Cables, cables, cables...any tips? In the market (maybe)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DI89I04/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
German Company that have good cables & prices too.

 

Grover's current design is a really good performer and reasonably priced.

John K.

 

I have tried everything from really cheap cable (a couple of bucks) to $600 interconnects and expensive speaker cables, phono cables and USB cables.

I never heard a difference on my old system worth approx $5k or on my new system worth around $2k.

 

Are you talking to me?

 

Someone who has zero idea what he is talking about & considering he has not listed his equipment can not back up his statement.

 

No one wants to be overcharged or be ripped off but there is a difference in decent cable. I bought some mains cable recently & immediately improved the sound. For the record Supra make cable from bare wire to finished product in house.

 

I like Analysis Plus. Honestly though, you need to test as many as you can on your system.

 

All cables, just like every piece of audio gear, have a sound and just like gear, the trick is to find the one(s) that have the best sound to your ears. One person's neutral (I hate that term) is another's ice picks in the ears.

That said, since we're throwing out brand names, after trying a slew of cable brands over the years, I prefer MIT cables.

 

I don't think someone who believes power cables make a difference has any right to say someone else doesn't know what they're talking about.

Can you tell us how exactly a power cable can make a difference to the sound of a system? I'm all ears..

 

Gauge, shielding, copper or silver wire, geometry, stranded, solid or a combination, dielectric and terminations all play a role in the sound of a power cable.

 

You didn't answer my question. I asked 'how' a 'power cable' can influence the 'sound' of a system. I'm assuming you know the science since you're so sure it makes a difference.

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-01-06/

 

My experience is that quality cables absolutely make a difference (as does power conditioning). Take a look at Triode Wire Labs. Great (seriously great) bang for the buck, great service, and a 30 day audition trial is available.

 

Edit: I missed this the first time around, sorry.

Yes, I did answer your question and provided the many reasons why.

I base my comments on real world experience, not something I found on the Internet. That said, the person writing that doesn't understand that not only does noise enter your system coming in, your gear generates its own noise, which goes back into the line. A good power cord will lower the noise floor coming and going.

 

Well, we have a bunch of people here who spend time listening to music critically on equipment that runs from good to incredible. Perhaps their ears can tell them their is a difference. I don't know the science behind internal combustion engines, transmissions, and suspensions, but I know a Porsche is a better ride on all levels than a Chevy Cruz.

 

I think cables make a difference. If I were an engineer, however, and I saw the technology that is fit into an iPhone, and I compared that to the cost of a high-end cable....

 

Thanks for the tip, just ordered some fisuals!

 

This is how I see it. Seems to me the biggest variable is resistance. If a cable has a significant impedance that changes over the audio frequency spectrum, this can cause a frequency response change when combined with the loudspeaker’s resistive impedance. So in a sense nothing is in isolation what you hear if anything is going to depend on your speaker's resistive impedance as well. Wire resistance will have an effect on the damping factor as well, you can look that up it's interesting but I can't go into it here. Then you can also get into real electrical phenomena like eddy currents if the wire gauge is real thick. To me it has nothing to do with brand x vs brand y of wire so much as the resistive properties of the each individual wire you are comparing with your speakers. Which are pretty much not published specs so it's not too easy for the consumer at all to rationally evaluate any of this info with any amount of clarity. And unless you have the same speakers and taste in freq response as the guy who is saying these cables are the bomb, chances are it will not work out the same way for you.

Maybe some individuals want resistive losses because it sounds good to them when combined with their loudspeaker’s impedance. Remember it's all relative. A resistive loss in the treble frequencies sounds like a mid band boost. Maybe others want as short a run as possible with negligible loss because that works best for their particular speaker. Essentially you are trying to dial in the frequency response using the length and gauge of the wire. To me it's too much of a rube goldberg solution to what should be a rather simple problem. But there are varying degrees out there or what lengths people will goto to achieve a certain sound. Personally I'd rather just get a speaker with a freq response curve I find pleasing and then make sure I am not using wire that will have any amount of audible resistive loss to change it, I guess I am just not as hardcore as most audiophiles.

 

In all seriousness, a "cable selection assistant" for Steve Hoffman would be a high pressure job. Too much so for me.

 

My advice is to buy used, regardless of what you choose.

 

Great advice, that's what I've done for the most part.

 

I think so.

 

Yes, and those are all measurable numbers - more horsepower, better suspension, etc. You can quantify things and easily figure out why the cars ride better.

I guess what a lot of people in this thread are wondering, myself included, is the actual physics and science behind how one cable can sound different than another. These should be things easily quantified and put into numbers or easy enough to be measured - sound is just a waveform. If there's an actual difference, you can measure and show that difference pretty easily.

 

I know perfectly well what I'm talking about, and I know that nobody, ever, has been able to tell the difference between connectors in blind A/B tests. Nobody. And that includes you.

http://home.provide.net/~djcarlst/abx_wire.htm

 

With due respect, you should familiarize yourself with this forum post:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/a-note-about-abx-dbt-blind-testing-and-the-sh-forums.278682

The post I'm replying to here is pretty much a textbook example of how not to phrase a post discussing ABX.