Indeed it does but digital co ax is different to speaker and interconnect cabling. I use directional speaker cable and interconnects but i couldn't tell you if they sound any different because ive never reversed them to find out (i wouldn't dare). One brand i use specifies no direction when used from new but when fitted should never be reversed they call it "stabilising" with any movement inducing stress. I suppose a relaxed cable is a happy cable!
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It just proves that directionallity is subjective.
I've read on the net about people who've tried turning cables round and found they sounded better than the advised direction.
Also spoken to a salesman i usd to work with who said when they used to make up cables they had to listen to them and decide the direction before marking up the cables - so what one person thinks is best may not be what another believes.
In any listening testing it'll come down to the panels ears and you may well get no difference at all.
I've read on the net about people who've tried turning cables round and found they sounded better than the advised direction.
Also spoken to a salesman i usd to work with who said when they used to make up cables they had to listen to them and decide the direction before marking up the cables - so what one person thinks is best may not be what another believes.
In any listening testing it'll come down to the panels ears and you may well get no difference at all.
I brought some Ecosse Reference MS-2.3 around 10 years ago when What HIFI reviewed it and I thought that this will be a good cable for my Niam, so asked my local hifi shop to terminate 2 lengths per speaker for bi-wire use, so it was terminated with 2 ends connected together at the AMP end and spades at speaker end. Anyway after around 3 weeks all I thought was this system was dead sounding and it was a Naim, so I swapped it out for cheaper ixos cable and it sounded much better, so I thought it was the plugs they terminated on was rubbish, so I brought a WBT kit and did all the cables my self, to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop had the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker and I noticed my interconnecters add arrows on pointing out the signal direction and the writing on the cable was travelling the same way, so I thought will putting the speaker cable the same way with the writing travelling from amp to speaker be any better, so I did and it sounded 100 times better the top end really opened up and the upper bass went down several DB.
So signal direction on some cables can do a lot, I did email Ecosse about it and they said they do not believe there is any signal direction in there cables, so I contacted a couple of other companies who believed signal direction exist and they said that they do not fully understand why a cable sounds different to one way to another but believed that how the copper was spun as to do with signal direction.
From then on I always test a cable to see how it sounds from one way to another, the main area to me that gets changed is the upper midrange to high frequencies, one way sounds dull and smooth and the other sounds more open and thinner.
Well that's my two cents.
So signal direction on some cables can do a lot, I did email Ecosse about it and they said they do not believe there is any signal direction in there cables, so I contacted a couple of other companies who believed signal direction exist and they said that they do not fully understand why a cable sounds different to one way to another but believed that how the copper was spun as to do with signal direction.
From then on I always test a cable to see how it sounds from one way to another, the main area to me that gets changed is the upper midrange to high frequencies, one way sounds dull and smooth and the other sounds more open and thinner.
Well that's my two cents.
Which goes to show that in the end all that matter is what you hear! Unless you are in the business of making and selling cables then the science is largely irrelevant. Mind you, a whole octave??? That is one hell of an improvement by any measure, given that there wouldn't be anything like that level of subjective difference between a £300 amp and £3000 amp!
SteveR750:Which goes to show that in the end all that matter is what you hear! Unless you are in the business of making and selling cables then the science is largely irrelevant. Mind you, a whole octave??? That is one hell of an improvement by any measure, given that there wouldn't be anything like that level of subjective difference between a £300 amp and £3000 amp!
Thanks for pointing out that LOL
, my mistake I meant several DB I have corrected it now, like you say its what you hear that matters, I have to say my mate can't hear any difference at all on is own system and I could only very slight, so I tested him on my PC on what frequencies he could hear and he could not hear 16Khz not at all and I turned my EQ up to 12DB+ and he could not hear a thing different and to me it was ear piercing, so it may just be down on how well one can hear the very high frequencies as when testing different cables directionality I found it's these frequencies that get affected most.
Thanks for pointing out that LOL
007L2Thrill:
SteveR750:Which goes to show that in the end all that matter is what you hear! Unless you are in the business of making and selling cables then the science is largely irrelevant. Mind you, a whole octave??? That is one hell of an improvement by any measure, given that there wouldn't be anything like that level of subjective difference between a £300 amp and £3000 amp!
Thanks for pointing out that LOL
, my mistake I meant several DB I have corrected it now, like you say its what you hear that matters, I have to say my mate can't hear any difference at all on is own system and I could only very slight, so I tested him on my PC on what frequencies he could hear and he could not hear 16Khz not at all and I turned my EQ up to 12DB+ and he could not hear a thing different and to me it was ear piercing, so it may just be down on how well one can hear the very high frequencies as when testing different cables
directionality I found it's these frequencies that get affected most.I think you're confusing decibels with khz this time. If the upper bass went down by "several db" that means it suddenly got a lot quieter.
Given that upgrading an amp doesn't improve the sound of a system the 100 (assuming you can somehow quantify this) times but you claim changing cable direction apparently can, please forgive me for being a touch sceptical.
SteveR750:Which goes to show that in the end all that matter is what you hear! Unless you are in the business of making and selling cables then the science is largely irrelevant. Mind you, a whole octave??? That is one hell of an improvement by any measure, given that there wouldn't be anything like that level of subjective difference between a £300 amp and £3000 amp!
Thanks for pointing out that LOL
directionality I found it's these frequencies that get affected most.I think you're confusing decibels with khz this time. If the upper bass went down by "several db" that means it suddenly got a lot quieter.
Given that upgrading an amp doesn't improve the sound of a system the 100 (assuming you can somehow quantify this) times but you claim changing cable direction apparently can, please forgive me for being a touch sceptical.
Tarquinh:007L2Thrill:
SteveR750:Which goes to show that in the end all that matter is what you hear! Unless you are in the business of making and selling cables then the science is largely irrelevant. Mind you, a whole octave??? That is one hell of an improvement by any measure, given that there wouldn't be anything like that level of subjective difference between a £300 amp and £3000 amp!
Thanks for pointing out that LOL
, my mistake I meant several DB I have corrected it now, like you say its what you hear that matters, I have to say my mate can't hear any difference at all on is own system and I could only very slight, so I tested him on my PC on what frequencies he could hear and he could not hear 16Khz not at all and I turned my EQ up to 12DB+ and he could not hear a thing different and to me it was ear piercing, so it may just be down on how well one can hear the very high frequencies as when testing different cables
directionality I found it's these frequencies that get affected most.I think you're confusing decibels with khz this time. If the upper bass went down by "several db" that means it suddenly got a lot quieter.
Given that upgrading an amp doesn't improve the sound of a system the 100 (assuming you can somehow quantify this) times but you claim changing cable direction apparently can, please forgive me for being a touch sceptical.
First off, I never said anything about that cable changing the sound by 100 times and no I was not confusing decibels for KHz as I was talking about the upper bass and yes as I remember it was a lot quieter as I said, but the Ecosse Reference MS-2.3 cable was the only cable as I remember to really change its character by changing its directionality as my kimber cable I have now is nothing like that cable, if I change directionality on this cable its very slight.
SteveR750:Which goes to show that in the end all that matter is what you hear! Unless you are in the business of making and selling cables then the science is largely irrelevant. Mind you, a whole octave??? That is one hell of an improvement by any measure, given that there wouldn't be anything like that level of subjective difference between a £300 amp and £3000 amp!
Thanks for pointing out that LOL
directionality I found it's these frequencies that get affected most.I think you're confusing decibels with khz this time. If the upper bass went down by "several db" that means it suddenly got a lot quieter.
Given that upgrading an amp doesn't improve the sound of a system the 100 (assuming you can somehow quantify this) times but you claim changing cable direction apparently can, please forgive me for being a touch sceptical.
First off, I never said anything about that cable changing the sound by 100 times and no I was not confusing decibels for KHz as I was talking about the upper bass and yes as I remember it was a lot quieter as I said, but the Ecosse Reference MS-2.3 cable was the only cable as I remember to really change its character by changing its directionality as my kimber cable I have now is nothing like that cable, if I change directionality on this cable its very slight.
idc:A chap in a posh hifi shop told me that fuses are directional as well. Oh how I would have loved to challenge him to a blind test on that one.
Funny you say that, I tested some fuses to see if I could tell and I could very slight, but only on a pair of headphones on a CD player with its own headphone AMP.
How do you guys stand on IEC plugs, do changing these on mains cables sound better, like the wattgates I have seen about as I never tried them, but on other forums they swear by them.
Funny you say that, I tested some fuses to see if I could tell and I could very slight, but only on a pair of headphones on a CD player with its own headphone AMP.
How do you guys stand on IEC plugs, do changing these on mains cables sound better, like the wattgates I have seen about as I never tried them, but on other forums they swear by them.
Thrill, pays if you read your own posts
:
"Anyway after around 3 weeks all I thought was this system was dead sounding and it was a Naim, so I swapped it out for cheaper ixos cable and it sounded much better, so I thought it was the plugs they terminated on was rubbish, so I brought a WBT kit and did all the cables my self, to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker and I noticed my interconnecters add arrows on pointing out the signal direction and the writing on the cable was travelling the same way, so I thought will putting the speaker cable the same way with the writing travelling from amp to speaker be any better, so I did and it sounded 100 times better the top end really opened up and the upper bass went down several DB."
"Anyway after around 3 weeks all I thought was this system was dead sounding and it was a Naim, so I swapped it out for cheaper ixos cable and it sounded much better, so I thought it was the plugs they terminated on was rubbish, so I brought a WBT kit and did all the cables my self, to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker and I noticed my interconnecters add arrows on pointing out the signal direction and the writing on the cable was travelling the same way, so I thought will putting the speaker cable the same way with the writing travelling from amp to speaker be any better, so I did and it sounded 100 times better the top end really opened up and the upper bass went down several DB."
chebby
Well-known member
- Jun 2, 2008
- 1,257
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007L2Thrill:...to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker...
Eh?
Do you mean that the staff sit there in the hifi shop printing the 'writing' onto the cables and then - after all that effort - still get the direction wrong?
Eh?
Do you mean that the staff sit there in the hifi shop printing the 'writing' onto the cables and then - after all that effort - still get the direction wrong?
chebby:
007L2Thrill:...to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker...
Eh?
Do you mean that the staff sit there in the hifi shop printing the 'writing' onto the cables and then - after all that effort - still get the direction wrong?
I think he meant 'had'.
I'm too astonished with the thread to join in...if I got a 2x upgrade (i.e. a doubling of 'sound quality') from an upgrade I'd be over the moon. 100x I can't even begin to imagine. Upgrading my fuses to directional ones has to go on my list, although given my cloth-ears, some way behind replacing my speakers...
007L2Thrill:...to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker...
Eh?
Do you mean that the staff sit there in the hifi shop printing the 'writing' onto the cables and then - after all that effort - still get the direction wrong?
I think he meant 'had'.
I'm too astonished with the thread to join in...if I got a 2x upgrade (i.e. a doubling of 'sound quality') from an upgrade I'd be over the moon. 100x I can't even begin to imagine. Upgrading my fuses to directional ones has to go on my list, although given my cloth-ears, some way behind replacing my speakers...
Tarquinh:
Thrill, pays if you read your own posts
:
Can't remember putting that so I apologize, 100 times was figure of speech, it just sounded better. Next time I post I will always remember to be sober lol!
Thrill, pays if you read your own posts
Can't remember putting that so I apologize, 100 times was figure of speech, it just sounded better. Next time I post I will always remember to be sober lol!
chebby:
007L2Thrill:...to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker...
Eh?
Do you mean that the staff sit there in the hifi shop printing the 'writing' onto the cables and then - after all that effort - still get the direction wrong?
No, the writing is printed on the cable from the manufactures and the writing was travelling backwards from AMP to speaker, like rob said above, it meant to say had and not add. Soz about that, that's the last time I post while I am drinking.
007L2Thrill:...to cut a long story short, when I terminated each cable I noticed that the hifi shop add the writing on the cable running backwards from the amp to speaker...
Eh?
Do you mean that the staff sit there in the hifi shop printing the 'writing' onto the cables and then - after all that effort - still get the direction wrong?
No, the writing is printed on the cable from the manufactures and the writing was travelling backwards from AMP to speaker, like rob said above, it meant to say had and not add. Soz about that, that's the last time I post while I am drinking.
This is all as nothing as compared to the highly regarded hifi journalist, who's been in the industry for YEARS and still writes for one of the major titles who wrote a few years back that he could tell the difference that energy saving light bulbs had on the sound of his system when compared to normal bulbs were in use around his house. Years of credibility down the pan in one article.
and just for the record i read the article TRS refers to and found it completely reasonable. then again, i do believe my hifi benefits from mains conditioners so maybe i to will be ridiculed by certain people...
I wouldn't know ifissoundsgood...I don't have any audio issues with my energy saving bulbs, nor does my set-top box switch itself off, stop behaving or similar...the point that I found rather interesting, if we are prepared to widen the debate then, would be page 6, sub-section 5.2 of the report from the Hong Kong government website, the first item on Mr. W's list.
Among the other things that cause interference apart from energy saving light bulbs are sunlight and flourescent lighting and that in some cases halogen lighting shouldn't be used with other video systems.
Many, rough guess 75%, of the links in Andrew's Google link were video related. The article I refer to related to what was audible and what made an audible difference. Having had a mix of light bulbs in our living room, some "green" and some bayonet, or "normal", bulbs, we're good to go here.
But obviously, if you feel that the difference you perceive in using non-green energy lightbulbs and mains conditioners work then more power to your elbow. It's just as well living in the UK, we don't see as much of the sun as other places else you'd really be in difficulty....shocking user of energy that one is!
Among the other things that cause interference apart from energy saving light bulbs are sunlight and flourescent lighting and that in some cases halogen lighting shouldn't be used with other video systems.
Many, rough guess 75%, of the links in Andrew's Google link were video related. The article I refer to related to what was audible and what made an audible difference. Having had a mix of light bulbs in our living room, some "green" and some bayonet, or "normal", bulbs, we're good to go here.
But obviously, if you feel that the difference you perceive in using non-green energy lightbulbs and mains conditioners work then more power to your elbow. It's just as well living in the UK, we don't see as much of the sun as other places else you'd really be in difficulty....shocking user of energy that one is!
Can't say I found any difference from energy saving bulbs affecting my sound here, all I can say about them are they are rubbish when you turn them on in the winter.
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