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Ezel
12-20-2003, 01:30 PM
Hi..

Do anybody knows which cable is used for the internal cabling of 250TI's? I own a second hand 250TI's and recently find out that the previous ovner has changed its internal cabling to Van Den Hul Magnum Hybrid's...

I also know that JBL has used Monster Cables on its newer models (250TI Jubilees). I believe the previous owner made a terrible mistake by upgrading the internal cabling to Van Den Hul Magnum Hybrid's as these are rather dark cables..

Now.. Do anybody out there have any recommendation for re-cabling? Which cables would you suggest me to use? How about same Monster cables used in Jubilee's?

Thanks for help..:mad:

boputnam
12-20-2003, 02:19 PM
Hey...

Do a search for the string "monster cables" as posted by "Giskard" (right-hand box). He seems fond of them.

Ezel
12-20-2003, 02:30 PM
Checked it.. But nothing came out related with monster cables internal re-wiring from Giskard..

4313B
12-20-2003, 02:58 PM
Originally posted by boputnam
Hey...

Do a search for the string "monster cables" as posted by "Giskard" (right-hand box). He seems fond of them. That's because they come in all kinds of pretty colors :p

Ezel
12-20-2003, 03:04 PM
That was a joke I guess..
Sorry English is not my native language.. Sometimes I make mistakes and did not get the jokes...

Don C
12-21-2003, 12:26 PM
Seems like a waste of money to change out the cables to me. The Monster cable that I have seen inside JBLs is not super thick, I will estimate 18 gauge. Giskard was referring to the fact that JBL used color coded wire. I have some later crossovers and they seem to have switched to grey wires with colored Shrink wrap for wire identification. But the thickness does not look any thicker.
The printing on the grey cables says:
"JBL Optimum Performance Series TM Designed and Manufactured By MONSTER CABLE - Ultra High Purity Copper"
The internal wiring of the crossover is not Monster Cable, just the wires between the crossover and the drivers.

boputnam
12-21-2003, 12:37 PM
Originally posted by Ezel
Checked it.. But nothing came out related with monster cables internal re-wiring from Giskard.. :hmm: you are right. I did a search on "monster cables" and had three hits, but one is the "Amplifiers are more important than you think" Thread, and I simply don't have the time to page through all that... :rotfl:

Ezel
12-21-2003, 02:03 PM
Originally posted by Don C
Seems like a waste of money to change out the cables to me. The Monster cable that I have seen inside JBLs is not super thick, I will estimate 18 gauge.


I agree on that.. But in my case the previous owner has changed the cables connecting crossover to the drivers with very thick (8 AWG even for tweeters) Van Den Hul Magnun Hybrid cable.. You can have more info on these cables from the following links.

http://www.vandenhul.com/cable/mgnm-h.htm

http://ebay.consumerreview.com/reviews/showproduct.asp?partner=ebay&SiteID=2&CategoryID=74&ProductID=3962&partnerproductid=

In general rating for these cables are 3 out of 5.

These are originally speaker cables. And as a matter of fact I believe this upgrade has not only altered the character of the speaker. Their sonic caracter is colored, somehow darker (warm??), lacking detail and controversial bass (Some says controlled I don't think so at least with my setup of ARC VT 150's and JBL 250TI's)

Now I am wondering if I can retrieve back what is lost. I am thinking to change the cables with silver wires. Would this make any change?

Do anybody have any recommendation on the type and gauge of the cables that I should use. Which gauge should be used for which driver? I heard that thicker cables should be used for woofers and thinner for tweeters..

Thanks..

Ezel

Robh3606
12-21-2003, 02:14 PM
The cables in my XPL200A crossover are Monster cable. Very flexible and I would say about 16 or 18 its hard to tell insulation is thick looks like 14 but its not. That cable is all grey with color coded ends and is marked as Don C. says in his post.

On my home builts I use a combination of 12 and 14ga. I have opened enough cabinets to see what JBL uses. I think they would consider that overkill from what I have seen. 8 Ga wire in a speaker cabinet?? What for?? I use that for my electric range and dryer.

Rob :)

Ezel
12-21-2003, 02:42 PM
Originally posted by Robh3606
8 Ga wire in a speaker cabinet?? What for?? I use that for my electric range and dryer.

Rob :)

You know.. For some.. Bigger is better... :))

Tom Loizeaux
12-21-2003, 05:19 PM
When I rewired my JBL studio monitors I simply used wire that was one step heavier then what JBL originally used. I went from 18 ga. to 16 ga. and from 16 ga. to 14 ga. to the woofers. I feed the cabinets with stock, audio-quality 14 ga., from each of my bi-amps.
Since the leads to the voice coil are tiny, what, about 28 ga. or so, I figure I'm delivering plenty of signal to them with this "heavier" wire.

Tom

Ian Mackenzie
12-22-2003, 04:48 AM
I would be very sceptical about using expensive or big brand cables.

Some of these cables cause amplifier instability due to large inductance or capacitance, hence the effect on the sound.

In some tests we did at a well regarded HiFi club some years ago we found thicker single cables best for bass, thinner parrellel twisted insulated cables best for midrange and finer parrellel twisted insulated cables best for treble.

Kimber Cables use the technique but are grossly over priced and it is eary to make your own using mulit rainbow ribbon for the tweeters by splitting the ribbon into individual wire and twisting it with the drill chuck.

Normal Cat 5/8 twisted pair for the mid without the shield again twisted with the drill and jumbo cable for the woofers.

I guarantee you will not be disappointed for only a few dollars outlay

Ian

GordonW
12-22-2003, 09:10 AM
The problem, sometimes, with braided or twisted cables, is an increase in capacitance, due to the crossings. Specific case, for one example- I had a pair of Kimber Gray cables (8 conductor braided) that would make my old Marantz 140 power amp TOTALLY freak out. Edgy, crackly at high volume. Very strained sounding- wouldn't even hit decent output, before the "peak" indicators would start blinking on!

I replaced the cable with plain-jane Audioquest F14 on the lows, and F18 on the highs (flat multi-conductor cables), and the problem went away, completely.

Moral is, be careful of any sort of exotic cable layout, short of a mild twist or spiral... especially with older amps (with their more limited stablity regimes) that can really go into histrionics on a non-standard load...

Regards,
Gordon.

Ian Mackenzie
12-22-2003, 10:36 AM
Hi Gordon,

Interesting comments about the 140 power amp.

I have previously used that model and it was unstable at the best of times, and far from the best amp for sub woofer amplifier.

In these modern times amplifier design has come a long way in terms of stability with different kinds of loads.

Some cable manufacturers are now terminating their cables with RC networks to eleviate the problems induced by the phase angle of the L or C respresented by the loads with these cables.

Ian

4313B
12-22-2003, 10:53 AM
I only have the black, green (LF), white (MF), and yellow (HF) monster cable left. I'm completely out of the red and orange (UHF) so I can't help you out with the JBL 4-ways. :(

(See Don C's post for a view of the N240Ti)

AudioGeek
12-26-2003, 11:06 PM
Ezel

Go to http://www.percyaudio.com

There you'll find several choices in various AWG's from Vampire, Kimber, Wonder Wire, XLO, etc.

Myself, I'm partial to XLO. I feel, from many years of trial & error and listening though many different systems, that most of their designs have sounded better with most components I've used them on. Not all, but most.

What I'm thinking of doing with my 4412's is double-up the 17ga for the woofers, (making 14ga), then probably a single 17ga on the mids, then the 22ga on the tweets. Something along those lines. This is the Ultra-High purity 6Nines copper with teflon di, and the larger AWG's are several insulated 24ga parallel strands twisted together.

BTW - I used to own ARC Classic 120's. Have you tried their LitzLine spkr cable? It's an 8AWG total, and seems to work pretty well on their tube amps. The LitzLine also had very nice spades as standard terminations. I don't know if it's still in production, though.

dennis j leisz
12-27-2003, 08:13 AM
Greetings, Audio Research continues to offer the Litzeline wire. It is very neutral sounding and they like it that way. My friends at ARC tell me that their wire reproduces the low end very well but is a bit lacking on the hi end. If any wants to play around with this stuff let me know. I have lots. I have a 20 ft. piece which I cut in half and have been unable to solder the ends. Needs plenty O heat. I rewired my 250s' with 14 gauge Vampire wire. Sounds very nice. No need to spend lots of money on this project.

AudioGeek
12-27-2003, 09:13 PM
Hey dennis! -

Not a matter of spending lotsa $, assuming that by doing so it's going to get you closer to audio nirvana. But IMHO it's getting to what sounds best within a reasonable outlay. The difference is: what's "reasonable" to you or me or someone else?

If I spend $3.-$5. a foot for internal wire on a speaker system I like and plan on keeping for quite awhile, and if it makes a fairly significant improvement to that speaker, I don't see it as a bad thing! :idea:

Some of us have to spend upwards of $200. for a re-cone of a JBL woofer. Or - maybe we don't like it, but realize that's what's necessary if we want the speakers we like.

I feel that, just as better X-over components are necessary to the best sound out of your speakers, so is better cable. It works, if you can get past the 'snake oil'. Me? I've got cartons of snake oil around here somewhere!

Of course, YMMV!