Steven Toy
Accuphase newbie
Loub is an anti-cable evangelist for some reason best kept to himself. There is certainly no logic to his froth.
Anecdotally when first confronted with the notion that cables and interconnects could affect the sound emerging from the speakers back in 1998 when I started out in this hobby as a teacher, my reaction was one of incredulity. I had budgeted for amp and speakers using my Technics portable CD player as the source. When a couple of dealers in Northampton told me that I needed to allow for cables as well that were better than the freebie interconnects and bellwire from B&Q I took an instant dislike to these sales people who were seemingly trying to make me part with more cash than I'd originally intended. This sentiment was reinforced when they suggested that my portable CD player was no good either. Surely all CD players sound the same. 1s and 0s are just that, surely?
Thus I began as a sceptic but changed my mind when I felt confident enough to be able to identify cable changes that were not subtle and could also be accounted for electrically.
I remember walking into Acoustica in Stafford (now Music Matters) in the summer of 2000. John, the owner wanted to demonstrate some Nordost Solar Wind speaker cable with a Densen/Focal system in place of the NACA5 that all Naim dealers seemed to get away with using in all applications. At the time the NACA5 was only £6/metre. I can't remember how much the Nordost was but it was considerably more expensive.
To my ears it sounded dreadful in place of the NACA5 even in this non-Naim system. The bass was one-noted and there was this graininess to the sound across the entire frequency range.
The cable was tried with different combinations of equipment with similar results with which John and I were in agreement. I imagined that he sent it back to the Nordost rep.
A couple of weeks later I returned to the shop by appointment. When I arrived I heard music playing from the dem room situated to the left of the main showroom. It sounded coarse and grainy with that one-note bass. I did not enter the room to see what system the music was being played through. I just said,
"John, you've put those bloody awful Nordost Solar Wind speaker cables in, haven't you?"
I then entered the room to see for myself and there they were those bluey white ribbons strewn across the floor. In case anyone thinks I may simply have had an arbitrary and irrational dislike of Nordost, I was using Solar Wind interconnects at home. Using the speaker cable as well seemed entirely logical. That aside, I had identified them blind and against expectation that they would even still be in the shop.
However, the proof of the pudding was in the eating. Always try before you buy. I lived with NACA5 that withstood several upgrades elsewhere in my system for another 5 years before trying Mogami.
I'm currently using some DIY cables made from 6mm earth wire twisted and covered in a fabric braid. They cost me £35 for the spades and bananas plus postage from my mate Mike who is good at this sort of thing.
Anecdotally when first confronted with the notion that cables and interconnects could affect the sound emerging from the speakers back in 1998 when I started out in this hobby as a teacher, my reaction was one of incredulity. I had budgeted for amp and speakers using my Technics portable CD player as the source. When a couple of dealers in Northampton told me that I needed to allow for cables as well that were better than the freebie interconnects and bellwire from B&Q I took an instant dislike to these sales people who were seemingly trying to make me part with more cash than I'd originally intended. This sentiment was reinforced when they suggested that my portable CD player was no good either. Surely all CD players sound the same. 1s and 0s are just that, surely?
Thus I began as a sceptic but changed my mind when I felt confident enough to be able to identify cable changes that were not subtle and could also be accounted for electrically.
I remember walking into Acoustica in Stafford (now Music Matters) in the summer of 2000. John, the owner wanted to demonstrate some Nordost Solar Wind speaker cable with a Densen/Focal system in place of the NACA5 that all Naim dealers seemed to get away with using in all applications. At the time the NACA5 was only £6/metre. I can't remember how much the Nordost was but it was considerably more expensive.
To my ears it sounded dreadful in place of the NACA5 even in this non-Naim system. The bass was one-noted and there was this graininess to the sound across the entire frequency range.
The cable was tried with different combinations of equipment with similar results with which John and I were in agreement. I imagined that he sent it back to the Nordost rep.
A couple of weeks later I returned to the shop by appointment. When I arrived I heard music playing from the dem room situated to the left of the main showroom. It sounded coarse and grainy with that one-note bass. I did not enter the room to see what system the music was being played through. I just said,
"John, you've put those bloody awful Nordost Solar Wind speaker cables in, haven't you?"
I then entered the room to see for myself and there they were those bluey white ribbons strewn across the floor. In case anyone thinks I may simply have had an arbitrary and irrational dislike of Nordost, I was using Solar Wind interconnects at home. Using the speaker cable as well seemed entirely logical. That aside, I had identified them blind and against expectation that they would even still be in the shop.
However, the proof of the pudding was in the eating. Always try before you buy. I lived with NACA5 that withstood several upgrades elsewhere in my system for another 5 years before trying Mogami.
I'm currently using some DIY cables made from 6mm earth wire twisted and covered in a fabric braid. They cost me £35 for the spades and bananas plus postage from my mate Mike who is good at this sort of thing.
(****onium Q is this a result of you being conned in the past or you conned some poor soul, you do seemed to use lots. ????or is it a spelling problem like mine, it is Tellurium Q easy see.)
