What makes the biggest difference in sound quality?

@ebm 

Everything

+1

The question was framed in such a manner so as to specifically not ask about hearing, auditory perceptions or any possible psycho-acoustic effects.

This was possibly accidental, of course.
 

I also didn’t ask what people had for Christmas dinner.

@bjesien 

Looms are key. Because speakers are sold in pairs, you don’t tend to find people using two different speakers. But you find people using electronics from multiple manufacturers, and cable stew. Ultimately you would want an amp and preamp from the same manufacturer, and definitely a full loom of Interconnects speaker cables digital cables power cords from the same manufacturer and loom. Back in the day when I would accompany my dealers to some of their biggest customers, to help set everything up, I was absolutely amazed by the poor performance from six-figure systems with a hodgepodge of cables purchased here and there on AudiogoN. Nothing destroys performance more, and anyone who tells you differently, does not know what they’re talking about. What I didn’t ask with this question was acoustics, which is number one.

@steakster 😂😅

To everyone who said power cords, or the AC chain as being the first part of your system to address after the basics, I agree in most cases. In the 90s when I was flying around the country on my beat to sign new dealers, the first thing I would do to blow them away, was connect a loom of the original AC Master Coupler to their reference system. This demo is how I placed Synergistic Research on the map.

Yours in music,

Ted Denney III

Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.

Guys, why all the politics? This is audio. Whenever someone starts virtue signaling while simultaneously trying to control our behavior or derail a conversation, perhaps the best course of action is to simply ignore the Karen’s? Also, there is always deer and elk season if you like meat but want to avoid factory meat 😉

hi ted, may I confirm by your most recent post that your own order would generally begin with power cords? how would you rate the others after that, in this case, or correct my assumption, otherwise?

@kevn it’s really about looms. If someone doesn’t quite believe in the concept, or they just do not have the funds to put together a full cable loom, yes start with power cords first. Then do speaker cables as that is a loom of two unless you are bi-wiring, them finish with Interconnects. Ironically, it will be the last cables you replace that aren’t part of the loom that will be perceived as making the greatest difference. 

I must not have good ears, because homemade interconnects seem to as good or better than most of the store bought ones I have tried.

there could be an open forum for say, car guys. You could have a group of these car guys talking about how they reduced their best lap times by seconds while outlining exactly what they did to their vehicles to lower their best lap times. Another group of car guys come along to tell the first group they are all nuts and that none of their tuning tips work, some even claim to have tried their tips and that none of them lowered their lap times. The reality is, both of these camps could be correct. The problem is perspective and details. The drivers reducing their lap times could be Porsche and Ferrari pilots while the second group could be Miata drivers. Knowing the details of an audio system is extremely important to put anyone’s perspective in perspective.

As to cable length, shorter is almost always better to a point, but if you must have long cables, make them your interconnects and not your speaker cables.

I don’t believe using a full loom of cables from just one manufacturer makes sense

Of course if you don’t actually have a full loom of cables from one manufacturer and by full loom I mean, all interconnects, digital and analog, all power cords even if they’re going to a turntable motor, and all speaker cables from the same manufacturer and generation/loom, unless someone has actually done this experiment and let the loom settle in for one week, then you really can’t know what a full loom will sound like. And while power cords may make the biggest first impression, it is usually the last cable you replace, something like a mis-matched ethernet cable, an interconnect or a power cord going to something you don’t think matters, it is almost always the last cable that is perceived as making the single biggest difference when that cable completes the loom. Absent this actual experiment taking place, the best bet is to mix and match with cable stew but this will never sound as coherent as a proper loom in the system. At least this has been my experience, and this is also what I find to be the biggest downfall systems costing six figures but with Cable Stew. In fact I’ve heard well set up systems $20,000-$30,000 with a full loom of cables, a full loom of electronics, proper speaker placement and mild acoustic treatments, outperform systems in the deep six-figure range with mis matched cables and components.

Yours in music,

Ted Denney III

Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.

Ok, so yet another analogy that doesn’t work for everyone….
 

is there an analogy that works well for everyone?

@thyname @yuviarora  savage👍🏻

@jjss49 👍🏻

When weighing the advice of others, it pays to understand their perspective. This is the best way to place audio advice in context.

I am not making an argument so much as exposing someone of questionable knowledge and execution where audio is concerned. Inference to conclusion will take place in the minds of those reading.

Just in case anyone missed it.

Yours in music,

Ted Denney III

Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.