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A New Believer

I have listened to many systems over the years, and have never appreciated the difference speaker cables can make to a sound. In fact, I was so skeptical of the sound changes they can make that I have always not bothered with any special type of cables, generally going for generic (and dare I say it) roughly made ANY copper wire plugged in to amp and speaker. Well, imagine my surprise when I decided to do a blind test and listen to what difference cabling can make. Wow, my Vand 3A Sig's had been getting strangled! (some of you guys may want to strangle me if I told you what connects I had been using). So I am now a firm believer, cables DO make a difference.
joshc
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shadorne
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All cables have inductance resistance and capacitance and they are a complex load by any stretch of the imagination.

The hyperbole among audiophiles regarding audio cables never ends. The amazing and endless eulogies to mere bits of copper wire....
stops
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No hyperbole-just scientific facts. The wires I suggested are plain copper wire without any fancy wrappings. Look before you speak is something you should add to your hyperbole!
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shadorne
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No hyperbole-just scientific facts.

Sorry but to call a few meters of copper wire working at analog audio frequencies a complex load is pure hyperbole. And one does not even need a degree in electrical engineering to know this - because it is common knowledge.

However, snake oil and pseudo-science seem to have a stranglehold on the audio cables business. No doubt even mass retailers like Best Buy subscribes to this viewpoint because it is a nice kicker to sell $300 of cables (at 300% markup) with that CD and amplifier purchase (at 40% markup).
stops
56 posts
 
Shadorne:Interesting but the rise and fall time of the signal is relevant and therefore the impact of the impedance is also relevant even at "audio" frequencies. I suppose, by analogy you believe that there is no problem with CD sound because the 44.1 Khz meets the Nyquist criterean, and we cannot hear beyond 20 khz anyway, and that jitter and the steep Digital filter do not have effects on CD sound....

FYI the cables I suggested are, I believe, $80 an 8 foot pair more expensive than zip cord but I assure you better sounding and vastly cheaper than the hype out there.
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shadorne
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Stops, I never said any of that. I simply took issue with the grossly inaccurate use of "complex load" to describe a few meters of copper wire at audio frequencies. It perpetuates the myth that cables are critical.

In our hobby in general, there is far too much exaggeration of the effects of cables when it is the active components (source, amplification) and passive components (speakers, crossover) and room (speaker placement, listening position, acoustics) that have, by several orders of magnitude, a much greater impact on the sound.
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