2. cables
  3. 1302388765

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 4 responses by timrhu

timrhu
2,779 posts
 
To be a believer you must have 'faith', to which proof is not available. To those who believe, no explanation is possible, or necessary.
Buconero117
Can I get an amen?
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
I fully agree with Tubegroover's first comment; always trust your ears.
Lak

Sound advice with this caveat: don't jump to immediate conclusions based upon "your ears."
There have been numerous times when I have inserted a piece of equipment, cable, tweak, or whatever and noticed an immediate difference, and usually I interpret this difference as better. After living with the change for a week or two I notice the difference is gone. After configuring my system to the pre-change condition I still hear no difference. What's going on here?
Another reason to let your ears guide you over time and not immediately is the no system change but different sounding phenomenon. Maybe this has never happened to everyone but it is quite frequent with me. Sometimes, last night was a good example, my system sounds fantastic while other times it sounds good or merely adequate. This occurs over the course of a month where zero changes have taken place. What's going on here?
I chalk it up to mood or physical condition. Am I the only one who experiences this?
We "hear" lots of differences so trust your ears. Just make sure your ears can consistently hear the differences before believing they are real.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
For the last 40 years I have been listening to music as a hobby, with attention paid to the equipment I'm using. In the various groups of people in my acquaintance my stereo system has always been one of the best. Some of my family think I'm crazy that way.
In all those years I have never taken the time to "listen" to a wire. Although I do use better than zip cord for speaker cables and don't use the standard interconnects delivered with cheap electronics, I can't honestly say I'd hear any difference in a blind test.
A while back in this thread someone suggested Rok2id get out of this hobby if he didn't want to compare wires. Seriously? WTF?
I'll be listening to some tunes this weekend but probably won't be listening to the wires. Enjoy.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
Let's face it. You are loading the output of the amplifier with TWO complex loads. The speaker and the speaker cables.
Stops

If your speaker cables present a "complex" load to the amplifier, I suggest there is something wrong with your cables.
More to discover