Good, Neutral, Reasonably Priced Cables?

Ozfly: That "15 minutes" was a joke. You got it, right??? : )

As far as your amp goes, it's quite possible that it does a very fine job of filtering out unwanted noise. The power supply that i described was simply a basic approach. There are other ways to achieve very good results.

As far as the "Goertz being neutral in most systems", that's how / why it works the way that it does. The problem is that not all systems work well with everything being sonically exposed for what it is and / or some people simply prefer specific colourations. That's why they resort to "band-aid" speaker cables that introduce non-linear distortions into the system. They use those distortions to cover up / compliment other distortions.

As i've mentioned before, you have to have a baseline to start with. Otherwise, you can end up changing cables & components a million times over and simply spinning your wheels. If you can get the backbone of the system to where you want it i.e. the amp / speaker cable / speakers / room interface "right", you now have something to judge the rest of the components / cabling by. Otherwise, you end up with a dozen different colourations and you don't know where to start / which is causing what / how each colourations is interacting with the others.

Psychic: I'm not holding my breath in terms of waiting for a reply from any manufacturer. Other than that, was your wording of replacing the word "beyond" with "beyonce'" a Freudian slip or what??? : ) Sean
>

Sean, I absolutely got it ;-) .... just couldn't resist.

We're on the same, perhaps scary, wavelength on the subject of components and environment first. I believe I'm finally at the point where I can begin to seriously look at the cables. Goertz, Ridgestreet and others will be fun to try out when the next "audio budget" season arrives.

Sean, thanks for all the advice here and in the past. Audiogoners, that's a big fat ditto.

Robert: Kudo's to you for "entering the arena". You are braver than most : )

Can you explain or clarify this specific part of your post for me?

"Whether your fancy is Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum or Polyflatulent, purity is important. The quality factor of a conductor or "Q" as I've termed it for us is more important and is distinct from a conductor's purity. A high purity/low Q conductor will not sound as good as a lower purity/high Q conductor. The later is also a more expensive material. A higher purity/higher Q conductor is best...da! and is a more expensive material...da da!"

My question is, how do you judge "quality" or "Q" as you call it? Since you've stated that "quality" has nothing to do with "purity", what parameters are used to judge just how "good" the "quality" of a conductor is? On top of that, if "purity" has nothing to do with "quality", why would a more expensive conductor that was "purer" be "better" than a lower cost conductor of reduced "purity" if the "quality" was equal? If this is confusing to you, welcome to the club. Sean
>

Honestly though, it mifs me a bit that you seem to talk almost ex-cathedra about those cables when you have no knowledge or experience about our speaker cables...the Ridge Street's are better (but of course and says I).

I've offered Sean to lend him all five sets of Ridge Street Cables I have, now that I'm moving to Florida. He can keep them for a month or so...and perform all measurements, tests, etc. After all, he reads for me, cause I don't know how to read! He could even write a review alongside Lak's.

Robert, if you don't come up w/ some quantifiable info *pronto* Sean might confuse you w/ Robert the Lone-note. That's not good. It's actually very bad, bordering on the awful...

***

...See how I go here. I forgot one other thing I wanted to assert.

The simplest circuits executed with excellence and with the best parts or materials will be the most revealing...both of its own "character" and of other components. I believe cabling has the greatest potential for this. For this reason, I also believe that well designed cabling, i.e. as neutral as possible, should serve as the foundation for assembling a system. I know this flies in the face of conventional thinking. And lest some of you think..."but of course, you sell cables!" I promise you that this view is not going to contribute any significance to Ridge Street's sales. Our 3.2% return ratio will probably dwarf how many people buy into this perspective. I consider that a shame but, so be it.

Here's some of my experience and thinking behind this: You go to the show room and here this beautiful music on this system that took who knows how long to dial in. You're looking for a CPD and like this one in this system. You buy it for $249.999.98. It's gotta be the best if not really good. You get it home and it sounds like a toaster...but a really nice one. What happened? I say that too many times, one of the contributing factors is the cabling used acted as tuning agent. That's fine if that's how you want to approach assembling a system and you want to spend ten years going in circles doing it. Some folks enjoy that kind of journey and I trust they learn a lot. I know some enthusiasts like this and they do have a lot of valuable input and info to share.

On the other hand, if efficiency is a priority, experience tells me that neutral cabling allows me to hear what that CDP really sounds like and judge more competently if the player suites my biases. When evaluating a component, not only do I use my music, I also use my cabling. I think the last thing I want to do is spend my hard earned $249,999.98 on that CDP only to have it "tuned" to something else by the editorial signature of a lesser cable. BTW, did you know that there are some well known cable manufacturers that base their designs on what will work euphorically with top selling speakers or amps, etc. primarily so they can sell more product and acquire a more reputable name as best? Not necessarily a bad thing but interesting.

Well, I hope you get the idea here. The above is kind of simplistic or a thumbnail of what I'm saying but like I said, I hope you get the idea. I know some of us know this but cabling can make or break a system and sometimes when the system is found to sound broke, it's not a function of the cables. If I have my preferences and biases defined, I believe using neutral as possible cabling as my foundation will allow me to assemble a system that meets my requirements more surely and be more satisfying over the long haul. It seems my wallet stays happier too.

I'll get philosophical here as to perhaps one reason why this approach seems not easy to embrace. Us grown ups, men and woman, are just kids (like when we were little) playing adults. This is good and at heart, we're just beautiful or charming (and some of us ornery) kids playing the game. We all have our peers. For some of us kids, the community we live in has become the neighborhood we "play" in, for some the world is their neighborhood. Others still, it's the net or whatever. Boys like their toys for the sense of adventure and discovery it gives them and like to share and/or impress other boys (and girls too but it doesn't seem to work real well) with their toys...Audio gear works well here. Cars, guns, fishing gear, wine or cigar collections and other stuff works well too. For woman, MaryKay works well so they can play Dress Up. Shopping, though the current constraints of our culture make it more difficult, is an allure to women so they can buy beautiful clothes and make up so they can be the princes they are meant to be. Beauticians of one sort or another are employed so a woman can be the princes. I'm glad. Girls play dolls when they're little and from this, in part have developed their natural ability to be nurturers for men (not mothers, guys) and children.

Somehow big amps and cool looking speakers are typically what we're drawn to. They have obvious substance that peak our inquisitiveness and are bulk enough to impress while wire is....well, it's wire. Everything it is and does is obviously not obvious. Do you get what I'm suggesting here. It's really kind of funny I think but it's human. The hierarchy of wire and it's place and function in a system and the position we give it can be allegorized like this I think: Buy your wife a car because she deserves it and she'll appreciate you. (Why didn't this reach her heart? I don't get it.) Pick a flower yourself from a field of daisies you pass by on your way home from work and give it to her because you think it reflects her beauty and she'll appreciate you and love you (Why did this reach her heart? I don't get it.) and...even after 20 + years...you might still get some. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Thanks for indulging me on this.

So, agree or disagree. There is at least some value and helpfulness in all this...No?

Cheers,
Robert