Well given the advances he made in his branch of science he did know a hell of a lot! I can't see ANY evidence that he slowed down the rate of progress of science. After all Einstein published his special relativity paper whilst he was still alive.
And why single out one man. Plenty of scientists have got it wrong, and most have accepted that. Fred Hoyle died refusing to accept the 'big bang' and arguing the fact with all.
Personally I like the quote from Rutherford on splitting atoms "and anyone who looked for a source of power in the transformation of the atoms was talking moonshine"
I would be surprised if power cables made no difference, considering the range of conductor types and dielectric types and geometries employed.....and the loads.
Fully agreed on your last statement.
Thank you John, I appreciate your words of encouragement and yes it is an interesting quest.
As I have stated previously this quest is not for my benefit so much as for the benefit of all.
I am already praised by trialist limited user group, with pressure and demand to bring this to market....and that's just in the audio world, there are a bunch of further applications.
Those moulded cheap extension cords you can get from the major hardware stores are quite fine enough...chop one end and fit an IEC etc.
Be certain to choose the white cables, avoid the black or grey ones.
If you can find white IEC plugs, give them a try also.
Dan.
This would make a small difference in resistance, which would have a negligible effect on sound if the cable is appropriate to the task.gabdx said:
I don't understand the point you are making. People who can do the relevant maths can begin to understand QM. Everyone else cannot even get that far, but that will not necessarily stop them from using words they do not understand.Max Headroom said:
I am not convinced that the last 2m do matter, unless the PSU design is poor. As far as I am aware, people using electronics for defence, instrumentation, communication, healthcare etc. regard mains cables as a purely 'utility' function to get power safely to the item. Maybe the Hawaiian scare was caused by a radar system with the wrong mains cable?
At least people allegedly trapped in textbooks have some facts to think with. Others do not even have that so they just have to play with their own fanciful imaginations. Trusting your own ears is extremely foolish, given how much is known about how easily fooled our senses are. Trotting out the old tired 'innovators were always ignored' story (allegedly Lord Kelvin, this time) does not help. The big difference between Lord Kelvin and the 'true believers' is that he actually contributed to science from a position of knowledge, while they just fantasise about it from a position of ignorance.john curl said:
View attachment Wire_Cable_TechReport.pdf
In some ways probably out of date but still informative.
Dan.
In some ways probably out of date but still informative.
Dan.
Like I said it may be out of date in some aspects especially since implementation of ROHS requirements.
We all accept that capacitor dielectric types cause distortions, why should cable dielectrics be considered differently especially considering the range and extent of additives incorporated ?.
Dan.
We all accept that capacitor dielectric types cause distortions, why should cable dielectrics be considered differently especially considering the range and extent of additives incorporated ?.
Dan.
Other than a cable and a capacitor are completely different constructions and applictions.
Whitlock has this covered. Different coloured wires have different capacitance to sheath because of differencies in the dies.
There are places where dielectrics matter. Attached is a pic of the sort of cable that runs up your local phone mast. In this application loss is critical. But not until the 1-2GHz range.
Whitlock has this covered. Different coloured wires have different capacitance to sheath because of differencies in the dies.
There are places where dielectrics matter. Attached is a pic of the sort of cable that runs up your local phone mast. In this application loss is critical. But not until the 1-2GHz range.
Attachments
Capacitor dielectric nonlinearity is small for most dielectrics, and most capacitors in audio circuits are used in such a way that any dielectric nonlinearity will have little effect on the audio signal. The exception is caps used in filters, especially speaker crossovers.
Cable insulation dielectric nonlinearity is an even smaller issue, as most audio cables are fed from a low impedance source. Only if you have poorly engineered 'high end' sources could cable insulation even begin to be a problem - and that would simply confirm what I often say: that cable fussiness is a sign of poor electronic design.
You really should learn to do the maths and estimate the likely size of an effect before firing off a lump of FUD.
Cable insulation dielectric nonlinearity is an even smaller issue, as most audio cables are fed from a low impedance source. Only if you have poorly engineered 'high end' sources could cable insulation even begin to be a problem - and that would simply confirm what I often say: that cable fussiness is a sign of poor electronic design.
You really should learn to do the maths and estimate the likely size of an effect before firing off a lump of FUD.
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Do we? Really? Well, dielectric properties of capacitors may have an impact in filter circuitries in the region of the roll off frequency and beyond, i.e. when a certain potential can be measured across the cap, or if some significant current flows through it. Otherwise, there's no serious evidence for this claim.
Best regards!
Lord Kelvin:
"To measure is to know."
"If you can not measure it, you can not improve it."
"In physical science the first essential step in the direction of learning any subject is to find principles of numerical reckoning and practicable methods for measuring some quality connected with it. I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of Science, whatever the matter may be." [PLA, vol. 1, "Electrical Units of Measurement", 1883-05-03]
"To measure is to know."
"If you can not measure it, you can not improve it."
"In physical science the first essential step in the direction of learning any subject is to find principles of numerical reckoning and practicable methods for measuring some quality connected with it. I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of Science, whatever the matter may be." [PLA, vol. 1, "Electrical Units of Measurement", 1883-05-03]
Capacitors have voltage and temperature coefficients. Some exhibit piezoelectric effects, and then there is dielectric absorption. In the case of filters, we don't want filter frequency response to be significantly affected by capacitor nonlinearity. However, filters are not the only places where capacitor nonlinearlity can be problematic.
That being said, uninformed theories about why AC cords may affect sound quality are not helpful. If in a particular case an AC cord does affect sound quality, then the cause should be investigated and fixed. Whatever it turns out to be will virtually certainly be explainable in normal engineering terms and not require invocation of quantum mechanical level explanations.
That being said, uninformed theories about why AC cords may affect sound quality are not helpful. If in a particular case an AC cord does affect sound quality, then the cause should be investigated and fixed. Whatever it turns out to be will virtually certainly be explainable in normal engineering terms and not require invocation of quantum mechanical level explanations.
Agreed.
Sure.
I would venture bad electrical design first....allowing PSU resonances and line borne noise through which will cause avoidable noise/misbehaviour in downstream regulation and amplifier stages.
In the 'ideal' world none of this would be any issue, but we all deal with 'real world' gear in 'real world' environments.
This means consumer mid-fi through consumer hi-fi......all of this gear will let you know when there is a plugpack/SMPS plugged into the same AC circuit/power strip and this level of gear IME can also be quite strongly dependent on the IEC supply cable used...eg my Onkyo receiver demonstrates this clearly.
I have related previously the outcome of swapping out 10A rated 5m extension cables supplying a well known tube guitar amp.
Why should that last 5 metres of cable make any difference...I dunno the mathematically provable causes, but I do know that the sonic changes wrought were unequivocal.
The two cables were essentially identical in dimensions and ratings, the differences were in insulation materials and centuries of manufacture.
One extension cable caused agreeable and pleasant guitar sound, the other caused harsh, obnoxious and 'toxic' sound.
The conventional RLC measurement differences might be minor, but in this case the system final output sound differences most certainly were not.
There is a whole lot of hoo haa/snake oil claims/explanations associated with so called 'hi-end' aftermarket cables.
Regardless of any of this nonsense including the 'taking the mickey' pricings, the fact remains that the last cable supplying energy to the system can cause audible differences.
Dan.
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