Day of Testing Cheap Cables vs Expensive - write up as promised

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Andrewjvt

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BigH said:
ellisdj said:
Andrewjvt said:
First off enjoyable to read and interesting so thank you to both for that.

Second: i think its great that 2 forum members actually met up and had some sort of test and had an enjoyable day. I think thats great.

Third: and please dont take this the wrong way but the actual test was very flawed. And no one can make any real impressions from it. If ive read correctly (forgive me if ive miss quoted) but to say that elecros very fine kit is only running at low performance because of his cables to me is a joke. But id welcome you to mine to prove to me anytime. And if you succeed. Id be the first one to admit.

You read that wrong. To me its running ok as is but could be a lot better with certain cabling and acoustic treatment. Electro likes it how it sounds now so is happy. That's all that matters really.

I could do a similar test for you depending on where you live. You might need some speakers first though

So you agree a system can sound good with cheap cabling?

Not expensive but sufficient.
I have cheap ofc 6mm speaker cable and cheap usb

Not convinced on mains conditioner
 

ellisdj

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BigH said:
ellisdj said:
Andrewjvt said:
First off enjoyable to read and interesting so thank you to both for that.

Second: i think its great that 2 forum members actually met up and had some sort of test and had an enjoyable day. I think thats great.

Third: and please dont take this the wrong way but the actual test was very flawed. And no one can make any real impressions from it. If ive read correctly (forgive me if ive miss quoted) but to say that elecros very fine kit is only running at low performance because of his cables to me is a joke. But id welcome you to mine to prove to me anytime. And if you succeed. Id be the first one to admit.

You read that wrong. To me its running ok as is but could be a lot better with certain cabling and acoustic treatment. Electro likes it how it sounds now so is happy. That's all that matters really.

I could do a similar test for you depending on where you live. You might need some speakers first though

So you agree a system can sound good with cheap cabling?

The cabling used is by Electro is not what I call cheap with the exception of 2 cables or so as explained in the write up.
It depends on what you like and want I suppose. Good yes it can but that wasn't in question. I wanted someone to prove amazing sound with cheap cables I. E freeby standard to back up all the blind test science etc - still waiting for someone to offer this. Even in this case I am confident that system would be improved no end using the right cable products.
 

TrevC

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Thompsonuxb said:
TrevC said:
Thompsonuxb said:
SemiChronic said:
What a great thread!

Im also firmly in the believers camp :)

Would be interesting if we could establish at what kind of source/amp pricerange do cables begin to make a difference.

Oh and congrats to the guys who hijacked this thread, to turn it into yet another keyboard pussy fight.

The cost is not an issue every cable as its nuances.....

Provided you have decent kit with revealing enough speakers go from there....or not.

You have to have decent kit with speakers revealing enough to display differences in mains cables that can't, and therefore don't, exist. This will obviously cost an arm and a leg.

Not sure what you are arguing.....if you''ve tried various power leads on an amp and found they make no difference.....ok.

If your 'makes no difference' is based on your understanding of the math/science......prrrrftt!

Either way..... :)

I've tried many.

Of course they make a difference.
 

Electro

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I went to see ellisdj and listen to his very sophisticated computer based HiFi / AV system yesterday.

Unfortunately he had a problem with his projector so we could not try the system with films but we more than made up for that with music listening.

There were no cable swaps because it simply wasn't practical due to the amount of decontruction necessary to reach the connections so it was purely a system audition .

The first thing that strikes you as you walk into the room is that is pitch black and totally silent in there due to the full room treatment and blackout material that covers almost everything .

Once my eyes has adjusted to the lack of light and my ears to the room we put on some music.

The system could not sound more different to mine and it took me ten minutes to adjust to the sound, but once I had settled in I noticed that the sound was literally presented in front of the speakers with striking immediacy and detail without sounding too overpowering, the midrange was crystal clear and quite prominent, I could almost reach out and touch the vocalists singing directly in front of me, bass was tight, powerful and very punchy and went very deep with some recordings, the top end was smooth and vocals were sibilant free on the most part but this is recording dependant.

Imaging was good but with a completely different presentation to my system, it was not as wide and deep as mine nor were the instruments spread out and layered like they are with my system.

The sound of ellisdj's system was much more focussed, condensed and immediate with less of a sense of space and recording accoustic, some of this may be down to the fact that my room is a fair bit bigger and not as acoustically treated as ellisdj's and we were sitting much closer to his system.

After some lovely fresh rolls and special lemonade and a technical explanation of the system and of the battery power supplies and the sohpisticated earthing arrangements we settled down for another listen.

We played an audiophile recording called Chasing the Dragon that has tracks filled with simply recorded live music which was very informative indeed.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/Chasing-the-Dragon-Audiophile-Recordings-Import-Test-CD/productinfo/CTDCDI007/

So after nearly five hours we concluded the listening, at first I was not sure if I was going to like his system because it sounded so different but by the end of the listening session I "got it" and could fully understand what ellisdj was trying to achieve, he has actually achieved something unusual and special and a system that I could thoroughly enjoy and I also appreciate the time,effort and thought that ellisdj has put into building this unique sounding system.

Thankyou ellisdj for your time and hospitality . *drinks*
 

ellisdj

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Electro - thanks for coming over was a pleasure to have you here, 5 hours flew by and we could have done another 5 easy had my family not come home. San Pelegrino bottles of lemonade are perfect for system demos for some reason :)

Looking forward to you coming back to demo some films - because the magic of my system is to go from that sound of music to a very high quality movie experience all from the same system. I have not experienced this on many systems to date, literally 2 possibly 3 including mine.

I appreciate the kind words - I want to say I did not play safe with the music selection I literally put on all sorts - even some extreme songs like Muse "Reapers" which I am sure would be harsh mess on some systems and we played some Adele 25 songs loud and that would easy turn into harshness on other systems I know for sure - no harshness on this system even at 85 - 90db playback levels sat 2.4 metres only from the speakers - its very nearfield where it can get harsh real quick at that volume.

Its also very interesting - we have a difference of opinion over who's system is capturing more of the acoustic of the original recording - a friendly one 100% - nothing wrong with this, in fact I think its great. Its a difference of opinion on what constitutes good sound really and a preference situation. I can show in graphs just what my system is doing and just how little my room effects the original sound - its literally having no real effect to 30hz - but that doesnt mean it doesnt affect the sound that people are used to - that is a big thing. Correct is not always someones preference but it doesnt make it any less correct.

This is why I think its important to have the right content to test things out from system to system - The Chasing the Dragon CD is the ideal test material - not only is it a brilliant disc you can actually look at how what your listening to was recorded and it really captures it brilliantly and there is a big variety in there.

If you get used to this disc you can then listen to it on other systems and see straight away how good it is or not I think. I am sure Electro will get this and the next time we meet we can discuss the merits of both systems some more :)

Cheers again for coming over
 

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