Cables: the hidden (hopefully!) glue of your Hi-fi system. Cables link everything together, delivering power and transporting your audio. And anything that influences the all-important audio signal matters; cables more than you might think.
Travelling between components is where audio information can be vulnerable; where it can be distorted by electrical interference or partially lost to the atmosphere. To prevent this and get the very best from your system optimise your cabling. It’s one of the biggest ‘bang for your buck’ upgrades you can make.
Let’s journey through a system…
Mains
Ok, so we haven’t yet created the audio signal, but every component needs power and that comes via a mains cable, aiming to deliver the cleanest current possible by reducing high frequencies and shielding from electrical noise to provide smooth, stable, low-noise power. A poor mains cable delivers ‘dirty’, uneven power, which degrades performance and hence music.
Low resistance and high insulation are key here. Most mains cables have a copper core, but the grade, thickness and layout all impact current pass-through and performance. Most standard manufacturer mains cables are PVC-shielded, which is ok. But move up to Teflon, or Chord Company trademarked Taylon shielding and the signal is better protected so truer. You will most definitely hear the difference.
We have mains cable upgrades from £50 to £5000 in our showrooms you can audition, or call for advice.
Interconnects
A perfect interconnect – linking source to amp or pre- to power - would do nothing but carry the signal without losing, adding or changing anything: complete transparency. It’s ability to do this is strongly impacted by material selection, shielding, conductivity and quality of manufacture. Four areas where you can improve on the bog-standard interconnects included in the box.
And you don’t need to spend big to enjoy better audio; our ranges from AudioQuest and Chord start under £40..
Speaker Cables
The final link, again with two key elements: resistance and insulation. How easily the audio signal flows determines its strength when it reaches your speakers, and therefore how well they perform.
Copper is a great conductor, silver better but more expensive and the bigger the diameter, the less resistance so easier flow. Lengthy runs are susceptible to loss, so shorter is better and cable length to each speaker should always be the same, regardless of speaker placement, to ensure identical timing and flow properties.
It’s another easy demonstration – we’ll take you through ranges from QED, Chord, AudioQuest and more, advise which is best for your system and make up your cables to the perfect length with optimum terminations.
Digital
Coaxial, Toslink, USB and the ever-controversial Ethernet cables play their part too. Superior materials and manufacturing make better cables which improve sound.
But surely digital information is either complete or not? It’s just 1s and 0s, right? Not quite. Even digital information can be partially lost or corrupted by external factors like high frequency noise. Try for example a Chord Epic streaming cable between your switch and streamer, you’ll be amazed how much more music you hear.
Consider also your system characteristics and your own preferred sonic signature. Different cables work better with some brands; another reason to phone or visit us... we know which
As with everything we do, hearing is believing. Comparing cables is perhaps the simplest of all demonstrations – no heavy lifting, just plug and unplug. We strongly recommend visiting to audition and take full advantage of our expert knowledge.
Our experts at Peter Tysons have been doing all this and more for decades, just get in touch if you need some guidance.
Carlise – 01224 546756
Newcastle – 0191 285 7179