Which cables go with what?????

Bravo Audioengr! Wished I had seen your post sooner. Audioengr has nailed it done! About time someone said this as succinctly as you. I even go so far to say that when shopping for audio gear, not only should one take their own music to audition gear with, but also, and perhaps more important, your own cables! At that, I recommend using the most neutrally, transparent cables you can find. That way you get to hear the gear for what it is and honestly determine whether the piece of gear or system being auditioned fancies your listening preferences. Neutral and transparent cabling takes away the “editorial” issue of most cables.

There are tons of great "sounding" cables out there. They work with well with certain systems to one degree or another. Then, there are some great cables available that work great with virtually any system. These offerings reveal the glorious synergy of well-chosen gear or the weakness’ of poorly designed gear or a miss-matched system. With great “sounding” cables, chasing the rabbit can go on and on and it seems you never quit get to the music. Close, but no genuine cigar. It’s easier to change cables every month to six months than address what may be the real issue…poor gear or system synergy.

With great cables, there is no chase and the result is not “close”, it’s magical. If one has taken the care and time to define their listening preferences and to assemble a system that reflects those values, you find yourself captivated by the music only rather than music that directs your attention to the gear. Personally, I hate listening to gear and wires.

I recently received a comment about how one of our cables revealed a weakness in their analog front end. I thought, “Finally, somebody gets it!” Normally, one would say the cables are at fault. Rather than blame the cabling, this individual was familiar enough with their system to recognize where the real fault was. They now have the opportunity to address the real issue rather than go on chasing the cable rabbit and never really fixing the problem. Bravo to that person!

Kind Regards,
Robert

Well, my point and intention was more about philosophy than theory. Anyone can either learn from it, agree with it or disagree with it. That is fine with me. I have no interest to engage in a "theory" discussion other than to say balancing electrical parameters for a given application, topology, insulators and conductor quality are important. How we apply these criteria is not open for debate which is what usually happens when a discussion on "theory" comes up. We do what we do and our cables are what they are. Our offerings are for ears that love music instead of being scruntinized by minds that entertain theory and/or crunch numbers. If this seems to be an easy out, I regret that it's seen that way but, so be it. I mean no disrespect or offense here, just wanting to be to my point.

Kindly,
Robert

Sean, If I understand correctly, the bottom line and simplicity of your question is how do you determine a cable is, in and of itself, neutral enough to have no discernable signature of it's own given the current resolution that can be obtained with electronics. If that's your question, it does need an answer.

The only way I know how to answer that question at this point is to work with my clients on a case-by-case basis and tell them what my experience tells me they should hear with our cabling in their particular system. It's time consuming but, so far, that has worked very well.

What that requires on my part is that I have to have a pretty good scope of how different gear sounds. That has taken me years to learn and is an on-going process. In case you're wondering if I've heard almost every piece of gear there is to be heard, the answer is no but I've had the opportunity to hear a lot. I have enough experience to have a good clue about how different topologies sound, how different capacitors, diodes, resistors, ICs, transistors, tubes, wire, and etc. sound. Given this experience and what I believe makes for a neutral cable, I believe I've acquired enough knowledge and credibility to make the claims that I make about our products. I'm confident enough to risk being fool enough to let others purchase our offerings and welcome they're judgments. So far, we're still here and I trust we'll be around for the long haul.

If this seems like a pretty cumbersome answer, it probably is. I wished I knew a simpler way to answer it but this is the best, however awkward, I know for now. I think I should say thanks for bringing up your question like this because I’ve not really entertained to any real degree your question. I am now entertaining it seriously…if there’s a simpler answer that is still helpful to our clients, it sure would save me a hell of a lot of time!

Kindly and Sincerely,
Robert

I wasn't able to get my mother-in-law to believe I was sorry she couldn't spend a month with us but...I just saved 30% on my car insurance!

Robert