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Cable elevators - conventional wisdom wrong?

Reluctant to put any considerable money in them, the reasons for using cable elevators seemed intuitively correct to me: decouple cables mechanically from vibration and insulate them from the carpet's static. I have therefore built cheap elevators myself using Lego building blocks. (Plastic with a more or less complex internal structure; moreover, there is enormous shaping flexibility, for instance you can also build gates with suspended strings on which to rest the cables)
In their advertisement/report on the Dark Field elevators, Shunyata now claim that conventional elevators are actually (very?) detrimental in that they enable a strong static field to build up between cable and floor causing signal degradation.
Can anyone with more technical knowledge than I have assess how serious the described effect is likely to be? Would there, theoretically, be less distortion with cables lying on the floor? Has anyone actually experienced this?
karelfd
sabai
2,027 posts
 
I have so many wires in my system that I needed to come up with something novel to get them off the floor. I use a 3-shelf wicker book stand and I snake the wires through and around the wicker. This works very well for me.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Sabai, I understand your problem with too many wires. I also have a problem with stiff power cords. Basically, I will only use the now discontinues Rightway Audio ceramic insulators. Typically, I put one pc in the notch in the insulator and others at right angles across it. This allows me to keep all wires off the floor and to not interfere with each other.

Most of my ics are in free air from one connection to the other, although I know they sound best with one isolator per set of cables, it is difficult to do. Speaker cables, however, are supported by a single isolator often high off the floor.

Were I still a potterer I would make a tall piece with multiple branches sticking off each direction and a broad base with a clear and hard glaze. This would allow one to support many cables
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i use foam under interconnects, power cords, and speaker cables. hard objects harden the sound.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
I find soft objects dampen dynamics and remove the decay of the signal. Most hard objects, including glass and metals, lack the sharp edge of impact and brass. I think the glaze on insulator makes a difference. Also a single insulator is superior to multiple insulators.

I have demonstrated this to others, including in rooms at shows, but as always these are personal preferences, YMMV.
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
Three bamboo chopsticks held together as tripod with a rubber band about any inch and a half from top forms a nice perch for cables and works wonderfully. I use this method on my speaker cables and can tell the difference between that and on the floor.
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