I never read a post by someone who said, “I just changed my oil and my car runs better.” I suppose they typically just keep that to themselves.
I have found out why new cables and tweaks actually work!
The issue is now solved via irrefutable scientific data and rigorous validation after unprecedented levels of physical effort. I now know why swapping cables works, and why a great deal of other tweaks work too.
I spent a great deal of time over the weekend cleaning my entertainment center. I used a Swiffer with the extending wand attachment. Immediately afterwards I went to watch a movie and the sound was clearer, cleaner than I’d ever heard it before. The video didn’t change, but the audio, it was so good I stopped playing the Fellowship of the Ring for the 10th time and went to listen to music.
Oh my goodness, what deep and extended soundstage! Not only could I hear deeper into all of my music but instruments had bodies and height! Diana Krall was so palpably present I wanted to buy her dinner. But what had changed?? Every single cable was left as it was, but I had cleaned!!
That’s when it hit me. All my tweaks and all my cable replacements did nothing. It was the cleaning I did every time I replaced a set of cables that actually caused the revolutionary transformations I was experiencing. Same for every other audiophile!! You've ignored the cleaning and ascribed changes to gear. We've been fooled!
On a completely unrelated note, I will soon be releasing my own line of advanced, jitter free, cleaning solutions, in peach, evergreen, unscented and Axe Body Spray fragrances.
120 responses Add your response
@erik_squires Nice one for Christmas! But does you joshing like this mean you might be realising the shortcomings of the dark side and be coming over to the light side and leaving the golden-eared fools to their own devices (sic). |
@mwinkc , if your left arm is shaky enough that‘d be ‘de trop’ |
Audiogoners won’t joke around here. They took music listening a serious business. Dust usually does not conduct electricity. However, when the moisture in the air "adsorbs" and forms a thin film on the surface of dust particles, the dust layer on the cables becomes condusive and intensifies emi/rfi that compromises the sound quality... |
@clearthinker honestly i thought my system sounded better without the dust bunnies. 🤣
when it comes to cables, I know they can make a difference, but I doubt very much most are worth the retail. It was also enlightening to me how people who arent drinking the kool aid can hear a difference and still make radically different choices. |
The comment about perception is a good one. Some years ago there was an industrial engineering experiment to see what color on the walls of the cafeteria raised morale. They found that it wasn't the color as much as just making a change. Similarly when we want to hear a difference, we often do perceptually. |
But did you perform double blind test and what time of day was it? IMO you should never perform such an undertaking unless you are a qualified tech in the filed of cleaning fluids, and have a degree in this. Otherwise people on this site will give you no credibility to your findings. Please provide a You Tube video of exactly what you did so others here can follow and attempt to reproduce your outcomes. |
@lanx003 Afraid you're wayyyy too far gone for me. But I think you mean 'conductive'. Now, you say 'the dust layer on the cables becomes conductive" But the cables are heavily insulated. So the thin film cannot transmit any signal into the dielectrics. Dust can land on the terminations, so true believers might clean them often. It occurs to me that taping the terminations with insulating tape or some other benign tape will prevent dust from landng on them and save you having to clean all the terminations before sitting down to listen. If you have amplifiers with ventilation holes on the top surface, have you ever looked to see the amount of dust accumulated on the circuit boards and components inside. Crikey, it's thick and sitting on the actual boards that carry....oh no!!...signal. Your music. Anyhow don't worry! It's really hot in there, so any humidity that might tend to make the dust conductive soon evaporates. Phew! A narrow escape. Still it doesn't do any harm to go in there from time to time and vacuum out the dust...very carefully. The fastidious will want to polish the surface of the circuits on the board. |
I used to work for the DoD making cleaning fluids for submarines to make them extra stealthy. The secret is dolphin spit. Turns out their spit causes a hydrophobic electrical charge to build on their noses which repels water and makes it easier for them to glide through the water. Trouble is, we can only gather it while they sleep. |
@erik_squires On cables I think I mainly agree with you. I am not so pig headed as to think cables carrying signal cannot make a difference. But a far smaller difference than changing an amp, or cartridge, digital player or speakers. And even smaller when evaluated on a per dollar basis. But passive stuff like power cables and fuses and raising your wires on little pyramids cannot make a difference, whatever some people convince themselves they are hearing. |
@clearthinker After decades of listening, and hearing how audiophiles and non-audiophiles perceive sound I have my own theory which I do not need others to ascribe to:
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@clearthinker Not every cable I have has perfect insulation. I am frugal, not because I do not believe in expensive cables. Every time I clean the dust, immediately I hear the sound improvements just as claimed by the OP... Ha! Why nobody thinks I have been flippant? Am I being too serious? |
@lanx0003 'Perfect' insulation may be putting it too high. On any cable if you put a few kV to the outside insulation, some of it may get through to the core. But you must be buying too cheap. I could put extremely effective insulation on every cable for a few $. Which are the brands of your cables that do not have perfect insulation? I shall be sure to give them a miss. @jerryg123 On here, fun is a serious business. |
@erik_squires This is too funny. Merry Christmas, I needed that laugh.
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@Fuzztone In that case, don't start conversations. No one is forcing you to. What exactly is your problem if I am? You can be here for what you want while I and all the participants who join in the conversations I start, are here to start conversations. That’s how the internet works. What exactly is your problem with letting others enjoy this site? There’s a name for people who interrupt others who are having a good time, for no good reason but I can’t place my finger on it... I’m particularly curious why you think your vision of what this site should be for is more important than mine, or that of the people who are happy to participate. Did you pay extra? |
Empathy! If you have a poor relationship with anything (car, machine, electronics, speakers, amps, cables, etc.); that item will perform more poorly for you. Cleaning you equipment shows you respect and like it, so of course it will perform better. Wash you car and it runs better. Wash your dog and he licks your face. Dust and polish all your components and they sound better. Relationship/perceptual bias? |
@fuzztone In case I'm not being clear enough, I'm trying to figure out why your passive aggressive commentary has continued this long. I assume you are an adult, right? I challenge you to talk like one. "I am uncomfortable with this thread because X and wish it was more like Y because Z." Try it out. |
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I am bored with this thread because it is time wasting to me. Happy now? At least your challenge is silly and condescending. As is your inference that I don’t like others to "enjoy" this site. I wish happiness to all. I’m only on this Forum for experience sharing and education. When I find something actually funny along the way, I can play along. Never here. ES try PMing if you really want answers instead of public comments to attack. |
@clearthinker All right, I give up. I was being cynical and sort of tagging along playing dumb. I apologize for the invented dust "theory". Lately, there are several dumb threads like this, such as comparing digital to the cheap TT/analoug equip. I do not find that funny at all to be honest not because I don't get the joke... |
Good progress, @Fuzztone so if you are bored and this thread is a waste of your time, why on earth are you here, at all? Is it too hard for you to just move along, without saying anything at all? It’s not as if the existence of this thread, or any other thread I start prevents you from moving right along to another.
You were the one who made several public comments which were disparaging, you should explain yourself very much in public. Remember that part where you said we weren’t sticking to reality? That was a really nice thing to say. Just now you said it was boring. OK... and what? So it’s boring to you. Did you pay for it? Did you do something to make this site better or less boring? No you did not. Why should I talk to you in private about your are unable to behaving like an adult and move onto threads you DO like ? |
PS - @fuuzztone, you’ve attacked several of my threads VERY MUCH in public, why on earth do you think I should PM you to reply? Why should you get the benefit of a private criticism when you never extended that courtesy to me? As far as I can tell you are upset this thread isn't specifically for you? Right? Well your refund check is in the mail. Go stand outside and wait for it. |
its a fun conversation. too many sourpusses
we all KNOW a clean dust free rack, wall unit with components, once cleaned, the satisfaction of having it all dust free, sparkly, does add to the sound. it DOES for me!!!!
lighter up Francis ! enjoy life, smile more, don't be a negative ninny. i reply to way to many things with over long boring dribble. unless im on ignore, y'all don't itchbay bout my posts.
anyway. be positive, you will be happier/ |
@fuzztone, Foz SSX dimension set far to narrow ... :-) @erik_squires, attention to detail ... tan lines? Err, vacuum carpet lines add that finishing touch ;-) |
@lanx0003 Sorry if you were really joshing. Trouble is some on here really believe in stuff way more crazy than your dust. Welcome back to the world of reason. |
Funny, dust does have na impact on sound. That's why I swipe an Audioquest brush to remove it before every cartridge drop across and then up toward the center of the record - no fluid to gunk it up. Also occasionally brush the stylus with a tiny bit of fluid on a dense stylus brush. These things do make a difference. I'll dust around the components and under the turntable and on it once in a while, all very carefully. That doesn't affect the sound, but it looks cleaner. |
With regards to tubes, warm with out a definition is meaningless. By warm, many mean dark, akin to a lot of Burr Brown opams from a decade ago. I haven't kept up, if they still label any Burr Brown I don't know what they sound like these days. That, however, seems to largely depend upon the tube. As for second order distortion, that's true, and Nelson Pass has made at least one solid state amp that has said distortion. This adds depth to the sound. How it seems to add depth so as to seem accurate to the sound stage, singer forward, drums to the rear usually, I don't pretend to know. The bottom line though, IME, is that like any primarily innocent hobby, it doesn't matter what proclivities you have for what you say passes as music, or how you manage to turn it from some electrical signal, or from bumps on a disc to sound, if you enjoy it, forget the haters and keep enjoying your music! |
