John Dunlavy On "Cable Nonsense"

Abe, you can laugh all you want. As an electronics tech by trade, i used to do more than laugh at such things. I was UTTERLY APPALLED by such things. That is, until i tried playing with various power cords. The differences WERE noticeable. In fact, i recently re-affirmed this by accident.

I purchased a piece of equipment that created a hum in one of my systems. Changing the power cord altered the pitch AND amplitude AND frequency spectrum of the hum. This was verified both by ear and by an SPL meter. The change in hum was not due to electro-magnetic interference created by the position of the cord either, as the cords were well away from everything else in the system.

Just because we can't explain something or seems to defy logic doesn't mean that it is impossible. Keep an open mind and see for yourself. I did and i'm still learning every day. Sean
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Sean, while I respect what you are telling us and I cannot judge what you claim to be hearing, I still stand by my original point about cables in general. With regard to AC power cords, if your new equipment introduced hum into your system that varied in pitch and amplitude with different cords, I would suspect a more severe problem somewhere in the system that was only altered (and perhaps not even solved) by trying different cords. If a different cord did solve the problem perhaps the original cord was defective or something else in the system was not quite right. I have cheap cheap power cords on some of my gear with no weird hum or variations in amplitude or pitch when I change the cord.
My main point should be that, in my opinion, it is wrong to spend huge bucks on interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords that are essentailly being used as tone controls to make up for deficiencies elsewhere in the system. With regard to AC power cords I cannot understand the logic of spending hundreds of dollars on colorful fat cables to plug into a wall outlet that has cheap wiring behind it throughout the house. I would ask, would it possibly be more wise to improve the wiring behind the outlet before dumping mega-bucks on the cool looking power cord? I would agree that an inadequate power cord should be replaced but again, in my opinion, spending more than $50 or so is a waste of money (unless you get pleasure from looking at it like a piece of jewelry).

Abe, I don't kmow. I took a long time to come around and be a convert/believer, and actually believe that the price of some wires out there are a good value too. Funny thing, the better my equipment got, the more I heard differences between cables, int's & cords. I am witnessing one of the best improvements in my setup recently- an improvement as big as a componant upgrade, really, and it was worth the $600, worth every dollar. I went from DH Labs T-14, to Coincident CST1. FOr the amount of improvement I got, I feel it's a real value.

Jay, I would agree that interconnects can present a noticeable difference in the sound of your system especially since the measurable and documented differences in the characteristics of these cables can have an affect on the output and input stages of components that might be sensitive to these effects - inductive reatance and capacitive reactance, both of which will alter the tone of an audio signal. On the other hand, I believe that these effects are less pronounced at the low impedance output of a power amplifier coupled to a speaker. A higher quality cable of lower resistance will provide a slight improvement in sound but my real gripe is with those very expensive cables that come packaged in very pretty cases with velvet lining and certificate of authenticity, etc. Snake Oil! Don't even get me started on AC power cords... there's another thread here on Audiogon where you can read in detail my strong opinion on this area of voodoo. :-)

Abe, the majority of my "fancy" power cords are all homebrew designs with the exception of a few TG Audio's, LAT's and a Kimber. While this might sound like ALL of my power cords are "bought and paid for", keep in mind that i have five complete systems set up in my house. That is a LOT of power cords. As such, the ones that were "bought and paid for" were all "snagged" via Audiogon, Audioweb, Audioshopper, Audioreview, etc.... for pennies on the dollar. As such, i have learned quite a bit via first hand experimentation with the resultant experience that comes with it WITHOUT going broke or spending much at all.

As to my hum problem, there is some type of strange reactance between two components that i can't seem to get rid of. Believe me, i've taken all of the normal "prescribed" routes with no luck at all. The fact that changing power cords even remotely affects the sonic output at the speakers DOES verify that they have more influence on what we hear than what most EE's would ever admit to.

As to you labeling them "tone controls", i think of them more as "filters". While they are both doing the same thing in terms of affecting amplitude, bandwidth, linearity, etc... the end result IS measurable in terms of a lower noise floor, improved s/n ratio, differences in frequency response, etc....

Like i said, break out the test equipment and learn something from all of this. It takes NOTHING to sit on ones' laurels and repeat what you've been told and "believe" to be correct. On the other hand, doing and learning can only benefit you in the future. Who knows, it might end up opening new avenues of thought for you OR simply reaffirm the beliefs that you already have. Are you afraid to put your beliefs to the test or challenge your "faith" ???

As i mentioned before, i WAS in the same shoes that you're in now. Trying to disprove the "idiots" using the same arguements that you've posted, i found out that the "idiots" actually new more than i did. Romex or not, power cords DO change the performance characteristics of a system. Sean
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