2. cables
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Which cables go with what?????

I never fails to amaze me, the questions people ask on this forum, always trying to find some synergy between cables and their components/speakers.

The fact is: there are two classes of cables:
1) Those that are neutral
2) Those that impose a sonic signature (tone controls of a sort)

If the average audiophile spent his time trying to weed-out the tone control cables and get some neutral cables, then all that would be left is to determine the right synergy between his or her components. This may mean elimination of an offensive component, as painful as that sounds.

Component synergy is real. Amps and speaker combinations definitely need to be selected carefully. In some cases also preamp-amp synergies are important. If you are using tubes, then there are even more compatibility issues. But cables, forget it. If you are trying to compensate for a poor component or speaker design by using tone control cables, you will probably never be happy and likely compromise the sound of the other components in the process. You will certainly never approach a live or "master-tape" sound. There, that's my editorial. Hopefully some will learn from it.
audioengr

Showing 4 responses by rjwood

rjwood
14 posts
 
Nrchy, I didn't accuse Audioengr of "pushing his own cables". I'm just questioning whether it's appropriate for a manufacturer (and most of us know about Audioengr's products) to start such a thread. Self-promotion can take more or less subtle forms and Audioengr could easily change his username.
rjwood
14 posts
 
Audioengr, you may have had an "illustrious" career in the "computer business" but your premise that audio cables are either neutral or coloured is just bunk. NO audio component, passive or otherwise, can be completely transparent. If you take two identical cables and alter just a single design parameter, e.g. conductor purity, in one of them, they'll sound different. I find these claims by manufacturers to neutrality, transparency, or whatever, to be arrogant in the extreme and have far more respect for those that let their products - and the MUSIC - speak for themselves. Whilst I'm not enamoured of all of his work, I think Robert Lee of Acoustic Zen has it right when he says that cable design is as much an art as a science (Mr Lee is, I understand, an ex-professional violinist).
Oh, and if Audioengr is really starting these threads for the benefit of us mere music lovers, perhaps he could nominate a few manufacturers whose cables perform at the same exalted level as his own?
rjwood
14 posts
 
Audioengr fails to acknowledge that cables are components too! Of course, your amplifier must have enough power to drive your speakers and, similarly, there shouldn't be an impedance mismatch between your source component(s) and preamp, or preamp and amp. But given that these basic issues have been addressed, your system is only as good as its weakest link and that weakest link could be a cable, 'neutral' or otherwise.

rjwood
14 posts
 
Audioengr, ALL cables have a sonic signature, just as ALL electronic components have a sonic signature. It's simply a matter of choosing a collection of components that, to YOUR ears, do least damage to the music. I'm all for applying sound scientific principles to cable design but, in its present state, science can only tell us so much, hence the diversity of equally valid approaches. The list of 'respectable' cable manufacturers you posted is completely arbitrary and FAR from complete.
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