The Audio Cable Fraud (With Ethan Winer)

[Jasonovich]

I wish Neutrik 'Speakon' connectors were used on domestic, not just pro amps and speakers.
Although, considering how seldom 4mm plugs and sockets are touched once fitted, there's no real problem with them.
View attachment 9477

You're seeing more XLR's being adopted by the non-professional sector. The Speakon you won't see any of those on domestic products. I think Cyrus is the exception?
It may need a little more time or perhaps the manufacturers don't want to confuse us with too many formats?

 

[Jasonovich]

Idiots guide to balance cable's.

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/tuPPqXM94sU?si=5xP9MeMZDoJcsuf0

 

[Jasonovich]

There's always a flip side to a story and I have dedicated this Steve Huff special to the Monkees......I'm a believer

I'm a Believer Lyrics: I thought love was only true in fairy tales / Meant for someone else, but not for me / Love was out to get me / That's the way it seemed / Disappointment haunted...​

Not click bait, just having fun and so it should always be 🙂

View: https://youtu.be/0vNfHTJ6kyY?si=nKVUEd1c-dSYFNK0

 

[Gray]

The Speakon you won't see any of those on domestic products. I think Cyrus is the exception?l

No, Cyrus is BFA for speakers - though they could use their new full-width casings as an opportunity to fit standard binding posts (maybe they already have 🤔)
No Speakons on any domestic stuff.

 

[Jasonovich]

No, Cyrus is BFA for speakers - though they could use their new full-width casings as an opportunity to fit standard binding posts (maybe they already have 🤔)
No Speakons on any domestic stuff.

Thanks Gray for clearing this up. 👍

 

[davidf]

No Speakons on any domestic stuff.

REL.

 

[Lord Tarquin Portly]

May as well add my tuppence here too. In my 20s and 30s I worked in high end music and film dining studios on the tech side and used to live up the studio monitor speakers. One of the first things I would do when arriving at a new studio and drying up monitors speakers was to check what they were wired with. The number of times I saw speakers worth tens of thousands of pounds wired with this mains flex was astonishing, I used to change it for thick QED multi strand and the difference was huge (although not in measured frequency response, that states the same). Detail, taughtness and timing all massively improved. For my own Naim NAP 140 Linn Nexus system I used Naim cable as Naim recommended it because they don't use a zobel network on the output of their amps for stability, instead relying on cable inductance, hence specifying their spaced conductor cable. It made no difference on studio monitor speakers though.
For low level signals in studios I used mogami or Van den hul as they are well made consistent and suited the purpose, Most music studios use one or the other. canaire cable was also used for long mic cable runs and was excellent but expensive. For connectors, Neutric, Amphenol, Tuchel and ITT / Cannon were the order of the day, ITT/Cannon being my favourite for XLR, however they were expensive and more difficult to wire up.
To sum up: speaker cables can make a big difference, the amp and speakers will determine which cable is best. For low level cables, cheap and cheerful can work depending on the signal and how much interference is present, connectors make a difference too, a good connector will make an airtight connection that is stable over time although phono connectors are intrinsically not good in this area.
Get decent cables but above a certain level they won't make much of a difference.
I never heard a difference between different insulation or dialectic types, it doesn't effect audio frequencies the way it does RF frequencies, the quality of cable manufacture was more important.
Was others have said £20 - £30 per pair for phono cable should be fine, I don't spend more than that.

 

[Lord Tarquin Portly]

May as well add my tuppence here too. In my 20s and 30s I worked in high end music and film dining studios on the tech side and used to live up the studio monitor speakers. One of the first things I would do when arriving at a new studio and drying up monitors speakers was to check what they were wired with. The number of times I saw speakers worth tens of thousands of pounds wired with this mains flex was astonishing, I used to change it for thick QED multi strand and the difference was huge (although not in measured frequency response, that states the same). Detail, taughtness and timing all massively improved. For my own Naim NAP 140 Linn Nexus system I used Naim cable as Naim recommended it because they don't use a zobel network on the output of their amps for stability, instead relying on cable inductance, hence specifying their spaced conductor cable. It made no difference on studio monitor speakers though.
For low level signals in studios I used mogami or Van den hul as they are well made consistent and suited the purpose, Most music studios use one or the other. canaire cable was also used for long mic cable runs and was excellent but expensive. For connectors, Neutric, Amphenol, Tuchel and ITT / Cannon were the order of the day, ITT/Cannon being my favourite for XLR, however they were expensive and more difficult to wire up.
To sum up: speaker cables can make a big difference, the amp and speakers will determine which cable is best. For low level cables, cheap and cheerful can work depending on the signal and how much interference is present, connectors make a difference too, a good connector will make an airtight connection that is stable over time although phono connectors are intrinsically not good in this area.
Get decent cables but above a certain level they won't make much of a difference.
I never heard a difference between different insulation or dialectic types, it doesn't effect audio frequencies the way it does RF frequencies, the quality of cable manufacture was more important.
Was others have said £20 - £30 per pair for phono cable should be fine, I don't spend more than that.

 

[Lord Tarquin Portly]

Just watched the video, isn't he the same guy who asked us to try and hear the difference on multiple poses through his DAC ADC setup when listening to a 128kb/s AAC steam on YouTube!
The audio engineer is right about mains cable and room acoustics though, not sure about mics, I'd take a Neumann U87 over an Audiotechnica 2020 any day. Also not entirely true about the Neve console sounding like any other until it distorted or colours the sound in some way. It's true people buy a Neve because of things like the eq, which is great, but the later Neve's sounded better than many other desks straight through. i believe this was due to the care taken over circuit layout and design plus cable routing and grounding, this have superb noise figures and extremely low crosstalk and residual distortion figures. I believe it had a balanced mix bus to reduce crosstalk, see the video about balanced Vs unbalanced connections above .
So in the end, attention to detail and design can cost more, the Neve I remember best cost around £80000, but it still used standard Belden balanced cable inside. Audiophile cable is snake oil and cannot compensate for the hundreds of standard good quality cable used in the recording process.
On the flip side, well designed good quality equipment costs money, there is a limit which extortion has to be part of the cost.
I did love my Telefunken ELAM 251e valve microphone though, until it was stolen. Sounded absolutely wonderful and really brought instruments alive. Not sure I'd pay £12,555 being asked for the new reissue though, and that's just for one, not even a stereo pair!