The Robb Collections: WBC Worlds Best Cables 7 Gauge Speaker cables Trifecta of WBC Cables! Part One.

February 8, 2025

505

Gentle reader,

First of all, thank you SO much for taking the time to read my article! That so many people want to know what I've been up to and my opinion on any subject truly warms my heart.

As you likely know, I've had a lot of hobbies, the most continuous of them all is home stereo. I began in 1976 building a Dynaco PAT-5 preamplifier and two 60 watt mono SWTPC power amp kits. My turntable was a B.I.C 940 with walnut base and smoke dust cover. Speakers were a pair of "floor sample" Dynaco A25s. I was then twenty.

A LOT of equipment and speakers have passed through my home in all of those years. But, that's not why we are here. You want to know about my final WBC purchase.

Originally, I bought the "tweed" wrapped cable. I needed the shortest they make.

What I did not notice when I ordered that cable, is that it is marketed as a Center channel cable, and thus, there is only ONE in the box. When I went back on Amazon to order a second one, they were sold out. Since these are the same cables inside, it was two of these instead.

This is a wire gauge chart. Don't you just love the Internet? "Why, in my day, if ya wanted to look sumthin up, you had to walk down to the library to do it!"

Notice that they are all even numbers. The 15 foot long WBC speaker cables I bought and installed are 12 gauge. In the past, I had a 9 gauge Pangea IEC power cable for my power amp. These cables are labeled 7 gauge. The lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire is. Since the rest of the world is metric and foreign companies desperately want to sell their wares in the United States, they sometimes decide to include US measurements. Therefore, the actual copper parts are between 6 and 8 gauge in diameter.

Now, you may be wondering why I need two three foot cables. I will show you below:

I use a 1990's Dynaco "Five Channel Home Theater System" (black unit on the right, above) which passively routes sounds to up to five channels. It is descended from the original Dynaco company's Dynaquad device. It works very well to. I feel like I am ON the stage with the musicians.

Due to where the speaker terminals are, I had to run the bananas up through the bare wire holes. It works.

These two images are "before" and show where the Monster Cable Z-Series Z1R cables (on the left) are being replaced by the new 7 gauge WBC 3-foot cables. I don't have a center channel speaker, so those terminals remain empty.

Below is an external size comparison between the Monster Cable Z-Series cables which are 12 gauge and the WBC 7 gauge unit.

As I pointed out in my last article: The Robb Collections: The WBC Worlds Best Cables RCA and XLR cables are great. What about the WBC Speaker Cables. Let's Find Out much of the weight of the WBC speaker cables is all that woven cloth. In the case of these, it makes them harder to bend to my will.

Since they are longer than the cables they replaced, I had to snake them around to fit.

The extra (and thick) cloth covering is quite unnecessary, but WBC is following the trend of much more expensive high-end cable makers.

The middle terminals are where the front speaker cables insert.

After photos with all (but the center) terminals filled with copper bananas.

Once I double checked to make sure everything was where it is supposed to be, I heaved the cabinet (I never know what to call it: Shelf? Rack?) back in place and turned everything on.

I put in some jazz CDs and began to listen. Those are a B&K Components preamplifier and power amplifier. They are USA made and from the 1990's. The power amp was my first purchase. The left channel of my 1990's Dynaco ST-200 power amp, below, stopped working. I found the ST1400 B&K unit on eBay.

I was SO impressed with the improvement in sound, I sought out a matching B&K Components preamplifier to replace my fine working Dynaco PAT-6 preamp/tuner. It is super rare, so I am keeping it.

Now, I get to why this is Part One of this article. Without having to use "The Force" I sensed that something was wrong with the sound. There was definitely distortion coming from the left speakers!

I worked for forty-four years with electronics, so I began troubleshooting. The first thing I did was swap the MC cable back in from the power amp to the Dynaco unit. Sound was still there. Then, I removed the 7 gauge cables from the power amp and plugged the speaker cables directly into the amp's terminals. Still there. I swapped them left to right. Sound moved to the right speaker. Next, I plugged headphones into the preamp to check it's sound. It was perfect. Okay, preamp and cables are alright. Next, I took my Sony Discman and plugged it's output directly into the power amp. Distortion was STILL there!

Well, when one has eliminated all the other components and connectors, what is left is the power amp. Sigh.

I switched the preamp to mono and rotated the balance fully left. I disconnected the ground terminal from the left speaker. I can still listen to music, it is just mono and coming from the right speakers.

I began looking for a replacement power amp. I suspect that the capacitors are failing in the power amp. It is decades old. On eBay are many, even one identical to this one. But the prices are high and unless the seller has recapped them, the same problem can arise. I did find recapped ones and kits to recap a number of other brands amplifiers, but nothing for B&K.

I started looking elsewhere, including Crutchfield where I bought a new Yamaha integrated amp to replace my dying 1980's unit. Older power amplifier are very pricey on eBay. New ones even more so. The ONLY source of good equipment left which is local is Best Buy. I found the web page for our local one. They have several power amps but, OUCH! those prices!

Then, I saw they have the Marantz MM7025 stereo power amplifier, but I have a real problem paying a thousand bucks for an amp. Then, I saw they had them for as low as just over $500. In excellent condition with all papers and in the original box, $599. Less if missing all that and with visible marks.

I knew I was buying a "restored to factory specifications" unit which was returned with a problem and Marantz repaired it. I am okay with that. The maker is standing by their products by offering them for resale with a full warranty.