History of the audiophile cable?

I recently bought a pair of Cardas Cross interconnects and a set of Kimber 4PR/8PR bi-wired speaker cables. I noticed on the Kimber Kables site that they were founded in 1979 in response to a disco installation!
http://www.kimber.com/about/

I don't want to get into the 'do cables sound different' argument, but I was wondering when cables started being considered part of the music chain? Was Kimber the first or were there even earlier (DIY?) designs? More historically curious than anything else as I couldn't find anything googling.

 

Nice info.
He wanted to get rid of the lightning source bleeding over into the speaker cables - the byproduct was improved audio quality .
Shows that many inventions that make a substantial difference are by accident rather than a 'brainchild'..

 

Somewhere in the late seventies. Monster Cable seemed to be the first company that promoted high-end speaker wire/interconnect—1978. Kimber Cable emerged the year after.

There are two variables in wire design that have obvious audible effects, both are frequently applied to audio cable and interconnect. One is—fatter gauge/more current. This becomes meaningful when reproducing bass and seems to favor the bottom of the audible range over the top. The other is the difference in "sound" between copper and silver, silver being "brighter" or more treble-rich. Dressing, length, dielectrics and quality of termination also have audible impact on sound quality. Folks have been playing with these parameters long before "Monster Cable" started marketing 14 gauge zip-cord with gold-plated termination as "audiophile speaker cable."

 

The first expensive/improved interconnect cable I bought was in the early 1980s, maybe 1983, it was 4xRCA to 4xRCA for my tape deck and cost £20 I can't remember many upgrade interconnect cables before then, but it was definitely a case of heavier/better speaker cables being recognised before then, I'm sure QED sold better speaker cables.

I guess you need to check the Hi Fi mags for when cable upgrades were first mentioned or advertised.

 

I remember Neil Levenson flogging the Fulton Gold cables in Fanfare magazine—the must have been in the early eighties.

 

The first 'audiophile" cables that I became aware of were Monster cables. As I recall there was a lot of debate and contention when they appeared, a lot of reviewers conducting comparisons with zip cord...

 

There was also the Polk Cobra (Japan), possibly just before the Fultons?

http://www.stereophile.com/features/709/
http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-SpkrCab.html

(no affiliation)

 

I remember diskwasher had its own brand of speaker cable known as "Smoglifters".

 

cables got 'interesting' in the 20's when telecoms was expanding
Allan Dower Blumlein developed balanced cables capable of being run alongside rack and pinion railways in Switzerland with no interferrence.
intercontinental oceananic cables with repeaters also needed much work and the radio and cinema needed balanced cables too.

hifi cables a mere fashion digression imho

Roger

 

I remember reading an article that also credited Fulton as being the one starting this trend.

 

In 1975, I had a large format book -what are now called "coffee table books, called (if I remember correctly) "Audio Alternative", by Mark Tobak. In it, he talked about Bob Fulton's cables (and Magnepan Typmanis and Audio Research's SP-3, Dahlquist 10s, etc.).

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

in the mid 70's Pioneer offered a Star Quad or twisted pair style speaker cable in their catalog. So nothing new.

 

1976, Supra, a sweedish cable company that was one of the first to offer quality cables and make use of measureable paramaters.
I currently use their 3.4S speaker cable, back in '76 I was using 16 gauge lamp cord as suggested by Stereo Review.

 

This is shaping up to become a great discussion. I, too, have wondered where the audiophile cable began...

 

Fulton and the Polk's that Salvatore refers to are the first in my mind. I did not know Supra go as far back as '76. Thanks.

 

I believe the first audiophile cable was the Fulton cable.

Nevermind, darkmatter was all over it.

 

Fulton was who I thought of when I saw the thread.

 

I saw News item in either High Fidelity or Stereo Review in the mid-1960s about a NY dealer who claimed to hear differences between a)different gauges of cables, b)tubed and solid amps, and c)electronics sitting on wall-mounted shelves vs. floor-standing cabinets.

 

Sounds like Mike Kay of Lyric Hifi.

 

Would have recognized that name. It was someone else.

 

Found my notes--Jan 1966 "High Fidelity Newsfronts" in HF. Dealer was on Second Ave.