I don't believe cables make a difference, any input?

[Brett]

Originally posted by R-Carpenter
Unfortunately, test equipment is the only reliable way to draw conclusions. Then I was designing and voicing my last pair of speakers, one day they would sound painful, another day airy and revealing and on another day I would walk around thinking “what the hell am I doing, designing such a crappy no good speakers”. Your physical state of mind and body makes a major difference, not a piece of wire.
Not having enough sleep will affect your hearing.

The effect of personal perception will make a difference also. Did you ever relate the fact that Mark Levinson amplifiers tend to have “Dark” sound as the Kreel have more of an extended top to the fact that ML cases are usually black anodized aluminum and Kreel is usually brushed aluminum of a light color.

Bingo. A couple of years back I built a lot of amps over a 2 year period oscillating back and forth amongst them, each sounding better than the other at different times, depending on what I was doing/feeling. Only later when I reviewed my notes did I see the error of my ways.

[soongsc]

Originally posted by Brett
Bingo. A couple of years back I built a lot of amps over a 2 year period oscillating back and forth amongst them, each sounding better than the other at different times, depending on what I was doing/feeling. Only later when I reviewed my notes did I see the error of my ways.

I have 4 or 5 amps around, and I've never done that.

[AJinFLA]

Originally posted by Andre Visser
The effect of cables is dependant on the system that it is used on. If used on a system designed to be revealing, it will have quite a large influence on the sound quality.

Hi Andre,

Could you please explain, in technical and scientific terms, exactly what makes a system "revealing" and how you went about designing this feature? Seems that would be invaluable information for those seeking to hear cables listening to recorded media. Thanks.

Originally posted by Conrad Hoffman
Yes, I hear nothing, my tri-amped system reveals nothing, just like my impedance measurements, and now you know the secret to true musical enjoyment. I am the pinball wizard of audio- I listen by sense of smell.

Hi Conrad,

Perhaps it is the act of measuring itself that is inducing the hearing deficiencies?
BTW, I use quad ampliflication myself, but have no low cut dresses covering my system. So I guess mine isn't "revealing enough" either.

cheers,

AJ

[Scottmoose]

Groan. Wire has come back to haunt us again has it? I thought this thread was dead a couple of years back.

OK, IMO, wire can & does make both measurable & audible differences to a system, but none of it has a blind thing to do with the lies & half-truths churned out in advertising for high priced wire. Its LCR parameters simply affect the behaviour of the components it's tying together. Swap out 10ga speaker wire for something 30ga but otherwise identical in design & construction. You will find both audible & measureable changes. Rocket science it is not; common-sense? Er, yes. Does one sound 'better' than the other? Depends on the system & what you're trying to achieve as to which is preferable, or indeed, if there are any audible differences.

What's rather amusing is that carrying a signal really isn't that difficult a task. Compared to, say, what the amplifier has to do it's laughably simple. Studios seem to manage it all the time & they do the recordings for pity's sake. Some of the most beloved of 'audiophile recordings' date from the 1950s... odd, because something tells me the studios weren't using monsterously priced wire. If they even gave it more than a passing thought, which is unlikely if it was doing its duty.

Look at the waffle about group delay in wire. I don't know about you guys, but a ~16 micron apparant difference in distance between HF & LF isn't causing me lost sleep. Another favourite of mine is Nordost. Nice looking products. I was howling with laughter over a review I read commenting that their more expensive cables tend to provide improved LF clarity & dynamics & speculating on various pseduo-scientific reasons for it. Personally, I'm wondering if it might possibly have something to do with the fact that they have more metal in them, lowering resistance & increasing the usable LF BW of the wire, when before it was too small to avoid clipping LF transients?

[Andre Visser]

Originally posted by R-Carpenter
Unfortunately, test equipment is the only reliable way to draw conclusions. Then I was designing and voicing my last pair of speakers, one day they would sound painful, another day airy and revealing and on another day I would walk around thinking “what the hell am I doing, designing such a crappy no good speakers”. Your physical state of mind and body makes a major difference, not a piece of wire.
Not having enough sleep will affect your hearing.

For sure if you design / build speakers, measurements is very important but in the end you have to listen to it to decide whether it can accurately reproduce the sound of different instruments. That you can only do by listening.

The effect of personal perception will make a difference also. Did you ever relate the fact that Mark Levinson amplifiers tend to have “Dark” sound as the Kreel have more of an extended top to the fact that ML cases are usually black anodized aluminum and Kreel is usually brushed aluminum of a light color.

My amplifiers are black and surely don't sound "dark".

Do you think that if I make you 2 pairs of RCA in 99.999 silver and OFC, the hide them in Tech Flex jacket, You'd know the difference? I am actually wheeling to bet $ that you will not.

On my system, I will without doubt tell you which cable is which.

Spend your money on important things. Get the best drivers you can and invest time in a research and design. If you building your own boxes, get a nice router bit or better router. There are plenty of other places to spend money and actually affect the outcome then cables.

I agree, and after you are finished with the important things, you will definately be able to hear how important cables is also.

[Andre Visser]

Originally posted by MaVo


it is quite a challenge to hear music from a loudspaker without amplification

But maybe with the right cables...

Please read my post again, I was talking about acoustic instruments, synthesizers and amplified instruments like electric guitars.

[R-Carpenter]

What is your system again?

[Alan Hope]

I have several cables (ICs and speaker), they all sound different. I suspect their measured resistance / capacitance / inductance are similar. The sonic differences are not subtle.

My current IC is a listening compromise. It is "better" in some areas than my other similarly priced IC, but worse in others. Overall I prefer it.

Not sure about some of the rather simplistic psychology going on here - although it undoubtedly plays some part. I invested a lot of time and effort weaving CAT5 cables and hated the sound from the start. I bought a silver IC kit and struggled to enjoy what I heard. In both cases the psychology would have been for me to ignore their shortcomings.

Reading about high-end cables - what fun. One manufacturer claimed that his wire was designed with an air dielectric, only touching the teflon at a few tiny points along it's length. Another boasted that the teflon was tightly bonded to the wire at all points. Both claimed that the design resulted in the best possible transmission of the signal.

What was the question again?

[Andre Visser]

Originally posted by R-Carpenter
What is your system again?

My amps are 220W ClassA monoblocks, own design.
Pre-amp, fully balanced dual mono, own design.
Speakers, 2.5 way transmission line with Seas Exell drivers, own design.
CD Player, modified Marantz 63KI.

[R-Carpenter]

Drivers?