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  3. 125500-1483

Cable Controversy

I love the cable forum. Discussions about cable can really generate sparks among the mature audiophiles. Regarding cable design: Other than the basics of resistance, impedance, and conductance, it seems that there is very little firm ground upon which one can form convincing conclusions. Witness the bewildering array of cable designs, incoporating network boxes, magnets, biased shields, liquid conductors, solid core, braided strands, exotic metals, air dialectrics, to name but a few. In contrast: Regarding balanced cables, at least one experienced poster and equipment designer has stated here that all balanced cables perform identically, once a few basic design parameters are met.  I ask for the voices of experience and sanity to offer their theories and experience on the topic of cable design and performance. Thanks in advance.
psag

Showing 10 responses by psag

psag OP
518 posts
 
Here's another example: At least one popular manufacturer of speaker cables and interconnects claims that the goal of cable design is to do no harm to the signal, or as little harm as possible.  Is that is indeed the goal of cable design? And if so, then what type of cable best achieves that goal?
psag OP
518 posts
 
"...as many answers as responders...as to which cables are best."

Yes, and its very system-dependent. I would like to believe that some designs are better than others, but what makes one cable better than another?

For example, if a cable makes a mediocre sounding system sound better, is that a better cable? My guess is that such a cable would sound lousy in a superior system.
psag OP
518 posts
 
I would love to sit down and talk with this person, and I will make it worth their while:

He/she would be an experienced listener with intact hearing, and a good working knowledge of acoustics and electrical engineering.  He/she would be in possession of an excellent playback system, having used it to evaluate cable looms from the most highly regarded brands. He/she would have excellent communication skills, in order to describe his/her findings and conclusions. And finally, he/she would be completely rational, objective, and unbiased in forming these conclusions.

Anyone?
psag OP
518 posts
 
"Obviously, many well regarded designers believe the benefits of a single ended topology significantly outweigh the benefits of common mode noise rejection"

That's news to me. Quite different from the commonly expressed view that for short runs, balanced cable offers no real advantage over single ended cable.
psag OP
518 posts
 
Ok, but even for short runs, I don't agree that a single ended cable will outperform a balanced cable. There may be exceptions, but in general, I think its accepted that balanced cable is an advance over single ended.
psag OP
518 posts
 
Even for short runs, I believe the benefit of eliminating cable-induced noise would outweigh any theoretical losses from restoring phase.
psag OP
518 posts
 
I agree that, in theory, the role of cable is to deliver signal 'faithfully' (for lack of a better word), with as little degradation to the signal as possible.  Audioquest for one espouses this type of philosophy in some of their ads. It would stand to reason that I would like the Audioquest sound, but there are other wires on the market that sound better to my ear, in my system. I have no idea whether my wires of choice are more faithful (than Audioquest) to the original signal. Perhaps they are introducing good-sounding distortion into the playback chain.
psag OP
518 posts
 
Some credit is due to Harry Pearson for his Absolute Sound concept, which centers on recreating a facsimile of a concert experience. I think the concept of Absolute Sound has been changing to something more objective and reproducible. But in terms of evaluating cables, we are still in the stone age.
psag OP
518 posts
 
"As many people have been quick to note here, the sound a cable brings to a system depends on that system."

Has certainly been said here many times, and accepted by many as dogma.  Personally, I'd prefer not to think of cables as 'flavors' or tone controls, to be used to balance out a system. Rather, I evaluate cables for their inherent 'quality' (for lack of a better word). Another way to look at it is that a well designed and executed (high quality) cable loom will sound great in any neutral, high quality setup.
psag OP
518 posts
 
When the system, or some part of the system is flawed and/or colored, we seek to correct it by using different flavors of cables. In contrast, when the individual components are well-balanced, full-range, and neutral, we naturally gravitate towards high-quality cables that have all the same virtues. At audio shows, in the best rooms, we see a clustering of high quality components, transducers, and cable looms that share these virtues. As a general rule, you do not see in these rooms a mixing and matching of different brands of cables and pricepoints.
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