How much money do you want to waste?

Reply from Author
To the "Regulars" and whoever:
Whew! Sorry if I offended anybody.

"Cant we all just get along", Rodney King.

It has been a while since I have been criticized for "reading" about audio (as opposed to listening to it.)

I do not want to go on to long because apparently everybody has had enough of this topic( I am new to this forum- Sorry)

I would like to say two things for the record. 1)My original post concerned spending "mega$$$$" on cables. I did not say that there is no difference in cables or that you cannot hear a difference in cables. Anyone who knows the first thing about current or voltage (much less audio electronics) knows that. 2) My point was simply that they are grossly overpriced and over-hyped. If you are willing to read a little I suggest (in addition to the sites listed in the original post) Allen Wright's book "Supercables Cookbook." (Available at Vacuumstate.com) There is no state secret or propritary information involved and a comparatively cheap and well designed cable will do everything you need. If you are not into DIY a look at Wright's book will at least offer some protection from your local audio salesman. In fact cables are probably the simplist link in the chain. If you have the dexterity to butter toast you can put together your own for a few cents on the dollar. Being a relative newcomer to audiogone I figured that if you are at this site you are interested in stretching your $$$ and like to avoid the pernicious effect of retail pricing, and glossy advertising budgets.

My Best to everyone!
CK

To T southworth and Friends,
What is the resonant frequency of your tulip bulbs and can you e-mail a notch filter to to take care of it.
Thanks
Stay cool
CK

Steve and Sean re Electrostatic Speakers
I have built a dozen or so conventional speakers and make no claim to have expertise with ESLs but from what I understand speaker wire is critical with ESLs.

Generally the load presented to an amplifier is completely different for an ESL. ESLs act more like a capacitor in the line while traditional magnetic speakers act like a resistor/inductor.

All cables have inductance, capacitance and impedance and, of course, the amount can be changed by design of the wire. An ESL is driven by a high voltage step up transformer INSIDE THE SPEAKER and it "leaks" inductance. This interacts with the capacitance of the ESL to form what is called L/C (inductance/capacitance) resonant circuit and this will cause a high frequency peak if it is not controlled(kept out of the hearing frequency). They spend a lot of time trying to build great transformers that do not "leak" much. Because inductance is such a big problem due to the L/C problem it is especially important that cables have low inductance too.

To sum it up: If your ESLs' seem to have an unattractive peak in the highs (are "bright") one thing to look at is the design of the cables.

This may seem to some to contradict my prior posts but it does not because well designed cables for ESL's can be had or made for chump change once you know what you are looking for.

as noted, I'm not a big ESL person and if my understanding is off base please give me an e-mail.
CK