Opinions on DH-Lab speaker cables?

JohnVF

JohnVF

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Howdy. Time to buy a Christmas present for myself as I'm going to guess that my wife isn't going to buy me speaker cable. I'm running some sort of Audioquest wire that came off of a spool at Magnolia. It's perfectly fine, but you know how this goes.

Anyway, for whatever reason the DH-labs Q-10 and T-14 are speaking to me and I was curious if by random chance somebody had used both and what were any differences in presentation. I think @Pat McGinty had recommended them in another thread?

Any other recommendations welcome in the apx $500 max for two 8 or 10' stereo pairs welcome as well. No garden hoses please :) I already have done that and sadly (not really) don't have bi-wire speakers to use them anymore.
 
I have both. I may be able to Lend you a pair to demo or 2 to demo. need to see what I have here. let me know.
 
S0und Dragon said:
I have both. I may be able to Lend you a pair to demo or 2 to demo. need to see what I have here. let me know.
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That would be nice, but also any observations are fine as well. I'm not much of a wire/cable person though I also don't deny their differences. Also I wanted to send you that Dynavector SUT to try with the options you'll have. It's just sitting around here, haven't used it since I sold my TD-124.
 
I will need to consult my motes to give you an accurate assessment. Give me a day or two. I will PM you also later.
 
Pat McGinty said:
Q10 is robust compared to T14. Ive used literally miles of T14, probably the best bang for the buck out there.

Still, if it's treat yourself time, Q10.
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It's probably treat myself time as I've been trying to just kind of end the chase, but if there's only a build difference and not much of a sonic reason between the two? I'm going to buy a bit longer than I need to future-proof this purchase a bit, so its more than a hold-over thing.
 
JohnVF said:
It's probably treat myself time as I've been trying to just kind of end the chase, but if there's only a build difference and not much of a sonic reason between the two? I'm going to buy a bit longer than I need to future-proof this purchase a bit, so its more than a hold-over thing.
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No. It's different core product, more copper, not just cosmetic
 
Pat McGinty said:
No. It's different core product, more copper, not just cosmetic
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I'll most likely get the Q-10, because I know if I get the T-14 I'll still be thinking about it. I know myself by now. But then I need to paint it white or put a new jacket around it.... (we have this all white minimal thing going on).
 
My Q-10 is a 5' bi wire configuration. I do prefer it to my T-14. However, my T-14 is 10' and was used due to its length. I preferred the Q-10 according to my notes. I find DH Labs to be more Neutral than colored.
 
The T-14 is the cable that really woke me up as to what better cables can do. It was used to bi-wire some Infinity 2.5s. Really, really tightened the bass up and the soundstage became larger. Now, it sounds like I'm going to have to get some of that Q-10 now.
 
JohnVF said:
But then I need to paint it white or put a new jacket around it.... (we have this all white minimal thing going on).
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whoa - paint audio cables! mind blown. any experience with that (how hard is it to do? does it peel off?)?
 
adaug said:
whoa - paint audio cables! mind blown. any experience with that (how hard is it to do? does it peel off?)?
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Well, no experience, but the jackets seem to be woven nylon or similar sort of plastic material? There's paints that allow for some sort of flex. Maybe I could dip them in liquid latex :)

It'd be easier to just put another jacket over them but it might be a trick getting that over my preferred termination, which is spades on both ends.
 
JohnVF said:
Well, no experience, but the jackets seem to be woven nylon or similar sort of plastic material? There's paints that allow for some sort of flex. Maybe I could dip them in liquid latex :)

It'd be easier to just put another jacket over them but it might be a trick getting that over my preferred termination, which is spades on both ends.
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please keep us posted on painting/jacketing project if you go forward. a new frontier.
 
adaug said:
please keep us posted on painting/jacketing project if you go forward. a new frontier.
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The jacketing would just be buying a new jacket and putting it over the existing one. I supposed one could also get some shrink tubing to make it look pretty at the ends. I actually bought some white jacketing to do this to a set of black-jacketed cables I bought from another member but they were bi-wire and I sold the speakers I was going to use them with right after I got them, and replaced those speakers with a pair that wasn't bi-wirable.

Anyway, that's probably what I'll do. Just put new jacketing over the existing jacketing. Maybe I'll discover some super amazing audiophile benefits of dual-jacketing that i can then market in my own set of cables that I sell for big $$.... which will just be somebody else's cables bought in bulk that I re-jacket and jack the price up on....
 
JohnVF said:
The jacketing would just be buying a new jacket and putting it over the existing one. I supposed one could also get some shrink tubing to make it look pretty at the ends. I actually bought some white jacketing to do this to a set of black-jacketed cables I bought from another member but they were bi-wire and I sold the speakers I was going to use them with right after I got them, and replaced those speakers with a pair that wasn't bi-wirable.

Anyway, that's probably what I'll do. Just put new jacketing over the existing jacketing. Maybe I'll discover some super amazing audiophile benefits of dual-jacketing that i can then market in my own set of cables that I sell for big $$.... which will just be somebody else's cables bought in bulk that I re-jacket and jack the price up on....
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You can probably get techflex to slide over it including the terminations. The only issue I see is that techflex is translucent and braided so it may not cover that black completely. It may be worth contacting DH Labs to ask if they can do white.
 
240sx4u said:
You can probably get techflex to slide over it including the terminations. The only issue I see is that techflex is translucent and braided so it may not cover that black completely. It may be worth contacting DH Labs to ask if they can do white.
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I had thought about that. I'd be willing to pay a premium to not have to bother with it. They'd do it better than I would, anyway.
 
JohnVF said:
I had thought about that. I'd be willing to pay a premium to not have to bother with it. They'd do it better than I would, anyway.
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I am sure it wouldn't be a huge deal, provided they have the right materials to do it. If they had to order a giant roll of that stuff they might say no.

And not to disparage your skills, but you're probably right.
 
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