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The Myth of Cables?

Chord, a very well known company all over the world, here is a cable I imagine most would find goes against science in it's claims http://www.chord.co.uk/product/chord-indigo-tuned-aray-stereo-rca-interconnect/

Why has not one single person reported it for false advertising

Read the description, they don't try & weave their way round the truth, it's described as they see fit, yet no complaints, come on all you foomeisters, where are you.
I got a pair of Chord Shawline RCA ICs free with a press pack, and I liked them so much I bought another pair. Not quite as expensive as the Indigo ICs. And they are red; not as pretty! But also Tuned ARAY. I have no idea what that means, BTW.
 
'Tuned array' is a perfectly-good technology word that many may have heard here and there. It basically refers to antenna arrays. The elements in an antenna array are tuned with respect to their current phasing to create desired directionality properties.

This word has no obvious applicability to a data bus cable, such as a USB cable. One must suspect that the persons applying it to such cables were simply appropriating an existing technology word for it's 'high-tech sound' to persons uneducated in electronics.

Bus cables, having multiple conductors, at least have a superficial similarity to antenna arrays, which have multiple elements. Both might therefore be called 'arrays,' although the word is novel in the cable application. However, the word array is also used in cable marketing to refer to RCA interconnects, which contain in their basic form only two conductors. The similarity to 'tuned array antennas' seems particularly stretched in this case.

I am not aware of any reason to think that the feature Chord cites, 'Tuned ARAY conductor configuration,' refers to anything real.
 
This word has no obvious applicability to a data bus cable, such as a USB cable. One must suspect that the persons applying it to such cables were simply appropriating an existing technology word for it's 'high-tech sound' to persons uneducated in electronics.

Right - not even cargo cult science, but simply marketing.
 
Granted there is an endless supply of b*llsh*t in the promotional materials of the cable industry, and these accessories have been monetized far, far beyond their actual value relative to other hardware components of an audio system. This makes it difficult to find an honest product at an honest price, which is a shame because indifferent wires really can wreck the sound of a system.
An honest cable (mains) at an honest price, if you seek something a little better than the kettle lead supplied, is this, http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/cable-off-the-reel/14-belden-19364-audio-grade-cable.html, costs very little, no need to spend any more, it does improve matters in my system(s) one person here gained no improvement, smoothed the rough edges off my Naim gear that's for sure.
 
It's a mains cable, shielding is pointless, you simply can't pollute mains power running on a short length of cable with anything short of a radio transmitter in the same room. Signal cables are s different matter, tonearm wires different again.

It's about as daft as claiming there are audible benefits to vibration damping a mains cable. After all any mains cable carries thousands times less vibration than the transformer it is plugged into inside the box it powers.
 
It's about as daft as claiming there are audible benefits to vibration damping a mains cable. After all any mains cable carries thousands times less vibration than the transformer it is plugged into inside the box it powers.
However true that may be, it's not a good comparison. After all amplifiers frequently generate far less distortion than speakers and yet that is audible.
 
At one time shielded mains cables were used as a dubious work around to pass FCC Class B emission regs. This was dodgy because radiation from upstream of the mains socket was hidden from the measurement equipment by the LISN.

I know that the cabling behind the walls in my condo is terrible, with square metres of loop area between Live and Neutral up to the fuse box. Reality is that emission and injection of RF will be a couple of orders of magnitude higher in the concealed wiring than from the IEC cord
 
What about the claim that the speaker cable length must be equal? How much myth is attached to that claim? I have just calculated I could spend loads less on my right speaker cable if I just got a piece that covered the required distance, as opposed to cutting a piece that was the same length as the left side, which is 10 metres.
 
What about the claim that the speaker cable length must be equal? How much myth is attached to that claim? I have just calculated I could spend loads less on my right speaker cable if I just got a piece that covered the required distance, as opposed to cutting a piece that was the same length as the left side, which is 10 metres.

If they are not the same length the signal arrives at the LS at different times.
In practice a smallish amount of difference shouldn't be audible.
Forward planning - you'd have trouble selling on a pair LS cables of different lengths.
 
If they are not the same length the signal arrives at the LS at different times.
In practice a smallish amount of difference shouldn't be audible.
Forward planning - you'd have trouble selling on a pair LS cables of different lengths.

Measurement in feet = time in nanoseconds, I believe, close enough?

I'm not expecting our hearing to be quite that fine in distinguishing time difference. Has the matter been studied properly?
 
Among much else, I saw there the assertion that in some context the ability of human perception to distinguish time difference does not go below 5 microseconds. If that holds with respect to the sound of left and right loudspeakers, the difference in cable length for a detectable timing problem wold have to be 5000 feet.
 
However true that may be, it's not a good comparison. After all amplifiers frequently generate far less distortion than speakers and yet that is audible.

Yes, the audible effects of distortion are audible, but vibration in mains cables doesn't cause ANY distortion.

Search the Web, find just ONE proven audio example where it does.
 
An honest cable (mains) at an honest price, if you seek something a little better than the kettle lead supplied, is this, http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/cable-off-the-reel/14-belden-19364-audio-grade-cable.html, costs very little, no need to spend any more, it does improve matters in my system(s) one person here gained no improvement, smoothed the rough edges off my Naim gear that's for sure.

I fail to see what is so honest about this Belden thing. Unnecessary expenditure. Perfectly working kettle leads can be purchased for much less with no difference in sound.
 


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