Randyman

hey, don't worry about it. I was just letting you know how I ended up with the wire.

here's how I tested the difference:

I placed my M22s (i also did this with my m3's but with much less time and attention) on stands, and left the stands exactly in the same place. Trust me, they didn't move, there's spikes on the bottom sticking into my floor. I put on recordings I know VERY well and have heard on many different systems, and that are well recorded.

Here's the cables I used:

16 ga phoenix gold
12 ga phoenix gold
22 ga mic cable
14 ga Kimber 4PR

they were barewire connected on both the speaker and amp end.

With each cable, I listened to several 1 or 2 minute clips of songs. Then, I would wire one speaker with, say, 16 ga, and one with 12 ga. then, one with 12 ga, and one with 4pr. then, one with 22 ga, one with 16 ga, and so on and so forth. I tried all the combinations. I also tried using 12 ga or 16 ga AND 22 ga at the same time. Here's my conclusions:

the 22 ga wire was really clean, but had a really hard time letting any kind of bass through and the speakers didnt play loud at all.

the 16 ga i didn't like at all. the sound wasn't as detailed as the 22 ga, though there was more bass.

the 12 ga was very good. I definitely could hear the sound being fuller in all ranges, but mostly the bass. It offered the most bass of all these cables.

the 14 ga Kimber 4PR was better for treble and midrange, but there was slightly less volume in the bass than the 12 ga. It was most evident on piano's and classical music.

When I combined cables (12 ga or 16 ga with 22 ga), I could not honestly say I heard a difference. There migh thave been one, but I can't say I heard it.

All the other stuff people talk about, such as soundstage, imaging, and so on, yes, they slightly changed with the different cables, but not much. Basically, the thicker the cable, the better sounding it was in all aspects.

for curious people, here's the songs I used to test the M22's:

1) The Becoming - Nine Inch Nails - STILL
2) So What - Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
3) Butterflies - Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor
4) Something I Can Never Have - Nine Inch Nails - STILL
5) Company - Patricia Barber - Modern Cool (excellent drum solo)
6) Magnetic - Tabla Beat Science - Tala Matrix
7) various from Bach : Brandenburg Concertos


Randyman, you are right that this could be affected by short term acoustic memory, but it is the best I could do! It is also definitely not scientific, it is just my personal taste. My general that comes from this is try to get thicker wire, not thinner. Second, better wire will result in better shielding, which is likely the case with the 4PR. there's slightly less signal loss and interference, so it sounds a bit better, more detailed. I definitely don't think this is an 'exotic' cable, either.

Well, that's my experience in a nutshell!

p.s. i did try doubling the runs with the mic cable (22ga). it was louder, but still, not half as good as the 12ga or 4pr.