Keeping cables off the floor

Alexc: I use a toilet paper roll to protect the ends of my Mapleshade digital IC's (they are very close to a wall thermostat that sees much activity) and they don't sound like crap:-) Never thought of using bubble wrap though.

Yes, as far as the speaker cables go, it has made a noticeable improvement in my system which has 17' speaker cable runs. I hang my cables from the bottom of standard book shelves with silk ribbon ties and run them across the bottom of a doorway by running them through a channel box (mounted in the floor under the rug) that I constructed from pine and brass screws. In general the sound became much more defined and open. Also keeping the right and left channel cables separated (by 6" or so where possible) improves the sound as well. Don't have a clue as to why it specifically makes such a difference (though it must be removing some type of interactive interference of sorts) but it does in my set up. Pierre at Mapleshade was the first to tell me about this concept and I have since read about it on the web in the chat rooms. Try it, it's cheap.

I just "cleared" a few cables last night that had gone off track and were touching walls and the improvement in clarity was very noticeable as a CD was playing during this process. I wonder if it also has something to do with the length and make of the speaker cables? I am using Kimber 4VS in very long 17' runs. The Kimber has tons of fine strands in its makeup (8 enclosed wires per cable and each wire itself is multi stranded). This design is supposed to be good for longer runs, but is it also more inclined to be effected by interference as well? I do not own a pair of golden ears and yet the change in sound is not subtle.

Jim: I am just guessing, but soft wood vibrates a lot. Other than clearing my cables from the carpet fiber I also find that the sound gets muted when they touch the walls as well and assume that they must be picking up vibration received and then sent by the wall to the cable. One specialty product for this purpose is made out of ceramic which is very dense. However just keeping the cable off of the carpet fiber does improve the sound in my system. Curiously enough two small sections that come into brief contact with a 100% cotten rug seem to make no difference that I can hear. The opposite is true of the carpet which is made of manmade fibers. Probably not the best material (soft wood), but it should still improve the sound I would think. There are a lot of things that I could still do to improve the sound of my system, but I am not willing to totally screw up my living room (for other uses) to achieve these improvement and am usually happy with any gain that I get.

I like the napkin ring idea myself. I wonder if you could find a cheap heavy coordinating base to glue to the bottom of each one (like little blocks or flat rounds of trophy marble or ceramic) and skip lining the ring itself as they should be elevated enough off the floor by the base. I live in LA as well and used to order (in the 70's and early 80's) from a place called Bemak Plasics. They used to be on Santa Monica Blvd. but either moved or went under. I think that are wifes must know each other. I mentioned placing architecheral balls in the uppermost corners of the living room and dining area (to diffuse low frequencies) and my wife has been bugging me to complete the project ever since. She wants to paint them different colors. She has always wanted crown molding, which I refuse to put up with a cottage cheese ceiling and feels that the balls would trim the room in a way. I have not gotten around to researching what material they should be made of, which is the holdup.

Jim: Well we can't win them all or any sometimes. It must be a CA thing, we made drapes out of souviner table cloths for the spare bedroom (anything goes). I searched the Audio Asylum site Cable Forum using "cable and floor" and "cable and carpet" and came up with quite a few hits. Probably should have tried the Tweaker's Asylum as well but the screens were giving me a headache. One comment said that polystyrene foam was a good material to use and that wood was not (there are claims that wood floors are worse than carpets. I will have to try lining a wooden cable channel box that I placed under the rug at a doorway with polystyrene and see if it opens up the sound even more. I need to pull it out anyway to chisel out another half inch of the subfloor in order to make it flush. Anyway, check out AA for more info than we have mustered here so far.

David: "Arch" balls meaning used in the same manner as crown molding in a room (for example I installed plaster cherubs in the uppermost corners of the main bedroom in this application). I just don't know if they should be reflective (plastic or plaster) or if they should absord the sound energy (styrofoam, or if painted would probably have both qualities). Styrofoam balls are easy to obtain at any art store or god forbid craft shop (seeing middle aged women running around in sweaters/sweatshirts with 3D "bears" on the front drives me a little nuts, my mother has one as well).