Am I the only one

I believe your setup is not sensitive enough to use better quality cable. From all the systems we used with SR active cables we had found that it sounded quieter with shielding on than without ( high freq is softer )
You need to upgrade your amp/preamp to audio only type and not home theater combo. The difference can be night and day.

Yes, you should deffinately scrap your current system for one that better matches your cables. I recently got rid of all of my CD's so that I could buy a single original DAT recording of my favorite song. Wow! what a difference it made in the sound quality. I think next I am going to get my nose re-fitted to better match the mole on my face.

:)

If you don't hear a difference, and you've verified that nothing is wrong with your setup, try a different type of cable, or return the cables and put your money back in your pocket.

Coach...Are you saying that the emperor has no clothes? You must be crazy.

S23Chang
Not sensitive enough? Well that's the first time I've ever heard that. And then change my whole system just to fit a pair of speaker cables?? Bro,it ain't that serious. I have about five or six other pairs of cables that will do and have done just fine. Now if you want donate a two channle high end,sensitive audio only system (I have a list ready) please feel free.

Eldartford
I'm not saying the emperor has no clothes. I'm just saying he's naked in my house.

Coach, I was on the same boat as you back in 1999 when I got back into audio hobby again. I had the bryston/lexicon setup but Hi end Audio and HT are two different fruits. I see you already got the audio speakers, why not go for the pure audio route?

S23chang
A pure audio system is in the works for another room in the house, but the family loves the HT. I'll probably never get rid of that system. But my two channle system will have to wait a while. These people seem to want real money for that stuff.

Coach,

I have the SR Signature 10 Bi-Wire cables with the active shielding. Try this unplug the shielding on your cables for 24 hours. Give your system a listen then plug the shielding back in and see if you don't notice a difference.

This is only a guess but only unplugging the shielding for a couple of minutes won't tell you anything as there is still residual capacitance left on the cables.

I personally had something very intersting happen with my system. I sat down to listen one day and the system didn't sound right something had changed for the worse. After some investigation I found that my grandson had turned off the active shielding to all of my SR cables. I turned the switch back on and that sweet sound was back.

Last of all have your cables burned in yet. That might also be the reason you arnt hearing the difference.

Good luck.

Michael

Artizeno5
Well I guess my system is sensitive enough. I followed your advice. I unplugged the thing last night when I got home from work. When I sat down for my nightly listen I noticed the music sounded OK but a little dry. I smiled. After letting it run all night,I plugged it back in while putting Chich Corea on pause. Hitting play, play hit back. Oh man. All the juice was back. Detail,soundstage,depth,MUSIC. Where was this stuff before? No matter,it's here now. Looks like the emperor got dressed. Thanks man. I owe you one.

Coach,

Glad to know I could help. Hope you have many hours of happy listening.

Michael

I thought the design was meant to lower the noise level? Might be you are blessed with a low noise environment. Just a thought.