to go with it. I think dad still has the record they used to test the Hi-Fi's. Maybe I'll borrow it next year and hold a 50th birthday party for the Telefunken. I not sure if any parts have ever been replaced in this unit. I don't think so.