funny you mention these types of wood. i'm so taken with this that i have on order ash , burl, ipe, maple and birds eye , bambo and finally balsa. placed the order last night.
also ordered some pure cotton cord to try a suspension setup .
4 hours listening now with the pc sitting on hardwood and i notice now piano keys seem sharp and full of impact. violin solo's hit me such feeling.
this is really fun and i love it
thanks everyone so much for your thoughts
You should try spacing small bar magnets magnetically unaligned along the cable length, as it will most certainly improve sound quality as this disrupts surface electron flow known as 'skin effect'.
The overall effect equalizes conductor resistance for both bass and high frequencies thus giving an improved balance to the overall sound quality by your passive crossovers working as they should.
C.M
The overall effect equalizes conductor resistance for both bass and high frequencies thus giving an improved balance to the overall sound quality by your passive crossovers working as they should.
C.M
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Cotton will ruin the sound because of its high DA and DF due to moisture uptake. Use either polypropylene thread or one of the oriented polyolefins like Dyneema. I think one of the accessory companies is currently selling Cavorite rings which can eliminate the whole mechanical lift process.
I once suggested sky hooks to suspend the cables - seems someone was listening Skyhooks for cable management solutions • Tidi-Cable.com
I built cable lifter for one reason, only. I think they look bad-***. I cannot say I noticed a difference in sound or presentation but the aesthetics are great. I used hardwood and natural, unbleached cotton from the local mega DIY store. I did, however, notice a difference when I placed my turntable on a 2" thick natural marble block. I tried various materials including sandwiching natural materials like marble, granite and oak for my turntable with nice results. I initially did this because I read the added mass to the turntable stand would (potentially) be beneficial. Once again, it just looked great and did improve the bass and rumble on vinyl playback. I did similarly with my speakers. Again, not the same results as the turntable mass addition but it certainly looks very good.
Best of all? It was not expensive. I called a custom cabinet/counter top maker and asked if they had any seconds or scraps of wood and rock they would cut and sell. Of course, they did. The cuts were about $40 and the materials under $200. I would say the turntable addition made a noticeable improvement while the cable lifters and speaker platforms were done only for aesthetics, with no or very minor improvements.
Who am I to say what works and what doesn't. I realize this is a funny aside for many on this forum (and others) but even if the changes are all in ones head (aren't they always!), so what. If you think it changed the sound for the better, great. IF you have the capitol to fund it, the time to build/buy it and the time to enjoy it, go for it. I mainly made my additions for the looks and best of all, the WAF went up, significantly. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my latest Open Baffle speaker project!
Darren
I feel like a really horrible person. I ditched all my audiophile brand cable in favor of homebrew stuff using Belden and Canare. I left my speaker cable just sitting on the floor. My RCA connectors are Belden SNS and aren't even gold plated or audiophile approved. I'm pretty sad but the one thing that makes me happy is turning the system on and listening to music.
I just love these snake oil technologies. Basically, when people expend effort, either directly (making cable lifters, installing whale-phlegm insulated power cables, etc), or in proxy (buying these things, paying big bucks, and installing them), … there inevitably will be a noted and nearly always positive influence as perceived by the experimenter. Its just our nature.
Indeed, though it will be perceived by many as evidence that I'm a low cur, I've played many a trick on friends with fake A/B switches that don't switch anything, with fake super-duper digitizers purporting to be wickedly cool, but bypassed entirely, and so on. The closer one gets to "no difference", the more those who pride themselves with golden ears proclaim the difference to be remarkable. “Never heard the recording playback this good”, and so on.
All one can do is laugh.
And I guess that makes me a mean person.
GoatGuy
Indeed, though it will be perceived by many as evidence that I'm a low cur, I've played many a trick on friends with fake A/B switches that don't switch anything, with fake super-duper digitizers purporting to be wickedly cool, but bypassed entirely, and so on. The closer one gets to "no difference", the more those who pride themselves with golden ears proclaim the difference to be remarkable. “Never heard the recording playback this good”, and so on.
All one can do is laugh.
And I guess that makes me a mean person.
GoatGuy
Oh god , pls buy a measure microphone instead of stuff for under ur cable stop fooling urself. Measure it. At least you end up with a usefull tool. For further forms of ripoff stuff. I noticed also the expensive power cables for a power amp.... Well unless ur amp is class d an has a maximum output of a few watt you might measure some difference (even doubt that) unless your power amps are next to a huge electro motor or any other equipment with huge power spikes that could disrupt ur power cable. It total crap sound wise, ofcourse ur eye wants something as wel. But I really hope people can think rational about the tricks ur head and ur wallet play on you.
Agreed. That said, if there are those who feel speaker cable/power cable lifters improve sound, so what? There are MANY things humans know little about but feel they know everything (I know, former physicals guy). It is possible cable lifters DO improve the sound. Is it likely? I don't think so but others feel differently and I try not to judge. My ex-wife would tell you differently but...
I did notice an improvement with the turntable and that was a pleasant experience and one I was surprised by. Anyway, I realize many feel these mods make little or NO difference and I tend to agree but each person has different opinions and if it works for them, great.
Darren
I feel like a really horrible person. I ditched all my audiophile brand cable in favor of homebrew stuff using Belden and Canare. I left my speaker cable just sitting on the floor. My RCA connectors are Belden SNS and aren't even gold plated or audiophile approved. I'm pretty sad but the one thing that makes me happy is turning the system on and listening to music.
All of my cables and much of my system is DIY, including the cable lifters. As I said before, I did not make/use the lifters for sonic improvements but aesthetics. But who cares? If YOU feel it improves the sound, that is all that matters.
I really chaps my **** when all the 'experts' jump in and tell someone their efforts and experiences are BS they should simple 'buy a microphone' or 'stop fooling themselves'. So what if that is the case? It isn't your money or system and I am fairly certain the OP did not ask for your permission to use the cable lifters. He expressed HIS personal experiences and asked if others might have experienced similar results. Is he off-base and totally wrong? NOT AT ALL because the system is HIS and the results are based on HIS listening experiences.
Why all the hate for cable lifters? He stated his wife also heard differences and she noticed a difference without knowing exactly why. Is she wrong? Maybe but again, so what?
Darren
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