hearing cables

[crusaderlord]

For all my testing on a number of cables.

Speaker cables was a definate yes - you can hear the difference between different cable makes and qualities - sometime quite substantial too.

Interconnects was almost a no - i could hear a difference up to c£40-£50 but after that improvements were very marginal and blind testing i couldnt guess which cable was being used. I used various interconnects from Cambridge Audio, Chord, VDH and Piccalo from £10 to £200+.

My advice would be spent as much as you dare on speaker cable first.

 

[Tony_R]

Ashley James:There really is no audible difference to cables unless they are so unsuitable as to be upsetting whatever they are connected too.

Ashley, so what you're saying is this:

If I put random inductors of various values in series / parallel with my speakers cables, I won't hear any difference?

And the same for capacitance / resistance?

Because as I pointed out previously, every cable (no matter what the construction) will possess at least one of the aforementioned characteristics.

And placing any of these in series with the speaker, is effectively changing the design of the speaker - therefore changing the sound.

So surely the best cable is one that is devoid of inductance, resistance and capacitance? And of course this cable doesn't exist...

Tony.

 

[Anonymous]

Tony_R:
Ashley James:There really is no audible difference to cables unless they are so unsuitable as to be upsetting whatever they are connected too.

Ashley, so what you're saying is this:

If I put random inductors of various values in series / parallel with my speakers cables, I won't hear any difference?

And the same for capacitance / resistance?

Because as I pointed out previously, every cable (no matter what the construction) will possess at least one of the aforementioned characteristics.

And placing any of these in series with the speaker, is effectively changing the design of the speaker - therefore changing the sound.

So surely the best cable is one that is devoid of inductance, resistance and capacitance? And of course this cable doesn't exist...

Tony.

The sort of inductance and capacitance values that typical speaker cables of normal construction possess are so low they have no effect at audio frequencies, so a low series impedance, IOW nice and thick, is what should be aimed for. The capacitance of screened wire can have an effect and I suspect that is why they can sound slightly different.

Mains leads don't change a thing because the signal doesn't travel through them.

 

[Thaiman]

Ashley is right in many ways and for a while that was also my thinking towards cables. That is why I always tell people to buy Gotham because they are cheap, well build and SHOULD NOT sound any different than the more expensive better known pair, well that is what I thought until one of the British cables company owner told me that he wish he could made cables that sound like "Virtual Dynamics" which bacisly have no sound if you know what I mean.

I have AB the VD many times (my GamuT have 2 outputs) against even the more expensive cables and the different in sound is clearly there. The different are not details or deeper bass or smoother treble, just simply 3D imaging that seem to place every instruments in it's own space and just that little different is good enough for me.

 

[Tony_R]

Incidentally, I'm primarily referring to the tonal changes to the sound, rather than imaging etc, etc.

Tony.

 

[ElectroMan]

Some very interesting comments and views here!

I think some high-end stuff (equipment as well as cables) will sell to those who can afford it mainly becuase it is expensive.

Not that I'm comparing Linn, Naim etc to a Mr Whippy, but the makers of Haagan Daas ice-cream admitted in a newspaper article a few years ago that they could sell it at a much lower price, but reckoned sales would go down as people buy it precisely because it is expensive!