A New Believer


I have listened to many systems over the years, and have never appreciated the difference speaker cables can make to a sound. In fact, I was so skeptical of the sound changes they can make that I have always not bothered with any special type of cables, generally going for generic (and dare I say it) roughly made ANY copper wire plugged in to amp and speaker. Well, imagine my surprise when I decided to do a blind test and listen to what difference cabling can make. Wow, my Vand 3A Sig's had been getting strangled! (some of you guys may want to strangle me if I told you what connects I had been using). So I am now a firm believer, cables DO make a difference.
joshc

Showing 5 responses by shadorne

Some gear will be affected much more than others. The magnitude of difference a cable makes is largely dependent on what it is connectd to. It makes little sense to speak of cables without the specific equipment. Cables are passive. Ideally they should have no affect. In the real world, they may or may not make a difference, depending on the type, design and choice of equipment.
Interesting thread. It seems that even some believers have a limit to what they are willing to accept when it comes to the amazing purported properties of wires.

Perhaps there is such a thing as too much marketing hyperbole?
No hyperbole-just scientific facts.

Sorry but to call a few meters of copper wire working at analog audio frequencies a complex load is pure hyperbole. And one does not even need a degree in electrical engineering to know this - because it is common knowledge.

However, snake oil and pseudo-science seem to have a stranglehold on the audio cables business. No doubt even mass retailers like Best Buy subscribes to this viewpoint because it is a nice kicker to sell $300 of cables (at 300% markup) with that CD and amplifier purchase (at 40% markup).
All cables have inductance resistance and capacitance and they are a complex load by any stretch of the imagination.

The hyperbole among audiophiles regarding audio cables never ends. The amazing and endless eulogies to mere bits of copper wire....
Stops, I never said any of that. I simply took issue with the grossly inaccurate use of "complex load" to describe a few meters of copper wire at audio frequencies. It perpetuates the myth that cables are critical.

In our hobby in general, there is far too much exaggeration of the effects of cables when it is the active components (source, amplification) and passive components (speakers, crossover) and room (speaker placement, listening position, acoustics) that have, by several orders of magnitude, a much greater impact on the sound.