Kimber Kable 8 Pair Speaker Cable

Two 10′ Runs with bananas or spades, $388. $14 per foot plus terminations

Speaker cable matters. The more revealing your system is, the more it matters. If you have a garden variety receiver with garden variety speakers, zip cord is fine. That gear is like a dusty window that won’t let you see CLEARLY- what’s on the other side.

If your system IS REVEALING, a cut above speaker cable makes sense. It is icing on the cake. With a revealing system each improvement helps. By paying attention to the details of mains conditioners, power cables, interconnects and of course speaker cables, you get an accumulation of improvements that add up to a substantial upgrade. You will appreciate the quality of your recordings more, in terms of detail, punch and ambiance.

In the early 70s we discovered that thicker speaker cable provided more bass and better dynamics in a fine hi-fi. I wouldn’t say the improvement was monstrous, but it was noticeable. It was pretty much the wild wild west days of our hobby and new ideas were popping up regularly.

In 1979 Ray Kimber of Kimber Kable changed the game. His research revealed that there was indeed science to all this. BRAIDING cable, or in Ray’s case, BRAIDING KABLE, lowered inductance and virtually eliminated RFI. It worked. It provided sound that was clearly, more CLEAR. We learned that there was more to cable than bigger is better.

In fact, Ray’s braided cable sounded less thick and murky in the bass. With Ray’s braided kable, dynamics improved, as did clarity and the impact of transient attacks from drums, pianos and guitars.
Ray offered FOUR PAIR cable at $7 per foot and EIGHT PAIR cable at $14 per foot. Both are still available today, but it is 8 PAIR that floats my boat as the best law of diminishing returns performer.

Variable Strand (VS) is now part of 8PR + 4PR technology. Kimber has taught us that any thickness of wire has a signature sound. By running five different diameters of wire (VS) there is no predominant signature sound of any particular one.

It is wise to terminate your kables with banana plugs. First of all, using banana plugs allows you to get this thick kable into standard sized terminals. They sound the same as spade lugs, but they can be applied more easily to the connectors, and once you’ve done so- the connection to your amp and speakers is easier than using spade lugs. Banana plugs come in various shapes/sizes and metal. For my ears the law of diminishing returns says you should spend approximately $20 per pair. Most systems need two pairs on the amp and two on the speakers- so add $80 to your kable price.

Very soon after Ray brought out his cable, the industry realized this braided cable technology was legit. You can’t patent braiding. Pretty soon everyone and his brother was braiding their wire. It worked. We still work with Ray. He makes great kable at fair prices. He’s a philanthropic guy in the music community.

8 PAIR is the sweet spot on the speaker cable market!

4 PAIR is 8 PAIR’s little brother. If you can’t spend $388 for 8PR, please buy 4PR for $224!