brulee fails PC challenge


Big mouth brulee failed the PC challenge. Never had any doubts that the better PCs could make a difference. I know they can and do. Thought I would give it a try just to make sure big mouth knew what he was talking about. There was no pressure. I was all alone. Switched out the FIM PCs and put in a couple Beldon PCs. Just as I thought. The magic was gone. This is going to be easy I said to myself. Put the FIM back in and it sounded as bad as the Beldon. Images were stuck to the face of the speaker and was very dry sounding. Next day I listened again and all the magic was back. Big, liquid, flowing music was back. Swapped them out again and same thing happened. How can I take on this PC challenge when it takes the next day or at least several hours before the FIM PC comes around. I failed this test. I am convinced PCs make a subtle to dramatic difference but I still failed the challenge. I am very happy no one was there to say "I told you so". I am a believer in PC but what can be said of someone who constantly touts the benefits of PCs and then fails the PC challenge. I'm glad my friend Jhunter was not around. Any ideas to keep things stable? PCs do make an improvement, just ask the guy who failed the PC challenge. Any help would be appreciated.
brulee
I have had identical experience with my PCs taking time to "settle in": discernibly between 15"-60" (for my ears; I'm assuming I get used to the sound by then and miss subtle changes, if any, after that time). I'm *guessing* the settling-in time depends on how long a cable has been disconnected in that particular instance and, what part of its useful life has the cable been conducting electricity in general.

For that matter, I've also noticed that certain "tweaks" applied to my cdp or pre take some minutes to "settle in", if you will. I don't think this is due to my familiarising with the sound: after each tweak I usually leave the room for a few mins.

BTW, "Belden" is not necessarily "terrible". They include hi-quality industrial norm (SSTP & others) cables in their product line; these can have twisted conductors foiled per pair, and multiple shielding. They could very well be better performers than the non-exotic name suggests. (OK, such cables rarely sport expensive ptfe tubing, and teflon (or other) outer braiding & mesh we find in the more expensive hi-end offerings.)

Such products are also quite expensive!

I tried German, silver-plated copper multi-strand power cords, conductors foiled and shielded -- that performed quite well. The wholesale price was $~12/m -- that's if you buy in km; if not, it goes up to $~34/m, unterminated ofcourse.

Has anyone else tried top quality industrial norm cable as PC?
We absolutely need an ABX comparator. This is the only way to tell whats really going on.
Thanks for the help and kind words. I am a little embarrassed and I am still not sure what happened. I went back and set up my system so that I can put in the FIM without any sharp bends and can now swap out the PCs in minutes. Spent several hours swapping out the cords and no problems. I'm glad I did this trial run by myself. The Beldon is sounding like the Beldon and the FIM like the FIM. It has been some time since I changed out the PCs and I am convinced more than ever how important PCs are. I look forward to Jhunters visit. I know Jcbtubes can't wait for this PC challenge. He is very eager to take the challenge also. I have heard him say many times that you would have to be deaf not to hear a difference. We will see. Maybe Dekay can can come along and and do the swapping of the PCs as Jc and I take the challenge. Should be fun.
Science is not a "God". Scientific method itself has been shown this century to be deficient in several regards, most notably in the biases and perseptive limitations of the scientific minds that conduct the experiements (It never fails to amaze me that those who adhere rigidly to the assumption that the assumptions of scientific method discern primary truth are also the people unaware of the progeny of Kant to Popper to Kuhn to Freyerabend, which seems to disclose, logically speaking, an issue of self-reflection...).

It does not matter why the cable changed sound. In an empiric experiment, you can not dispense with valid observations because you do not know why they occured. Such a position merely reveals an underlying bias to the methodology, namely, that those observations that conform to assumptions of the truth of the preciever that existed prior to the conducting of the experiment are favored, ie observed with greater attention and selected thereby, and those observations unexplained by the existing paradigm of ideas are dispensed with less attention, or in this case, even an apology for seeing something else (even though, logically, that assumably incongruent observation was arrived at with equal application of the same method).

If you were truly scientific, then you would turn your attention to why the cable changed sound. And if you could not find the answer within you paradigm of ratio-empiric rules, then, even by those rules, you must examine those assumptions for a partiality in perspective or perception that is denying you an understanding of that given observation. To deny that is itself counter to the ratio-empiric logic that underlies scientific method.