Speaker Wires on Carpet

Ceramic cable hangers are available from Farm & Fleet or any other large hardware chain store ( Home Depot ) that has a good sized electrical department. A couple bucks a piece at most. Get the bigger ones, not the little ones. You won't need as many and even if the cables sag between them, which they will, the higher elevation probably won't let them touch the carpet, etc... Buying the same quantity of ceramic "audiophile approved" cable supports would cost hundreds of dollars rather than a few dozen dollars. Only drawback is that you've got to unscrew / remove the lag bolts that are threaded into the ceramic base of these. A little labor can save you hundreds of dollars. Sean
>

PS... If synthetic carpets can't store residual energy, why do people get shocked from a build up of static electricity arcing from their hand to a door knob or other metal objects??? As such, isn't it possible that the very high voltage level that is required to arc across non-conductive free air could also affect a conductor that already has voltage??? Wouldn't an equation like this be part of understanding basic principles of induction? Do the math regarding the conductivity of an inch of free air and that of a few millimeters of plastic, pvc, teflon, etc.. and then come back and talk to us. I'll give some of you a hint so that you can pass the test. You need to study a LOT more BEFORE raising your hand to volunteer answers.

Elevating cables is one of those things in audio according to most people's common sense shouldn't make a difference in sound quality but it does.

I would use speaker cable elevator on cable that does use much shielding.If your speaker cable is well shielded, and there are alot that arent, then u shouldnt worry to much about it. Talk to any seasoned guitarist. they dont want cheap cable running from their guitar to their amp. When playing on carpet the cable picks up static an amplifies it in the form a of audible crackle. They avoid this by good shielding cable. The same reasoning can be used with speaker cable. On stereos u wont hear this because the speaker cable isnt being dragged along the floor, like a guitarist would drag his phono cable around. But stationary speaker cable still will pick up some of that static. But if u dont have it laying on carpet, dont worry about it.

I'll also side with Rush here. Although my cables are currently on the carpet, the times I have listened with the cables up, I noticed a definite change in the dynamics. At first, I thought I was crazy, but after reading it a couple of years later, my suspicions were confirmed.

Well, I'd guess that the good news for a question like this is that there should be a measurable and repeatable test for this phenomenon. And, it doesn't even have to be a double blind test, although that sure would be an interesting (well, at least to me) addition.

If your carpet's acting as a dielectric with enough effect for you to hear a difference, then any actual effect would be a difference in the electrical signal being received at your speaker. That is testable. I don't happen to have the issue, and no, I'm not running out to buy carpeting or even a variety of sufficiently long carpet runner samples to perform such a test. But I'm sure that any number of folks with the appropriate technical background and available equipment could nail this one and/or at least help quantify the impact for us all.

From what I remember of any recording studio I've ever been in (no, not that many ;~) I can never remember seeing little cable risers anywhere. Wire strewn all over the place, and lots of carpet too, but no little cable risers. They probably figured that their shielded & balanced connections more than covered any such effect.