Has Anyone Found Shunyata Cables Sounding Thin?

Douglas_schroeder,

If you could hear my system you would change your mind. There is no loss at all of precision or information -- contrary to accepted audio "wisdom". The fact is that my system is at no "disadvantage" whatsoever. On the contrary, it has gained an advantage -- better SQ.

You are speaking from the point of view of audio theory -- not from the point of view of someone who is actually listening to my system. You have never heard my system. The ears tell the story -- not the theory. It is not a matter of changing my mind. This has nothing to do with the mind. It is all about the ears. My ears have been tested to hear 16,000 Hertz. Neither my system nor my ears are "disadvantaged".

Sorry, Sabai, you are wrong in believing that I have not tried this. When you first posted your "series" idea a while back I tried it; I believe I used three brands of balanced cables in the experiment in different configurations. I found it to have marginal benefit, and I could get better results by continuing to mix a shorter run (no series) of cables than by adding unnecessary ones. In fact, the degradation of the sound was pronounced enough universally that I abandoned the method entirely.

Therefore, I do speak from experience, and my experience says it is counter-productive to add unnecessary cables. While you can adjust the tonality, you will be hurting the precision/clarity. That is my position, and I'm not interested in arguing, if cordially, about it. You are convinced you have a "holy grail" type solution, and after trying it I disagree. :)

BTW, I don't have to hear your system to reach my conclusion, just as you have not heard my system and cannot declare my findings invalid. So, people will simply have to 1. draw conclusions based on our disparate findings, and or, 2. try it.

If I were to hear it I would likely very much enjoy the sound of your system, especially since you have worked so hard to tune it. However, I am also confident that given the opportunity I would be able to improve the sound, that is, make it more to my liking, by being able to remove some of the "serial" cabling and mix in as I wished a more streamlined set of cables. Or, more likely, I would replace the mix of cables with an entire set of cables I feel are exceptional.

I simply do not agree with you when you say the system is at, "no disadvantage whatsoever." From my experience (not simply theory) that is not possible when adding cables which are unnecessary to the system. You may prefer the result, but I have experience which leads me to conclude there is degradation happening in your system as a consequence.

Based on my experiments a person may be able to adjust a sound to address a problem using serial cables, but it introduces a different set of problems unnecessarily when attempting to attain a more SOTA-like sound.

Douglas_schroeder,

Sorry, your logic is completely off track. You have not "tried this" in my system using the specific Furutech and Shunyata configuration that I use. You speak from "experience" but your experience is limited to the cables that you used in your system. "Trying this" -- series cabling -- in your system, and finding "it" does not work, is meaningless because I am not talking about your system. I am taking about what works in my system.

You have missed the point completely. The point is what works in my system, not what does not work in your system. You have no idea about what works in my system. So, dismissing what I have done by trying series cabling in your system is irrelevant because it does not duplicate my system and my experiment.

The important thing is not that "this" did not work in your system. Because your "this" is not the same "this" that works in my system. The important thing is that "this" works very well in my system. "This" may be "counter-productive" in your system. But "this" is not "counter-productive" in mine. You are talking apples and oranges. For you to take your experience and generalize it is as false as if I were to generalize my experience.

I have neither used the words "holy grail" nor have I implied anywhere that I am suggesting a "holy grail" for others. If you read my OP carefully I have simply asked if others have experienced thin sound with Shunyata cables. And I have let people know what works in my system to overcome the problem.

You have already come to a conclusion as to what is "not possible" -- and therefore what is possible. For you, improving SQ is not possible with series cabling. Well, you can talk about your own system here with authority. I would not presume to do so. But to talk about others' systems with equal authority is a whole other matter. You do not have the authority to do so, IMO. Your experience is limited to your system and to your experiment.

The problem is that you have generalized your conclusion based on your experience. Well, the conclusion you have reached may be valid for your system. But once you start to assume that what is true for your system is therefore true for all systems, you tread on ground you have no experience with.

For you, the theory calls the shots. Your theory tells you what is possible and what is not possible. For me, the ears call the shots. They tell me what is possible and what is not possible. Since you have not heard my system you have no actual basis for making judgments about what is possible and what is not possible with my system.

You only have iron-clad, indisputable theories that may, in fact, not be so iron-clad or so indisputable. But you would have to hear my system to find that out. Obviously. But you already know this is not necessary -- and that you would be able to improve the SQ of my system without ever having heard it. I find this quite amazing.

Series cabling is an art. It is like choosing the right component, but even more complicated because it is necessary to test dozens of cables in various configurations. How you can be convinced that you could improve the cabling and SQ in my system without knowing about this from first-hand experience is as presumptuous as my saying that I know how I could improve the cabling and SQ in your system without first-hand experience. Based only on theories and accepted "wisdom".

You may feel you have "exceptional" cables but to presume they would do anything for the SQ in my system is to be completely off track. It is beyond me how anyone can make cable assumptions and pre-decisions about another person's system with no experience at all with the other person's system.

I find it interesting that you already know that you would be able to make the sound of my system more to "your liking" -- without ever having heard my system in the first place to see if it is to your liking before the making the changes you have already decided it needs! You know beforehand that there "must" be "degradation" and "disadvantage" happening because your theory tells you so -- not your ears, but your theory.

Sabai, like I said, we're not going to agree on this. I'm glad your method works for you; that's what we're after, a satisfying experience. :)

I have had a similar recent experience with the latest and greatest Shunyata power cord. Thin.

For the record, I would not run cables in series, ever. Cables are not tone controls. They are designed to present unaltered signal to the downstream component. Its a mistake, and eventually your ears will tell you that.