Cable consensus - asking too much?

[venton]

Cables and fuses do make a difference. But it is highly likely that it is a psychological effect. I've experienced it myself. If it enhances the enjoyment of our listening time, live and let live. I don't see the need for all the nastiness. Not like people are spending tax payers money on them.

 

[narabdela]

What I cannot understand is that some people readily believe that everything else can make a difference to the sound but for some reason cables cannot. Now to me that is just not logical...

I think that your understanding of both basic electronics and deductive logic are a little hazy here.

 

[oldius]

A friend of mine had bought a new amp and needed to find some cable to use with it as his existing stuff wouldn't fit. He used some lawnmower flex.
I took my amp round yesterday so that he could use his speaker cable. I tried the lawnmower flex first, followed by his speaker cable and I could not determine any difference whatsoever; neither could he. His speaker cable retails at £400 per metre!

My amp btw is the same model as his but has been modified to take banana plugs. He uses some lovely Wilson Benesch speakers on the end of a high end vintage amplifier.

 

[Nigel]

If the average pay was £50 per hour, that's over £100 000 per annum. Surprised the forum would not be more right of centre if that was the real truth.

 

[Whaleblue]

If the average pay was £50 per hour, that's over £100 000 per annum. Surprised the forum would not be more right of centre if that was the real truth.

Assuming 7.5 hours a day Monday-Friday, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, it’s about £85k. 8 hours a day comes out at £91k.

Of course, if tax is accounted for, £50 per hour ‘take home’ needs a much higher salary.

I’ve just wasted £3.73 working that out.

 

[whatsnext]

Next subject speaker stands and the their effect on aural experiences.
We are doing fuses, maybe speaker filling material, does red wine sound different to white or rose

 

[Tony L]

If the average pay was £50 per hour, that's over £100 000 per annum. Surprised the forum would not be more right of centre if that was the real truth.

I’m nothing even remotely approaching that pay-wise as I chose to run this place rather than continue in corporate IT (I’m actually lucky if I make minimum wage), but had I stayed and stayed sharp it is not entirely unfeasible I’d be in that ballpark (I made good money as a contractor in the ‘90s). It is a huge mistake to think success equates to right-wing views. I’d also argue that many if not most of the most intelligent creative, intelligent, academic and artistic people on the planet are to the left of centre. Everyone from the likes of the late Steven Hawking through to every musician and artist ever aside from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ted Nugent! In my experience the more creative and innovative the person the more inclusive, empathetic and generally ‘left’ their mindset. Genuinely bright people tend to be able to think far beyond their own self-interest, a concept right-wingers often struggle with!

 

[Alex S]

I am not at that level either, obviously, I just brought to mind a few car and related threads. I am a prosecco socialist.

 

[adamdea]

Is there any real relevant science?

Perceptual science and Maxwell’s equations. But mainly the former. It is refusal to engage with the former that makes deaf old men think they have some experience to contradict the latter.
Hence the
“you can’t be hearing it because physics”
“I am therefore Galileo”
Snore

 

[Rockmeister]

I think
Therefore
I don't know for sure. But it seems to me that:
A few simple alterations to any loudspeaker conducter can interfere with it's ability to allow 'what comes out' to be the same as 'what went in'.
On studio demonstrations then, careful choice of kit can seem to demonstrate that some cables 'improve' the sound. IE the cable owners make sure that their 'tuned' cables will improve the balance of their chosen demo kit from the poor they know it to be, to ok with the tampered cable. Place that same cable in an already balanced system and you will have wasted your cash. If you have a similarly unbalanced system at home now, it may suit you.

You are however much better off with tone controls.

Mains cable makes such minute differences that I could not reliably discern then repeatedly.
Interconnects are to my mind like speaker cables but much less obviously.

Which makes me think that none of them are worth much money, and if one gets the speaker/room interaction right, the result is so startling great that cables are just a bit of tinsel. Buy them for the bling, or buy well made ones for the peace of mind but it ends there for me.

 

[Brian S]

Next subject speaker stands and the their effect on aural experiences.
We are doing fuses, maybe speaker filling material, does red wine sound different to white or rose

I never expected to be writing this but! A month or so ago, having had to cut down on my cycling by 80% and my wine intake by 60% due to health issues, I found myself with time and money on my hands. I decided to fill my speaker stands with Atabites (?). I do believe this has reduced the small amount of boom I heared in a couple of cello passages - at least I believed it more than I believed there was any improvement from my £450 (used) interconnects over my £150 (new) ones. Unlike my MIT reference interconnect, my Atabites are not on ebay.

I would add: Atabites are fun to play with, and they give off a wonderful festive glitter when embedded in the carpet.

 

[palacefan]

To say that mains cables make no difference is to work on the assumption that every one enjoys equal quality of supply or that we all have the same conditions within our property. Sure enough electricity is electricity but voltages vary as does noise created by other components within properties.
Is RFI a myth ? Have Hi-Fi users never come across the late at night improvements? How do you deal with such issues?

Its no good assuming because you are blessed with a decent unhindered supply that every one enjoys the same benefits.

My voltage (247) controlled by my regenerater and my RFI problems helped by the use of woven cables have made my system enjoyable so although technically Electricity is electricity in the real world in my conditions I gladly and very happily live with the improvements I have made.

 

[whatsnext]

Improving mains quality does not have much to do with mains cables

 

[narabdela]

Improving mains quality does not have much to do with mains cables

Very little in fact. More cable confusion.

 

[YNWOAN]

Agreed.

 

[AKG]

Markymsrk

".... Nordost

I had a chance to sit in on a couple demonstrations in the Nordost room, giving my feet a well deserved break. I’m very familiar with the benefits of high quality cables and use a full Nordost Heimdall 2 loom with my reference two-channel setup. That being said, I always find the Nordost demonstrations to be an “ear-opening” experience. Michael Taylor from Nordost demonstrated the significant sonic benefits of replacing an OEM cable with a Nordost model – in particular 1) a swap of a single USB cable, from OEM to Nordost Blue Heaven ($250/2m), to Heimdall 2 ($500/2m) and; 2) a swap of a single RCA interconnect, from OEM, to Blue Heaven, to Heimdall 2, to Tyr 2 and finally Valhalla 2. Along with convincing the audience in the room that cables DO matter, I’ve now got the bug to upgrade...."


One hundred USD says demo dude ...

... had a guy with something like this behind the screen

NFW dude.... What a lame response FFS to try and create your own fake news. !

I was there ...just.an open room with a simple swap-in and swap-out exercise with no screen behind hiding any tone control junk.

 

[sq225917]

I live that EQ photo, is that legit?

 

[jules68leo]

Funnily enough when I bought the CD player it did not come with the supplied power lead and was posted on later, so I used the one that came with my Arcam CD36 and when the power lead arrived I plugged it in but didn't listen to my system until my dad and friend came round.
After about 6 tracks I thought something just wasn't right it didn't sound the same or as good, very gritty very toppy and quite offensive sounding. it was a night and day difference for the worst not in the least bit subtle.......
.....So I changed the power lead back to the standard one that came with the CD36 and straight away it was back to how I thought it sounded right.

If someone had told me that changing a power cable would do that I would never have done it, needless to say the CD player is still running with the old Arcam lead and I will continue to do so.

Maybe it's all the silver cable and fancy gubbins that make it sound like that?

My mate who is an electrical engineer could not believe it either and went on to explain to me, an idiot, how this could be and why, it doesn't make sense at all but some stuff in life rarely does you just have to accept it is what it is.

 

[whatsnext]

I accept that despite trying 2 sources of none standard mains cables I find not a hint of difference. I did find a damaged IEC socket so I thought stuff this as a search for greater joy. The cost of the amp’s IEC repair took all romantic curiosity away.

This was a mate free experience.

 

[TLS]

I’m nothing even remotely approaching that pay-wise as I chose to run this place rather than continue in corporate IT (I’m actually lucky if I make minimum wage), but had I stayed and stayed sharp it is not entirely unfeasible I’d be in that ballpark (I made good money as a contractor in the ‘90s). It is a huge mistake to think success equates to right-wing views. I’d also argue that many if not most of the most intelligent creative, intelligent, academic and artistic people on the planet are to the left of centre. Everyone from the likes of the late Steven Hawking through to every musician and artist ever aside from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ted Nugent! In my experience the more creative and innovative the person the more inclusive, empathetic and generally ‘left’ their mindset. Genuinely bright people tend to be able to think far beyond their own self-interest, a concept right-wingers often struggle with!

These are strong views Tony. How about independents who refuse left and right extremism? I find it sad that a dedicated audio forum is used to promote political agendas.