Hm! Sometimes it is hard to know whether some of these posts are serious. Your post and your spelling, Korn, make me think you want to neuter al(l) of those horrid recordings. There are indeed some cables that will muddy things up, but it is hard to recommend them. But cables that still give you good detail resolution, yet warm things up and take away some of the harsh edge of many bad recordings include Cardas Cross and Magnan Type Vi. If these are too expensive (since you appear cynical at best regarding cables) then you might want to try DH Labs or JPS Superconductor. Both these cables tend to congeal things a bit, which smooths over recording blemishes. |
I've owned many cables & once rented a bunch from the Cable Co. to get a better idea of the sound of most of the under $400.00 or so interconnects. My reference cable was Radio Shack $2.00 jobs. They sound better than some of the fancy cables IMO. My favorite after years of cable swapping & fiddling came as a surprise as I didn't even want to rent these but Cable Co. insisted. They give solid bass, detailed mids & very smooth highs. What are they. Monster M1000i. |
All cables are neutral? NO, and all the cable reviews I've read always have some caveat with regards to actually pronouncing them "perfect". All "neutral" means is that the cable's performance attrubutes are all in balance. It doesn't mean that one "neutral" cable sounds like another "neutral" cable, just means that neither one would have any serious attributes or drawbacks that stand out..................Generally, "neutral" means "tonally neutral" with regard to frequency response, where there would be few minor tonal anomalies (in the reviewer's system context), and none that would make themselves pronounced. |
Maybe you should get a moderately prices neutral cable and then experiment with a capacitive shunt across the terminals. That would certainly round off the highs if that's what you really want to do. I can give you the impedence equation for a given capacitor size if you want to go there. |
Hi Korn; I would suggest that you do what Citation4 (above) did (I also did it)-- call the Cable Co., tell them what you're after, your equipment, and they'll suggest, and let you try out ICs for a nominal fee (the fee is then credited to purchase price). ICs certainly do sound different. The Cable Co. is available at: www.fatwyre.com. Good luck, and don't get discouraged-- there are ICs out there that will let your system "sing". Craig |
Try another CD player, beg borrow demo etc. THAT may be the problem, not the IC's. |
Ignore the techno babble and pointless posturing of audio snobs. What you need is a real solution to a real problem. I cannot believe the answers people foist upon the innocent beginners who visit this site. No wonder people are scared of their stereos. There is nothing wrong with your CD player--I've heard it and it's not a bad player. You certainly don't need to start putting capacitive shunts between terminals! Ignore Carl's gobbledygook about caveats and anomalies. Monster cable is notorious for tilting the frequency band toward a somewhat flabby bass while rounding off the highs. Try a cheap pair first, from Cable Company or a good local dealer. DO NOT GO TO BEST BUY or similar dumps expecting to get help. Is your listening area very reflective of sound? If you face the wall your speakers face and clap your hands loudly, do you hear a sort of ringing or echo? You might just need some damping such as drapes or a carpet on a couple walls or the floor. |
Madisonears - you can really perform an ironic twist when you want to can't you? And you can really suggest with a straight face that the best solution to Korn's dilemma is to purchase some Monster cables which from your admission provide "flabby bass while rounding off the highs"? I can more easily go along with you on room treatment, but we need to know more about Korn's room first - such as if it will be susceptible to flutter echo. |
Madisonears - you can really perform an ironic twist when you want to can't you? And you can really suggest with a straight face that the best solution to Korn's dilemma is to purchase some Monster cables which from your admission provide "flabby bass while rounding off the highs"? I can more easily go along with you on room treatment, but we need to know more about Korn's room first - such as if it will be susceptible to flutter echo. |
Yes, by all means, ignore my "gobbledygook", since I obviously don't know what I'm talking about. I guess I'm just retarded.... |
Please note: the original topic was the neutrality of cables and the possibility of smoothing an edgy high end. Carl, I know that you are experienced and have a lot of knowledge to share, but your answer pretty much missed the point. I didn't mean to offend you. Redkiwi, you also have some valuable opinions and seem somewhat more objective than most here. But let's not burden the poor person with a lot of technical crap when all they want is to dampen some kind of high frequency ringing. A pair of stodgy Monsters will do just that, and for not much money or trouble, and without seriously compromising the performance of the system. Band-aid approach? You bet! Solve the problem quick and cheap? Probably. If that doesn't work, buy a nice Indian bedspread or a Native American rug and hang it on the wall opposite your speakers, behind your listening position. |
With all due respect to you "ears", it's not for you to say whether I missed the point, or not. I was merely discussing the idea of "cable neutrality", the title of the thread. I can't help it if perhaps the wrong question was asked in the first place. That said, quick solutions are generally the wrong ones, and just throwing a rug somewhere is hardly the correct approach to acoustically treating a listening room. Only very high frequency reflections will be absorbed by a rug, and it's just an incomplete and false "solution" to damping the first reflection points in a room, anyhow. |
Madisonears, pardon my testy reply, my only excuse is I just lost a bomb (pardon the pun) in Fiji, and it hurts. Anyway if the budget only allows for some cables then I see your point. But I can just see Korn remaining dissatisfied with the result and in a few months having to get at the cause of the problem and finding he wants to ditch the Monster Cables (not my favourite cable I must say) as well. |
Redkiwi, an interesting thing about Monster Cable (not that this has anything to do with what we're talking about, but...): Did you know that Monster Cable supposedly makes the most expensive speaker cable in the world (according to that "final" Oct. '99 Audio Buyer's Guide)? It costs $100,000... I doubt you'd go thru a dealer to get it, though. Also doubt they'd let anyone audition it, without some sort of non-refundable deposit. I even doubt that they've even sold any of it. Can you imagine someone paying that kind of money for Monster Cable? |
I had to laugh Carl. "No" is the simple answer. I have to admit to a high degree of bias and cynicism with respect to this $100,000 cable I have never heard. (By the way, do you realise what kind of a house that kind of money can buy you in Fiji right now?) A head of a local bank (NZ this time) once said to me that when it came to getting a loan, there were no disadvantaged groups - they all got the reputation they deserved - there were only disadvantaged individuals who deserved to be treated better than the group they belong to. I don't think I am wrong about the group of cables called Monster, but I accept I could be wrong about this $100,000 cable. But Monster's success is built on its mass market branding and distribution, and I ask myself how a $100,000 cable can fit strategically with that fact. One of the things that the masses really go for is to buy a brand which can be associated with the "best". I theorise that just having a $100,000 cable and making sure nobody ever reviews it (honestly) might enable you to convince the masses that this outrageously expensive cable must be the best. Therefore this cable would probably serve its intended purpose by just being the most expensive there is - even if in reality it was made of fencing wire. |
And the thing is, nobody has ever heard of this creature! It's like the Loch Ness Monster...before anybody ever started photographing the bare butts of turn of the century hell raisers in Scotland, to promote that hoax! Yet, there it is in the book, SO IT MUST BE TRUE (heh heh). I'll be happy to review it, if you guys at Monster Cable read this, as long as it isn't too radioactive... I've got future chidren in my gonads that would like to be born with only one head, and three legs (that would be my sons only, heh heh). |
At best, I could only afford about 3% of that $100,000. Monster cable-- and that comes out to about 3 inches. If I could get them hooked up maybe it would sound pretty good. Has anyone had any experience with "short" speaker cables?? Cheers. Craig |
I always get a kick out reviewers - "neutral and dynamic" or "neutral and forgiving on the top end or rolled off." Isn't that inconsistent with neutral and who the h*#l wants neutral anyway. I don't go to a concert and turn to my buddy when Keith Richards kicks in the opening riff to Honky Tonk Women or EC rips into Layla and say "boy that sure is neutral!" I like it because it blows my freakin doors off and that is what music is supposed to do. So IMHO too many reviewers go googoo over electronics and forget the music and too many audiophiles line up at the bookstore waiting for the next issue to see what to buy next. So que up your fav CD or record and if it moves you don't worry if it's neutral or not!!!! |
Gee. I guess if we weren't trying to get the most out of our systems IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE OUR ENJOYMENT OF THE MUSIC IN THE FIRST PLACE, we would take your advice. But since we are, who are you to disparriage us? I don't go buy what a magazine recommends, and neither does anybody else on here. We try before we buy.........................We're all at least as hip as you think you are, pops, and we've all seen the Stones at least once. And those of us with common sense wore earplugs most of the time, or else we were all the way at the other end of the arena, where Showco's FOH arrays didn't deafen us...LIKE IT'S DONE TO YOU, perhaps. Sheesh, if I here "it's about the music" one more time, I might get enraged, or something. WE ALL KNOW IT'S ABOUT THE MUSIC, or we wouldn't be going to the trouble to make our system perform at such a high level! |
...You've got it right Carl. Pops needs to recognize the really important difference between "critical listening" and listening for enjoyment. Personally, I spend over 90% of my listening time in the enjoyment category, and the rest "critical listening". And as for the audiophile vocabulary, it's necessary for effective commication with others about music quality, character, and system improvement. If I'm drunk, a clock radio cranked up can "move me" (with the right music); and a live concert is a totally different experience and has nothing to do with critical listening-- except that it MAY serve as a reference in future listening sessions,IMHO. Cheers. Craig |
Hello Korn ! A lot of words spilled here. thats what people do, audiophiles or not, they don't listen or read really, but start shouting about all sort of things besides the question.. The question WAS, does anybody know of cables who repeatedly mask the sound in a way that they dull or 'warm' up the sound. Answer; i know of such a cable, after listening in so many setups and experience from audiofriends, i can heartedly advise to go for a used pair of MONSTER M 1500 cables. they do just what you ask for. question = answered. thank you. may the music touch you all. |
Korn there is only so much you can do to improve poor recordings, as you suggest many rock/alt especially from 60/70s are bright with too much presence. Three serious suggestions that are still high end solutions. 1)IC:Harmonic Tech Truthlink, adds warmth with good detail.....Skip Monster ICs, poor performance for money. 2)Point speakers straight ahead, no toe-in, this will minimize treble energy, make sure major reflecting surfaces are dampened........ie: rug on floor in front of speakers 3)Any recording that is bright use "Auric Illuminator" treatment which will also add warmth and smooth out. regards..........Sam |
Good basic suggestions, Mega. |
