Hi Zilla.
I don't think we have all the answers to why elevating cables work but here's a bit of a brief cut and pasted from our website...
"...Speaker cables, interconnects or AC power cords that rest on the floor are susceptible to a host of sonically degrading ills such as: static electricity and/or dielectric interference from carpeting, capacitive coupling to "earth ground" and floor bound resonances. These all can affect the energy field surrounding a cable and change the electrical parameters designed into the cable robbing the music signal of it's energy and life. Strange as it may seem, lifting your cabling off the floor will result in a more focused and vivacious sonic presentation."
You're not nuts.
ENJOY! and Best Regards,
Robert |
...BTW, now you got me thinking about stupid tweaks that work. Here's a worthwhile freebie I discovered years ago and that Jonathan Scull, when he wrote for Stereophile, also made mention of...
When listening in the sweet spot, remove your eye glasses if you wear them. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find your music images a bit better. I bet some of you already have experience with this.
Oh...and definitely DO NOT hold a big board up in front of your head when listening to music. You'll most likely get bored very quickly.
sorry, couldn't resist that one.
Anyway, Cheers!
Robert |
I once listened to music standing on my head and it profoundly affected my listening experience and, believe me, I know the sound of my system and the sound of music and the sound of anything under the sun. You and me both are great discoverers, on the level of Newton I guess. I say we both get a Nobel prize. What do you think?
PS It could have been the synergy between the nylon shag and my hair. |
It will all go back as it was in 3-days. Only kidding. (Maybe?) Once something starts really good I leave things alone. It's amazing how moving cords/IC's around can sometimes have profound effects on the sound. All is well. You're fine. |
Zilla,
I was curious to try something like this as well. What type of boards did you use? Any paricular placement on the boards? I have seen the Michael Green products and it seems that based on how you spread things out you can manipulate the sound. Of course I have hardwood floors so they cables sit on wood anyway. Would this even make a difference for me? |
The only scientifically-grounded explanation I can think of is you have reduced the amount of RF and EMI interference from your cables touching other cables or objects on the floor.
Whatever the case, congratulations on your improvement! |
Well it all starts with the electrons getting stimulated by... just kidding. I don't know why, but it appears that there is a change in my sound as well - not as significant as yours. I don't believe in ghosts or UFOs, but I believe lifting cables off of the ground makes a difference.
Rob |
What do you have on the floor? Is it carpet, wood, concrete etc?
Different surfaces have different dialectric characteristics, and will affect the cables which are lying on them. Carpet tends to be the least neutral, or adds the most coloration. Watch out for the neutral police, I hear the hoofbeats of their horse, or is it their ass? I mean donkey, of course.
Many objects within say 8" will affect the sound of your speaker cable, interconnects run between pieces of equipment. Try to keep your powercords away from IC or speaker cable, if they must come into contact have them crossing at right angles whenever possible. |
Did you just lift the cables, or did you disconnect them first, lift them, and then re-connect? If so, there's your answer...
-RW- |
I bougth some and noticed nothing at all.
I kept them because i can now clean the floor without any risk to harm my cables :) |
I have similar experiences everytime I play with my cables and IC's. Next day its back to normal. Doesn't have diddly to do with them laying on the floor (I have hardwood, perhaps thats why) or being elevated.
Nrchy is right out routing your cables. Keep the IC's away from anything which has electricity, i.e. transformers, power conditioners, etc, due to stray RFI and magnetic fields. |
The cables use to rest on a thick shag carpet over concrete.
No I did not disconnect them I just elevated them and them did not lay next to any power cords. I tried this on a whim and was duely shocked-- err ahh surprised. |
Ridgestreetaudio, I have also heard that it has to do with the static electricity and/or dielectric interference from carpeting. But I have also been told, as well as personally experienced, that only a minor improvement will result. Although if the cable is buried in thick shag carpet, as Zilla indicated, the effect may be more pronounced than my very chintzy apartment carpet. |
Great tweak. Synthetic carpet stores up energy like a large capacitor, and then releases it randomly back into the cables. Must get those cables up. It plays all kinds of subtle games with the sound and also some not so subtle ones such as a crackling sound like record surface noise. If you have wood floors, tile, or rugs made of a natural fiber there usually isn't the problem at all. Isn't this hobby great?! |
Damn it, I can't do this tweak! I have to walk over my cables to access other rooms, so I'd have to be freakin' Sergei Bubka if I wanted to elevate my speaker cables. |
Pbb - I would kill for a Nobel peace prize ;^) |
Pbb was that the synergy between your rug and your rug??? |
Hi Fatparrot.
"...that only a minor improvement will result." I don't think such a definitive statement can be made. Change "will" to "may" and I think that expresses some folks experience but certainly not everyone's. Lots of variables involved also. Whether a cable, regardless of cost, "sounds" good or not, there are some cables that are designed pretty poorly from an electrical standpoint. These cables will probably fit in the "minor" category...says me anyway. Also, minor, when it comes to audio enthusiasts, is a relative term. I've heard the difference to be substantial and I've heard the difference to be minor in different systems but, though the differences were apparent, they were relative to my values. I'm also of the opinion that if I can positively (or, God forbid, negatively) affect enough small details, the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts.
I don't believe the type of carpet will be the determining factor on what kind of performance improvements one might expect. We've had our system on wood floors and now concrete floors. Both floors had a Berber type carpet installed and the gains of lifting the cabling off the floor, I/Cs, S/Cs, and P/Cs, were substantial enough that I wouldn't want to do without. Mind you also that it can't be said that it was gear related because a host of gear sees duty here.
It's probably not fair to say one can expect a level of improvement on par with swapping out a decent piece of electronics for a $$$$$ megabuck state of the art piece of gear but they are worth the minimal investment. As for Ridge Street, we've only had one instance where the client didn't benefit worth the investment so that says something of this tweak's effectiveness.
BTW, the "...removing eye glasses" thing I mentioned above? Not a service we offer anymore. The travel expenses incurred to go to a client's residence to remove his/her eye glasses for them made this service too expensive. $549.00 flat rate...can you believe it!? Me either. Um...I jest.
Cheers!
Robert |
Same effect found not just wid carpet but other materials. Capacitance store energy and release, energy induced into conductor. Release time constant, but time when discharge reach signal carrying cable depend on distance from dialetcric (carpet) and conductor. So effect is time smear. Long distance is bad result. Shorter distance, prefer less than 4 inch is best result. All this observe with test instrument.
Now I go put head in ice block.
Kal |
Punkawalla is correct in imo about the time smear aspect. |
Ridgestreetaudio, point well taken! Change "will" to "may" in my post. I was assuming that if synthetic fiber carpet (as mentioned in other posts) acts either as a dielectric, or as a static electricity "capacitor", then burying the cable into shag carpet would have a more deleterious effect than merely laying it upon a short and tight weave synthetic carpet. |
