2. cables
  3. 177425-173981

Cable curmudgeon

I'm not an 'audiophile" but I like to think I have a good ear having been a professional musician (principal wind player in major symphony orchestras) for 50 years. A number of years ago going into an excellent audio equipment store I talked with, what seemed, a knowledgeable salesman.  Being a musician experienced in audio systems but not expert on all the equipment out there I had some questions concerning high (over-priced?) end cables. The salesman assured there was an audible differencet in a demo room switching back and forth etc.  After a few minutes I noticed the sound coming out of only one channel.  He complemented me on my "good ear."  Hmmm? A few years later when setting up my home system I investigated speaker cables. Two sets of Monster, stranded standard cable, solid core copper (used for alarm system) attached with like connecters. There was a difference.  However, not in terms of better or worse: bass and treble were acceptable as was clarity loud and soft.  Differences were esthetic- like asking "whose the best tenor" (I like Plácido).  Now I know as a musician used to live (i.e. un-amplified) music that all I hear coming out of a loud speaker is perforce ersatz.  But most everything today comes out of a loud speaker whether a rock concert or a hi-fi system so perhaps my opinion is curmudgeonly. But, for me, spending oodles of money on hyped cables, well... I  liked the solid core for my alarm system- still do.

 

exflute
clearthink
1,421 posts
 
artemus_5"All one has to do is to click the "report this" link at the bottom of every post and the mod will just delete it"

That is false, untrue, and not an accurate or fair representation of the moderators of this group who will delete posts for sound, valid, genuine reasons that reflect and respect the guidelines, rules, and policies of this group. As an overall and general observation it is those who complain about the group's moderators who are the source of most of the group's arguing, divisiveness, and insult and  I will out of respect to the moderators not name the group's users to whom I refer in a vague sense.

 

thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 

@artemus_5 :

Now its a food fight filled with newbies who are no more audiophile than my 7 yr old niece. But they know it all, like I did when I was 17-18.

This is 100% correct. Some general / common "treats" of such posters I have observed from almost all of them:

1 - They just joined Audiogon Forums recently. Sometimes as recent as the past few weeks

2 - Zero Feedback and Zero transactions in Audiogon

3 - No audio system listed under Audiogon Systems

 

twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 

I don't really understand the motivations of cable-deniers.  Are they trying to "save" everybody from pointlessly spending money?  Surely participants on this site can make up their own minds.  The one responsible thing to do is to urge everyone to buy from vendors who allow a home trial and return privileges.  Then they can make up their own minds.  If that's not it, then it must be because they want their personal opinion to win out.  What else could it be?

mitch2
3,967 posts
 

@exflute - You are correct, you did kick an ever-present hornet's nest.  Its all good when people share their personal experiences but things tend to go off the rails when people try and tell others what they should be hearing or make collective judgement decisions about the value of something.  Whether a cable, fuse, or tweak is "overpriced" is a subjective assessment that can only be made by the buyer with respect to their own experiences, system, and budget.    

I like to say that we all vote with our wallets - purchase and live with what makes you happy.  As some here have wisely said, the only person you need to satisfy is you.  I also agree with @baylinor that seeing a poster's virtual system allows me to have better perspective on their posted viewpoints.

 

Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,944 posts
 

 

twoleftears

I don’t really understand the motivations of cable-deniers. Are they trying to "save" everybody from pointlessly spending money?

Some claim that, as you probably know. But I think they’re really here just to argue. That’s why they can be so consistent.

Surely participants on this site can make up their own minds.

Exactly!

The one responsible thing to do is to urge everyone to buy from vendors who allow a home trial and return privileges. Then they can make up their own minds.

Of course the naysayers have rationalizations for why that isn’t acceptable either, such as vulnerability to "confirmation bias." Again, their goal seems to be to simply perpetuate an argument.

As for those asking others to post their systems, I’m sorry to say that I’d never do that here. I was doxxed once on this site. I do have some photos of my system on the Friendly Forum for High-End Audio, where the high-jinx that is common here would never be tolerated.

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