Question RCA interconnect

[plastic penguin]

I'll bring the snake oil!

Don't rub it in...

 

[WayneKerr]

If only those could be the last words uttered here about cables...

Not in mine or your lifetime, sir

 

[WayneKerr]

The differences in CD players can be huge. I remember listening to a Technics CD player, decades ago, in John Lewis and it sounded clean, crisp and detailed and had a nice 'bounce' to the sound. I then listened to a Sony CD player and it was dull and the bass was slow, booming and very exaggerated. It sounded dreadful and I bought the Technics. Never regretted it. There are more types of sound within CD players and amps, because of the number of parts required and the differences in speakers is huge, with the multitude of materials and designs on the market. The 2 meters of copper in a plastic type jacket doesn't have any ingredients that could change the information being carried.

I bet the difference was in the cabling used for the two CDPs

 

[WayneKerr]

So don't tell me cables don't affect the sound

The only time cables affect sound is when they're not connected

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Not in mine or your lifetime, sir

A man can dream!

 

[camcroft]

Maybe it's time to wrap up this cable talk. It's going round in circles which might affect the directional path.

 

[plastic penguin]

The problem I have with cable threads, is this one has over 200 posts yet three quarters of the responses are a battle between those who believe and those who don't, I'm the latter in the main, and doesn't really benefit the OP.

It's like a Christmas pantomime minus Widow Twanky:

"Oh yes they do!"

"Oh no they don't!".

The only way is for the OP to try a few different brands within his budget and he can decide whether there's a audible improvement.

 

[abacus]

Sorry I went to a dealer I was at the time still choosing my amp didn't get in to cables choice at the time, didn't even know it could matter.

I said to the salesman it's good but I'm missing something it's a little flat. I don't know what cable was used before or after the change (speaker cable ) so no shinny expensive influence, but there it was rythme musicality enjoyment the amp was a Lavardin speakers where sonus faber guenarri memento
So don't tell mee cables don't affect the sound

If its your opinion that cables make a difference then that is fine, the problem is a lot of newbies view forums and they may take opinion as fact and buy things they don't need. (Opinion and fact are not the same)

Bill

 

[Gray]

I wil be happy to invite you do the test at my place
I tested
Kimber
Siltech
Ah
Transparant (that I kept)
An a few other brands

You could charge the audience money to witness you identifying the cables (that they swap without your knowledge).

 

[Nico69]

You could charge the audience money to witness you identifying the cables (that they swap without your knowledge).

I bet Uri Geller would/could

 

[Gray]

I bet the difference was in the cabling used for the two CDPs

😆

 

[Shrek]

im good with my QEDS Too much Drama for a cable .

 

[Gray]

I bet Uri Geller would/could

He'd be the first to do it blind 😉

 

[plastic penguin]

If its your opinion that cables make a difference then that is fine, the problem is a lot of newbies view forums and they may take opinion as fact and buy things they don't need. (Opinion and fact are not the same)

Bill

Agreed.

 

[podknocker]

If someone could tell the difference 100 times out of a 100 with cables being swapped out, whilst blindfolded and could explain the differences they hear, then I would change my view and be in awe of their bat like hearing. This hasn't happened on this forum, or any other and until people can show they can hear the difference, I'm going to remain skeptical. Also, if you can hear the difference between QED 79 strand and some Van Den Hul cabling at £3000 a metre, on one occasion, then surely, you can hear the difference a hundred times and not guess wrong. Prove you can hear the difference, or stop telling people £3000 cables are the best thing ever.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Perhaps the Circe of Life should be renamed the Circle of Cable?

 

[WayneKerr]

10 pages in and it hasn't lost any steam yet

 

[Al ears]

Don't rub it in...

Rub it in where??

 

[Al ears]

10 pages in and it hasn't lost any steam yet

it's a very long cable...

 

[Mark Dunlop]

This is a serious question, not to stir the pot. Just assume I know nothing about anything...

A speaker cable (or an interconnect cable or a power cable) in addition to conducting a signal from one place to another acts as both a filter and as an aerial - right or wrong? The sound that you get is, presumably, going to be affected by the conductivity, by what gets filtered out and by what gets picked up by the cable - right or wrong? I mean, if this is wrong then the following question isn't well-founded...

The question is, assuming the conductivity of two different cables is the same (or inaudibly different) but the filter/aerial properties are different, then surely the sound produced by the two cables must be different? I don't know - I was useless at Physics at school, but if you have a cable that filters out interference more effectively/picks up less interference than another cable doesn't it follow that the better filter will sound "better" due to having less interference?

I don't know if sound transmission is the same as electricity transmission (being useless at Physics still) but I cured a buzzing transformer in my amp by using an ordinary hardware shop plug and IEC C13 plug and some better quality (or maybe better shielded) power cable. Never mind double blind testing or whatever - it's a fact that a different lead stopped the buzz. Now I don't even know what caused the buzz, but it's gone. Maybe electricity transmission is different to sound signal transmission... as I say, assume I know nothing.
m.d.

 

[Noddy]

Was there not a view that all solid state amplifiers, when level matched, sounded the same ?

Some people do hold that view. It is said that we have solved the amplifier problem. One difference is clipping, when you turn the things up, the way they distort can differ. Tubes are said to distort more pleasingly. There are said to be some blind tests where experts failed to differentiate amps by sound.

I am sure I heard differences between my Teac 300, Arcam Solo Movie and AudioLab 6000a amps at normal levels. The Arcam has a boosted lower mid region, with boominess, in my unscientific and subjective view. Frequency response plots are not inconsistent with that view.

My belief is that some makers deliberately depart from a neutral amp, and voice it to differentiate the product. People then mistake the voicing for higher performance. And indeed they might find it more pleasing.

 

[Gray]

I cured a buzzing transformer in my amp by using an ordinary hardware shop plug and IEC C13 plug and some better quality (or maybe better shielded) power cable.

Don't know the make of your amp Mark, but Audiolab famously had the issue of buzzy mains transformers.
It was put down to DC on some mains supplies, causing an over saturation of the transformer.

As it shouldn't be there, you might expect the level of DC to vary - enough to make the buzz inaudible at times.
I'm not saying you imagined it - Two things happened. You changed the cable and your buzzing stopped.
I know you heard the buzzing cease.
I just wonder if you've ever subsequently swapped back to the original cable and heard the buzz again.
And are you 100% certain that there has never been an audible buzz with your DIY cable in place?

 

[plastic penguin]

Rub it in where??

Wherever the itch is.

 

[Mark Dunlop]

Don't know the make of your amp Mark, but Audiolab famously had the issue of buzzy mains transformers.
It was put down to DC on some mains supplies, causing an over saturation of the transformer.

As it shouldn't be there, you might expect the level of DC to vary - enough to make the buzz inaudible at times.
I'm not saying you imagined it - Two things happened. You changed the cable and your buzzing stopped.
I know you heard the buzzing cease.
I just wonder if you've ever subsequently swapped back to the original cable and heard the buzz again.
And are you 100% certain that there has never been an audible buzz with your DIY cable in place?

Hi Gray
Absolutely 100% certain. I had a Yamaha amp for donkey's years (which didn't buzz) and eventually bought a little A11 Tribute and the bloomin thing buzzed. Maybe you'd say "hummed", but you know what I mean. I think it was on this forum that I read about DC potentially causing the buzz. Rather than spend big bucks on a DC blocker, I found a guy on Youtube who reckoned a better shielded power cable might work. As it was only about 12 quid for the bits and a DC blocker is much more expensive, I gave it a try. No buzz. Put the old cable back in and it buzzed. So yeah... I am 100% certain that it doesn't buzz now and 99% certain it's down to the cable. I say 99% sure cos it's never good to be too dogmatic
m.d.

 

[WayneKerr]

Hi Gray
Absolutely 100% certain. I had a Yamaha amp for donkey's years (which didn't buzz) and eventually bought a little A11 Tribute and the bloomin thing buzzed. Maybe you'd say "hummed", but you know what I mean. I think it was on this forum that I read about DC potentially causing the buzz. Rather than spend big bucks on a DC blocker, I found a guy on Youtube who reckoned a better shielded power cable might work. As it was only about 12 quid for the bits and a DC blocker is much more expensive, I gave it a try. No buzz. Put the old cable back in and it buzzed. So yeah... I am 100% certain that it doesn't buzz now and 99% certain it's down to the cable. I say 99% sure cos it's never good to be too dogmatic
m.d.

What is going on at Rotel? This is yet another issue with one of their products, not good advertising is it? Fortunately I'm not in the market for any more kit but if I was this is one brand I would steer well clear of.