Cables Make a Difference?

[bradleyc]

Originally Posted by angel

Still, the word "improvement" is misleading, imho, as there is nothing to be 'improved' in a recording. It's downhill all the way quality wise one can only adjust the slope. And it takes just one inferior link to weaken a chain.

angel...If there is nothing to be 'improved' in a recording as you put it, then why purchase better equipment? I understand what you meant, the original source quality remains the same. Cable materials quality, construction/geometry, insulation, solid-conductors vs. stranded, guage, length, etc... can all contribute to or reduce sonic improvements.

[angel]

Better equipment will allow you to appreciate more of a good recording. It can't make up for anything missing or done badly in the studio. Quality cable may enable good equipment to function at its best, but again - it can't "improve" anything in the general sense. It can only reduce the side effects of signal transmission. If you started off a comparison with a "bad" cable, then yes, upgrading the cable would probably pass as an "improvement".

Question is: what is a "quality" or "good" cable?

There's another interesting aspect to this:

Originally Posted by Still-One

One man's improvement is another persons . Every piece of gear and interconnect and speaker-wire has some impact what exits your speakers. Some people keep swapping out components, speakers and cables 'till they find a set-up they really enjoy listening to. Just a lot of variables that have no absolute correct answer.
Jim

I agree with that 100%. Now, tell me please - what is to be gained from reading a rave review on a cable, for instance? Or on anything else, for that matter? Whose opinion counts and what does it do for you? Where's the guarantee that if you were not in the same room with the reviewer, you would not be thinking about the very same sound that he is raving about?

Luckily, we have forums.

[Haurock]

There is no doubt in my mind that cable 'quality' between components and from amps to speakers makes a 'positive' difference.

If I can use a metaphor, you can't get maximum performance in a high performance car with poor gasoline.

When you consider that the vast majority of people spend less than 2K on their home sounds systems then cables won't make much of a difference and, I even doubt that, because I think they will but the investment may not be warranted. However when you start talking about audio equipment that is in the thousands of dollars per item then the connection between the components is as important as the components themselves and you are foolish not to get quality cabling. Cheap cabling will deteriorate the signal or will not communicate the signal as well as quality cabling.

How much you should spend on 'good' quality cabling is a matter of choice and budget. Likewise as with preferences for this cable vs that cable this is a matter of personal taste.

Anyone who suggest that .10 cents a foot of lamp cable sounds as good as some of the reknown cable out there, is like telling me that a C45 sounds as good as a C1000... that simply does not add up..

[bradleyc]

Only 4 skeptics have voted so far? Come on, stand-up and be counted, or have most of you already converted over from the dark-side?

[schaefer11]

Originally Posted by bradleyc

Only 4 skeptics have voted so far? Come on, stand-up and be counted, or have most of you already converted over from the dark-side?

I suspect that most of us non-believers didn't even look at the post. Non-believers are not treated well when surrounded by believers, whether it is audio, religion, politics or whatever. So the smart ones avoid the issue. Doesn't say much for my intelligence, I guess.

[Omerta]

Originally Posted by schaefer11

I suspect that most of us non-believers didn't even look at the post. Non-believers are not treated well when surrounded by believers, whether it is audio, religion, politics or whatever. So the smart ones avoid the issue. Doesn't say much for my intelligence, I guess.

The non believers need to get to a place where they realize that they do not have to agree with the mass and stop caring so much what other people think of you. Not saying take off the filter completely but all genuine opinions should be considered agreed with or not.

[Masterlu]

Exactly, we are an equal opportunity offender...

[prepress]

I tend to be neutral (no pun intended) on this, leaning towards the "yes" side, not a full skeptic, yet not the truest of true believers. The experience I've had in my system is that differences may be more discernible the deeper in the chain the change comes.

Because I bought the wrong cabinet for my equipment (but it's great for the TV) I ruined a pair of Tara Labs Quantum 4 interconnects which went from preamp to power amp, which I'd been using happily for 18 years. Since those were too thick to fit in the slim slots in the cabinet's rear, I repurposed some Kimber Hero used for source to preamp and cued up a favorite piece of mine, The Strife is O'er from a CD by Anthony Newman and the Chestnut Brass Company (trivia alert: this is one of the few post-Reformation Catholic hymns to make it into the Protestant hymnbook). It's an organ/brass/percussion CD.

Toward the end, I was surprised to hear how thin the the bass pedals of the organ sounded. With the Quantum 4 everything had been full and rich. I then put in some AQ Black Mamba II I had, and things improved; the bass pedals regained most of their power. I've never really heard anything much different with source–preamp interconnects; but here, with preamp–power amp, I did.

I haven't tried power cords, and speaker cable has always been more about information retrieval for me, not changes in sound per se. Get the heaviest gauge I could afford, and that was it.

[prepress]

Originally Posted by schaefer11

I suspect that most of us non-believers didn't even look at the post. Non-believers are not treated well when surrounded by believers, whether it is audio, religion, politics or whatever. So the smart ones avoid the issue. Doesn't say much for my intelligence, I guess.

My experience is that it works both ways. Unfortunately. Rational discussion is next to impossible when strong emotions are involved and manifest themselves.

[schaefer11]

"stop caring so much what other people think of you."

That's not really an issue IMO.

"Rational discussion is next to impossible when strong emotions are involved and manifest themselves."

Questioning or asking for "proof" of belief systems, which in and of themselves are frequently deemed irrational by non-believers, does elicit strong and frequently even more irrational reactions.