+1 ..,. Nailed it!
NOTE: cables are not tone controls.But as with other components in your system, their synergy / or lack of it with the rest of the cradle-to-grave systems will influence your tastes vis-à-vis Yay or Nay.
KEY POINT OPTION # 1: assuming you DO HAVE the decent / high-end hi-fi gear to start with
(1) cables at their best IDEALLY are neither additive nor subjective. They are just supposed to be a signal pass-through in the audio system …ergo IDEALLY neutral and transparent with a minimal to nil insertion of its own tonal effects change .
However, all audio equipment pieces in the link exhibit their own bespoke sonic signature that cannot be avoided. That includes cables.
Hence, it is an alchemy “best available” solution to experiment with different cable designs, materials, and build quality to try to get as close to that Holy Grail of system synergy AND the individual cable tonal colonization minimization effects ( if any)
- ergo. Cables can be somewhat unavoidably mildly additive or conversely subtractive DEPENDING ON YOUR BESPOKE SYSTEM SYNERGY OVERALL, …with an ultimate purist goal of elimination and creation of a theoretical complete neutrality that is difficult to achieve …. that is the ethereal “Holy Grail” highlighted above
KEY POINT OPTION # 2: assuming you DO NOT have the decent / high-end hi-fi gear to start with
- the effects of cables in the context above is greatly reduced or eliminated. The absence of system higher resolution capabilities dampen/ flatten/ minimize/ kill/ (insert your own description) the audio performance effects of cables .
-ergo…minimal to nil additive or subtractive … largely just a strong audio effects of cables “additive” versus “subtractive” being agnostic.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
i have four 2-channel systems ranging from $40K to $1K
(a) cables DO MATTER THE MOST in my top A system …and only a lengthy hands-on swap-in / swap-out experimenting over 10 years with different OEM brands and models in my OWN system (emphasis added …) got me as close as possible TO DATE in system synergy AND the elimination of cables being either additive or subtractive.( as close as possible, which is the objective of quality cables)
(b) the effects of cables in audio performance as I like it decreases as I move down the system $$ strata.
3rd PARTY SELECTIVE COMMENTS
AUDIO: SPEAKER CABLES - From Alan Shaw (owner and designer of HARBETH)
NOTE: I used to have an all-NORDOST FREY cables full loom and they were fine with my last speakers., When I changed to HARBETH 30.2XD’s, something was now curiously “off”. So I upgraded all the cables loom to CARDAS CLEAR loom, and voila … a more pleasing outcome with added slam and dynamics. It was not a subtle improvement . Go figger!
The flat multi-strand and very thin core silver coated NORDOST array were now a step down from the thick gauge all-Cu CARDAS CLEAR new array that mimics the comment below.FWIW..
” … So, the moral of the story is this: the most important factor of the loudspeaker cable that you should select is the amount of metal in the cable core. More metal means lower resistance.
If the core is round (as most are) then the correlation is simple: the fatter the diameter of the metal core the better because the electrical resistance between amp and speaker will be lower.
Thin and really thin cores should be avoided regardless of how exotic the metal material is claimed as the lack of metal in the core conductor will increase resistance. That will reduce amplifier damping, effect the frequency response of the speaker and give unpredictable results that will vary from amp/speaker combination.
Do not be fooled by the diameter of the external plastic sheath: what matters is the metal content of the core. The more the better, without exception….”