Speaker cable upgrade- advice appreciated

Yeah... spikes very often do exactly the opposite of intended. They are supposed to reduce contact with the surface under them, minimizing friction and isolating the spiked component. But if the spikes dig into the surface than it does the opposite of that, increasing friction and coupling to the surface in which case vibration in the surface the component is sitting on will be transferred directly into the component. This is sometimes the intention with speakers, to couple... but the issue is the floor, even if solid concrete, will resonate at some frequencies and this will add harshness and glare. Coupling speakers to floor is the really the worst idea ever in audio.

 

I love my Mpingo disks! http://www.shunmook.com/text1.htm Just Kidding!

 

I'd like to try a full complement of Stillpoints, but I don't anticipate ever having $10,000+ that I couldn't care less about. At the price point, I'd rather get better speakers or electronics and I'd feel that same way until I had at least $80 grand in gear. Yet another pipe dream.

So, my plan is to go DIY or else give some of the budget options a shot. Regardless, I'll continue to be irritated that Stillpoints is able to find buyers at such insane prices.

 

Check out the Coffman Labs footers. Those things radically bettered the sound of some of my tube gear -- and they made the gear basically indifferent to the shelf it was on. I'm smitten with them. I'm deeply in smit.

They're forty bucks a piece, but the price goes down once you buy three or more. Totally worth it.

 

My AP BSO speaker cables have been sent in to be re-terminated. I didn't like the bananas on the speaker end.

I've invested in some Auvio 12 gauge OFC from Radio Shack to use starting tonight. I don't have a background in EE and I keep reading about how all wires will allow speakers to produce the same sound, so long as the length and gauge are well within tolerances. On that note, I'm somewhat convinced that I'll be pleased with zip cord to such an extent that I'll wish to sell my AP.

 

There seems to be polarised expectations and views concerning these types of descriptions. It's presumed the reader has some sort of specialist knowledge to understand the meaning of these statements, and if he doesn't the favourite practice seems to be to avoid the point at all costs and accuse the questioner of being either argumentative or stupid.

My questions are genuine and pretty straightforward really. Certainly, they shouldn't be allocated meaning other than what's being asked. I appreciate the exercise may open us up to ridicule and expressions of hate, but personally I'm hoping for offers of clarification rather deliberate attempts to introduce further confusion.

What do you mean by better inner detail?
What do you mean by fleshed out top end?
What do you mean by more dynamic punch?
What do you mean by blacker background?

 

These are subjective, sensory perception descriptions. If you were hoping to be accused of being argumentative or stupid, well, I apologize for letting you down. You are also looking for ridicule and hate, but oddly, that typically comes from the hardcore objectives who could suck the fun out of a roller coaster ride.

Referring to the ability to easily hear intimate detail well into the soundstage.

High frequencies more complete and "airy".

Bass slam.

Quiet.

 

He didn't ask for any of those things at all. Merely highlighting what usually happens if the MO is followed.

 

I suspect you're not only underestimating yourself, but are also allocating an imagined and undeserved authority onto a third party.

Rather than concerning ourselves with conforming to what may appear to be accepted practice, and abandoning our own judgement for that of others, wouldn't it be more sensible to apply our efforts to securing what we like ourselves?

Why do we appear to be so insecure in our endeavours? Who convinced us we should be?

See where I'm coming from? My statements aren't personal or directed against an individual. They certainly question the origin and validity of an indoctrinated system of subjugation and acceptance.

At the end of the day, shouldn't our hard-earned bucks be securing our own desires rather than the ambitions of others?

 

Wow! That answer connects in no way whatsoever with my previous statements. In fact, it's more like a reaction to the exact opposite of what was said. I appreciate you obviously didn't understand what was written, but you've lost me completely with such a paranoid reply.

 

Thanks, I was worried there for a minute. There's lost in translation, and then there's just plain scary!

 

You are making good points, but you are not going to cleanse audio of common human traits. We do follow those we perceive as having authority. Is that authority warranted? Often we never know, we just march.

In regards to the audio language, most of those claims are related to distortion, which is always part of reproduction and generally follows certain perceptual paths as it is reduced. Those perceptions are often stated in regards to particular frequency ranges.

If we don't like the vagaries of language, we can always stop talking.

Maybe insecurity is the wrong term, as any system with more variables than can be accounted for in simple measurements requires generalization. Given we need to make decisions, why not move in a general direction where there is a worn path? Personally, I'm off on my own tangent, but I do understand why people end up where they are.

 

I'm not underestimating my self nor am I imagining an authority. If I wanted to become an expert on wine, then I might seek out a master sommelier. I wouldn't be afraid to be curious and I certainly wouldn't fear learning from a subject matter expert. Why should tasting and appreciating wine be so different than listening to recorded sound?

(avoided the typical car analogy!)

Thank you for focusing only on the parts of my reply which didn't sit well. For the record, I made a sincere effort to address your questions.

 

I think his point was that you don't/shouldn't need a sommelier to tell you what wine subjectively tastes good *to you*.
Expertise and knowing what you like don't necessarily have to inhabit the same vehicle.

 

When is silence not silence that it takes a speaker cable to enhance it?

 

If low cost speaker cable falls in the woods, does it make a sound? Relative to a higher end product?

 

When is silence?

 

I think You are completely right, we must really think about what it is we ourselves like, because this is what it is all about, nothing else.
At the end of the day, IMO, what others say how they feel or detect about sound, cannot in any way be explained, by never mind who, it can only be a small thing we might consider, but if it has no meaning to us we should not consider it.

You can really see this behaviour when it comes to recommended components, in magazines and here, people are so unsecure of what they really like, they just go for something popular and some component that others say they like IMO.

 

I think distortion is a part of it. But distortion as such has very little meaning as it is complex, and we cannot really say with any reasonably good component what is distortion. It is also so that 'low distortion' is not normally chosen, at least not with different levels of harmonic dist. It can just as well be so that people prefer a higher level. Everything has much more to do with variations in freq response, as I see it.

 

Isn't it possible to become more sophisticated in our tastes whether it be wine, food, or reproduced sound? You don't think that spending a few hours with, say,
@Steve Hoffman could enhance one's own listening experience?

 

Absolutely, one should not let others tell us what we subjectively should/should not enjoy...

Just make sure there's actually a sonic difference to begin with .

 

Hi there!

This is sort of a logical fallacy.

My point is that it is possible to enjoy something only to realize at some point that there something more out there that had been missing. If we don't seek that out or otherwise appreciate the possibility, then we are retarding our natural curiosity. I many prefer a Wendy's burger to Burger King or McDonald's. I may find that Wendy's makes the best burger I've ever had, but I've never realized that there are other options out there. Oops! But I was blissfully ignorant, which is ok with some I guess, but not for me. Same analogy for beer, whiskey, etc.

 

As I am rather familiar with different wines and whiskeys, as I have been a member of a club for many years, I would say maybe, maybe not. It can be possible to learn what whiskeys might in fact be 'better'. But it has many times little meaning if that is not the whiskey I prefer. And if I look at what whiskeys and wines the members prefer it differs greatly, so it will very much come down to personal taste. And it is also so if you can´t see the label, you cannot use any high horse.

 

You can't look back to when you first tried wine and whiskey and then realize that much of what you desired then really isn't so great knowing what you now know? I mean, in the US, many of us start out with cheep beer which wouldn't even meet anything close to German beer laws. I couldn't enjoy a Bud Light (or worse) today even if I tried. Yuck!!!

 

I'm interested in reading your thoughts after trying the cable.