Are you saying they were looking for frequency response? And now they are suggesting that it might be a phase shift? If so that information is available in FFT acquisition data, its just that for typical audio FFTs the phase information is discarded. IIRC synchronous FFT techniques can be used to measure phase shift. The other thing to consider measuring would be changes in noise. If correlated with the audio signal, noise can be audible and perceptually change the timbre of a sound.
BS. It's exactly the contrary. YOU seem to hear differences 'cause YOU want to hear them. There'll be differences only if they can be proven in double blinded tests - or if they can be measured.
Best regards!
Unlikely. If there is an expectation bias for small differences then it could work either way. At least that's true of human bias in general. What it sounds like to me is another bias working here, sometimes called the myside bias or else the old Buddha quote. Its always the other guy where you can see his faults. Nobody can see they own faults well. That makes it appear that only the other guy is affected by bias. Not usually the case. Here is a common translation:
"It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one's own faults. One shows the faults of others like chaff winnowed in the wind, but one conceals one's own faults as a cunning gambler conceals his dice."
I do see the point of being able to hear some things when listening louder. If you're listening at 80dBSPL, you're pretty sure NOT to hear an added instrument or other signal that is 85dB below the level of the loudest sounds, whether these are together or separated in time, as the '85dB below' thing is at -5dBSPL, below the threshold of hearing, not to mention below ambient noises.
Why trust us with such a delicate question? You know it was going to be a controversial question as you specified the qualifications for whom was allowed to answer. This must be one of the easiest things to test yourself. Man up and make up your own mind about it. Please report your findings by all means. Good luck. (psst... if you use any sane quality / gauge cable it will be perfectly fine - you have much much greater errors in your rig - promise)
//
//
Yes, you can find "a diversity of opinions" on any topic on the Internet.
I do believe that wires can affect sound. Speakers and the crossovers in them are low-impedance devices, so the wire connecting them should have much lower resistance to insure it doesn't significantly affect the sound. 14 to 16 gauge of solid or stranded copper gives plenty low enough resistance for a few feet of wire between a crossover and the drivers. Ohm's Law, and its use with complex numbers for AC impedances, is important knowledge in determining such things. So yes, I believe too-thin wire can have a detrimental effect in wiring up crossovers.
As far as belief and a diversity of opinions, some of these opinions correspond better to the observed world than others. How are these determined? As the evil character rubbing his hands together would say, "we have ways." Here's a longish and interesting writing I've found useful:
https://www.susanblackmore.uk/chapters/why-i-have-given-up/
@Moderator team: What about merging this thread wIth the funniest snake oil theories one?
Best regards!
Best regards!
What threshold of hearing do mean? The 'threshold of audibility' for sine wave signals in the psychoacoustics literature? If so, its the term threshold does not mean a hard limit. It is a statistical estimate of the level at which 50% of the population can't hear the sound, and the other 50% of the population can still hear the sound. There is no way to know the absolute hard limit of audibility for every single human on Earth other than to test every single human. Obviously that's not going to happen.
Perhaps I shouldn't have used such "exact" and close figures. The mention of corroded wires with nonlinear areas (I recall the original standard VU meter specified using a copper oxide rectifier!) bring to mind the question of how much does such corrosion affect the sound? Is the distorted portion 50dB below the signal, or more like 180dB below? One is likely to be audible, and the other is surely not.
Even used as an RF antenna, a corroded wire might not generate much out-of-band signal. I understand, however, from a now-deceased amateur radio operator, that putting a fluorescent light bulb next to your HF transmitting antenna can interfere with TV reception for a whole neighborhood, as he discovered as a teenager.
Even used as an RF antenna, a corroded wire might not generate much out-of-band signal. I understand, however, from a now-deceased amateur radio operator, that putting a fluorescent light bulb next to your HF transmitting antenna can interfere with TV reception for a whole neighborhood, as he discovered as a teenager.
I don't know that they are exactly 'corroded.' They may be a little noisy in some way just like any other less than solid, gas-tight connection. Please let's not jump to extremes. Here is my thinking: if there are audible effects in wires and cables then the most likely explanation would probably physical effects we already know about, but maybe we assume they are too small to bother with considering. I wouldn't even be suggesting that if I didn't at some point learn that cables can affect sound in some cases. I can imagine you would be astonished if someone proved that to you beyond doubt, and you went on to double check on your own. Well, I was that astonished myself. Yet there is something going on, and once that becomes obvious, then the only question is what exactly is going on? Its not something that can conveniently dismissed as hallucination. So there has to be a physical explanation. If you don't like my hypothesizing, then let's see you do better while sticking to the physics of wire and cable.
Also, are you familiar with Hans Polak? If so, you sure he was hallucinating in multiple posts in another thread: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/search/684993/?q=zip+cord&c[users]=Hans+Polak&o=relevance Just so you know, there is more than resistance to the story, as far as Hans took it.
Last edited:
David said it is about time and not amplitude. Did you hear him talk about that? I feel that if he could measure it with present day FFT he would and show the results at audio shows like the one this video was recorded it. He also said that his insulation has less noise than other kinds and that is an important thing.
Well, we need to know from him how he is and isn't measuring. He may not know how to measure some things or maybe he does. We will never know unless he is willing to have an interactive conversation about it. That includes measuring noise from insulation (e.g. triboelectric noise).
David talks about triboelectric in this interview.
https://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m....ch.mpl?forum=ALL&searchtext=cartridge+loading
Okay. It takes motion to release charge. There may be a tiny bit of motion in a cable due to AC line EM forces. What would then happen is that a small amount of noise would be generated on the AC going into the amp. Maybe that could change the sound, but it would do so by adding something similar to distortion. If it sounds good, fine. However it may not actually be more realistic reproduction. Next question might be which AC cords produce enough of such noise to affect sound? Cheap ones, expensive ones, something else? Maybe none, at least for relatively insensitive amps?
Agree, especially on mid-bass drivers..makes no difference on mid-high & tweeters etc..
Quote from my build thread:-
"As I initially used 0.75mm CSA (18AWG) cable I did notice that the much lower bass/drum notes, although very clear, lacked body, or “oomph”. So, I remade all the internal wiring with the thicker 2.5mm CSA (13AWG) version & retested. Now the lower drums & bass guitars had the required conviction they needed without sounding “boomy”! I did not notice any difference to the mid or higher frequency notes with this cable swap, which was to be expected. As the maximum total length of internal wiring on any driver is 800mm, the resistance of the 0.75mm CSA is therefore 0.0208 Ohm, & on the 2.5mm CSA its 0.006384 Ohm, according to the manufacturer’s data sheets. These seem insignificant amounts, but there is an audible difference!"
It is known that adding a resistor in series before a speaker/driver is know to cause various effects to the sound, which is why it is done in some cases to solve a problematic design of speaker or an amp that is not 100% right for the speakers.
Therefore it stands to reason that the total resistance of all the other components between the amp & driver cone itself will also affect the sound.....so thats cables, connections, capacitors, inductors, etc...
The resistance of said items is not usually taken into account in the design calculations of the speakers, cross-overs, & amps.