John, you have shared some outstanding and valuable information for all of us with your cable quest...thanks, cable shootouts are fun but require alot of time, effort, crawling around and bending over! I have followed many of your threads, you've got a big time system and I have great respect for your opinion.
I'm sort of in the camp with Dave b with regards to MIT, I just haven't found a cable that is more involving, more balanced, and makes me forget I'm listening to recorded music. Many traits that a cable brings out in a system have been thoroughly covered by everyone here, tonality, extention, midrange...etc. but unless I've missed it in a thread the most important thing to me in cabling a system is "can I live with this longterm." Does the presentation do it for me a month later, or 6 months later? (In our hobby 6 months is longterm!)
I'm not questioning anyone here, these are simply my findings. I have auditioned alot of cables, from dealers, loans from friends, and the cable company. For me, living with cables for a weekend, week, or even 2 weeks just isn't enough time for me to really get comfortable tuning my system. I read alot of comments about dropping in a cable here or a pc there and right away WOW, it blows such and such away. I would caution anyone, especially someone new to the hobby to be careful about such claims, immediate impact is easy to ascertain but is it right for you when the "newness" wears off. Thats another great thing about audiogon, buying used so you can really give a product a shot and either keeping it or get some or all of your investment back.
Again, I'm not calling anyone out here, goodness knows I've been on the nirvana quest for many a year. I enjoy swapping out cables that I own on occasion, it really allows you to get to know your system.
I'm sort of in the camp with Dave b with regards to MIT, I just haven't found a cable that is more involving, more balanced, and makes me forget I'm listening to recorded music. Many traits that a cable brings out in a system have been thoroughly covered by everyone here, tonality, extention, midrange...etc. but unless I've missed it in a thread the most important thing to me in cabling a system is "can I live with this longterm." Does the presentation do it for me a month later, or 6 months later? (In our hobby 6 months is longterm!)
I'm not questioning anyone here, these are simply my findings. I have auditioned alot of cables, from dealers, loans from friends, and the cable company. For me, living with cables for a weekend, week, or even 2 weeks just isn't enough time for me to really get comfortable tuning my system. I read alot of comments about dropping in a cable here or a pc there and right away WOW, it blows such and such away. I would caution anyone, especially someone new to the hobby to be careful about such claims, immediate impact is easy to ascertain but is it right for you when the "newness" wears off. Thats another great thing about audiogon, buying used so you can really give a product a shot and either keeping it or get some or all of your investment back.
Again, I'm not calling anyone out here, goodness knows I've been on the nirvana quest for many a year. I enjoy swapping out cables that I own on occasion, it really allows you to get to know your system.