How to Choose Interconnects and Loudspeaker Cables (TAS 197)

Excerpted and adapted from The Complete Guide to High-End Audio (Third Edition).
Copyright ©1994–2009 by Robert Harley. hifibooks.com

Loudspeaker cables and interconnects are an important but often overlooked part of the playback chain. The right choices of each can bring out the best in your system. Conversely, poor cables and interconnects—or those not suited to your gear—will keep your hi-fi from achieving its full musical potential. Knowing how and which cables to buy ensures the best possible performance at the lowest cost. 

How to Choose Cables and Interconects

Ideally, every component in your system—including cables and interconnects—should be absolutely neutral, imposing no sonic signature of its own. Since this is never the case, you’re forced to select cables and interconnects with colorations that counteract the rest of your system’s colorations. For example, if your system is a little on the bright and analytical side, mellow-sounding interconnects and cables can take the edge off the treble and make listening to music more enjoyable. If the bass is overpowering and heavy, lean- and tight-sounding interconnects and cables can firm it up. A system lacking palpability and presence in the midrange may benefit from a forward-sounding cable.

Selecting cables and interconnects for their musical compatibility should be viewed as the finishing touch to your system. A furniture maker who has been using saws, planes, and rasps will complete his work with steel wool or very fine sandpaper. Treat cables and interconnects the same way—as the last tweak to nudge your system in the right direction.

Cables and interconnects won’t correct fundamental component or electrical incompatibilities. For example, if you have a high-output-impedance power amplifier driving current-hungry loudspeakers, the bass will probably be soft and the dynamics constricted. Loudspeaker cables won’t fix this problem. While you might be able to slightly tighten up your soft bass with the right cable, it’s far better to correct the problem at the source—a better amplifier/loudspeaker match. Remember, a cable or interconnect can’t effect an absolute improvement in the sound. The good ones merely do less harm; they won’t make a poor system or bad component-match sound great. Start with a high-quality, well-chosen system and select cables and interconnects that allow that system to achieve its highest musical performance

A typical hi-fi system will need one pair of loudspeaker cables (two pairs for bi-wiring), one long pair of interconnects between the preamplifier and power amplifier, and several short interconnect pairs for connections between source components (such as a turntable or CD player) and the preamplifier. (Systems based on an integrated amplifier obviously don’t need the long interconnect between a preamplifier and power amp.)

Once you’ve got a feel for how your system is—or will be—configured, make a list of the interconnects and cables you’ll need, and their lengths. Keep all lengths as short as possible, but allow some flexibility for moving loudspeakers, putting your preamp in a different space in the rack, or other possible changes in positioning. Although you want to keep the cables and interconnects short for the best sound, there’s nothing worse than having interconnects that are 6" too short. After you’ve found the minimum length, add half a meter for flexibility.

Interconnects are often made in standard lengths of 1, 1.5, and 2 meters. These are long enough for source-to-preamplifier connections, but too short for many preamplifier-to-power-amplifier runs. Such long runs are usually custom-made to a specific length. Similarly, loudspeaker cables are typically supplied in 8' or 10' pairs, but custom lengths are readily available. It’s best to have the cable manufacturer terminate the cables (put the spade lugs or banana plugs on loudspeaker cables, and RCA or XLR plugs on interconnects) rather than trying to do this yourself.

Concentrate your cable budget on those cables that matter. Priority should be given to the sources you listen to most often. For example, you may not care as much about the sound of your tuner as you do about your CD player. Consequently, you should spend more on interconnects between the CD player and preamplifier than between the tuner and preamp. And because all your sources are connected to the power amplifier, this link must be given a high priority. But understand that any component—even a tuner—will benefit from good interconnects.