One good reason to raise cables off of synthetic carpets: better sound. In another listening room, my cables lay on oak flooring and I didn't lift the cables. In my new listening room, the floor is covered with synthetic wall-to-wall carpeting. In this new room, lifting the cables off the synthetic carpeting makes a big difference in clarity/resolution through the midrange. My cable lifters of choice: corrugated cardboard towers cut from cardboard boxes left over from the move, about 6" tall. Cost: $0.
In keeping with the theory that certain materials store energy (e.g., synthetic carpeting) and then dissipate that energy randomly in time back into the cables, it makes sense to me to use materials for lifting the cables that don't store any energy - for me, this means "no plastics." Use wood, paper, unglazed pottery/porcelein.
We can debate the theory, but the ultimate answer is in the listening. When listening, just be cautious with making quick A/B comparisons. My listening tells me that the process of simply MOVING the cable impacts the sound for several minutes to an hour after the cable is disturbed.
Also, be open to getting different results in different systems with different cables. A good friend whose hearing I highly respect has the opposite experience from mine in his room. In his room, and in his system, he says his cables sound better left on the floor, on synthetic carpeting, than lifted. I have no reason to doubt what he's experienced. The point is: he made the listening experiment and chose based on what he heard. My listening experiments in my room, in my system, tell me the sound of my system is better with the cables lifted of the carpet by my cardboard towers. And that's the key to getting better and better sound in this crazy hobby of ours: be prepared to listen and experiment, and trust your own ears.
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In keeping with the theory that certain materials store energy (e.g., synthetic carpeting) and then dissipate that energy randomly in time back into the cables, it makes sense to me to use materials for lifting the cables that don't store any energy - for me, this means "no plastics." Use wood, paper, unglazed pottery/porcelein.
We can debate the theory, but the ultimate answer is in the listening. When listening, just be cautious with making quick A/B comparisons. My listening tells me that the process of simply MOVING the cable impacts the sound for several minutes to an hour after the cable is disturbed.
Also, be open to getting different results in different systems with different cables. A good friend whose hearing I highly respect has the opposite experience from mine in his room. In his room, and in his system, he says his cables sound better left on the floor, on synthetic carpeting, than lifted. I have no reason to doubt what he's experienced. The point is: he made the listening experiment and chose based on what he heard. My listening experiments in my room, in my system, tell me the sound of my system is better with the cables lifted of the carpet by my cardboard towers. And that's the key to getting better and better sound in this crazy hobby of ours: be prepared to listen and experiment, and trust your own ears.
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