Ive read the first few pages and its clear (as always) theres 2 types of people on this. Those that believe cables etc make a difference, and those that dont.
For the record, I dont MEASURE anything, I dont really care why something does or doesnt work (Though I do try to educate myself with whatever subject intrigues me). I simple test various hifi 'items' over months and see what the differences are (if any)
Cables (even mains cables) DO make a difference. Now if a persons hearing (or indeed eyesight for viewing) isnt too hot you may well struggle to hear a difference. My hearing is very good and my eyesite is almost perfect.
So all im going to do is post various instances of what 'IVE' done and what the effects were ~
I initially bought a mains conditioner out of the very pages of what hifi out of sheer intrigue really. I hooked it upto my (then) philips 28" CRT tv and freeview box. The effect was 'instantanious'. Colours came alive, detail shone through and the whole picture looked so much more '3 dimensional'. Thats not a placebo effect, thats my eyes (which I can see very well with thank you very much). Incidentally, I barely heard ANY difference in my hifi (Which I remember being a bit gutted about) but were all connected with the freebie 'kettle leads'.
I have an aracm A85 amp. Initially I was running off the freebie 'kettle lead' as I truly didnt see how a poxy mains cable could make a difference. It was like this for at LEAST 3 years. I then tested various cheapie cables off ebay without much sucess so stayed with the 'kettle lead'. I then thought is try a known brand so got a hold of an Isotek Elite. The effect again was 'instantanious'. Id played a particular song just 5 mins before with the kettle lead then again with the Isotek. The bass in particular just came alive. I was hooked and had to experiment more.......
I have a Black widow Mains cable (wasnt too impressed with that to be honest) and various other 'brand' names. But the one that changed my way of thinking was the russ andrews 'classic' which uses braided copper cable to try to eliminate electromagnetic interference (airbourne and already IN the mains)
As a FACT, Ethernets Cat 5 cable uses twisted pairs to the same effect ~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_5
I now have an atacama hifi rack and most of my equipment (including my pioneer hdtv) is sat on isolation cones (rubber actually). The mains socket is silver plated leading to a 16 core COPPER braided custom cable to a russ andrews powerblock which in turn feeds various cables but ALL are braided and either copper, silver plated copper or solid silver. The analogue interconnects are mostly braided silver plated and the speaker cable is 16 core machine braided solid silver and copper mixed.
(whilst on the subject, I didnt see how silver could possibly make a difference as the mains is inherantly COPPER all the way through to my mains socket,......so how could it? But, it does.......I dont know how,...........it just does)
The BEST upgrade I ever did however was actually sitting my speakers on
3 concrete blocks with plywood on top and blu-tak inbetween! Just goes
to show what a bit of 'cheapie' stuff can do for yas
The result? My hifi has never sounded as amazing and my tv looks incredible!
I dont care about the none believers, ive sat here and tried cables over MONTHS to get where I am today.
Cheers
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