Keeping cables off the floor

Yes, as far as the speaker cables go, it has made a noticeable improvement in my system which has 17' speaker cable runs. I hang my cables from the bottom of standard book shelves with silk ribbon ties and run them across the bottom of a doorway by running them through a channel box (mounted in the floor under the rug) that I constructed from pine and brass screws. In general the sound became much more defined and open. Also keeping the right and left channel cables separated (by 6" or so where possible) improves the sound as well. Don't have a clue as to why it specifically makes such a difference (though it must be removing some type of interactive interference of sorts) but it does in my set up. Pierre at Mapleshade was the first to tell me about this concept and I have since read about it on the web in the chat rooms. Try it, it's cheap.

There have been quite a few threads involving this tweak but they would take some digging. It may be a good time to bring it around again. I am a believer in the idea, and have all my wires in air and not touching any others. The background will become quieter, the treble will smooth and for me the base tightened and was more defined. The theory I think is the same as for all wiring, that air is the best insulator. I know for me, and others who have said so here on Audiogon that if a power cord of interconnect ends up shifting against the wall of floor, the sound is less apealing. It's one of the first things I look at if my system sounds off. As far as how, there are as many ideas as people. I've often heard of paper and plastic cups used. I've heard of people use eggcrate, fish line, wood blocks..... Of course you can spend money on different products that are used for this. I personally have tried alot of ideas, I'm using cable ties to hang the wires when it's possible hang easiely. I use the old ceramic insulators from "Knob and Tube" (architectural salvage) wiring where I can screw it to something, and I'm using the old glass insulators from telephone poles (antique stores) for floor applications. Use your imagination, have fun, it's a simple cheep tweak that really works!

Hello again Detlof! I've been using the Suspendors made by Rite Way, the guys who bring you the Top Hats for tubes. Essentially the ceramic insulators Jadem6 refers to in his post, they remind my non-audiophile friends of little telephone pole insulators. Their theory is that you need a totally non-conductive (electrical) platform for your cables, and their product is that, even down to the glaze they use. In my system the effect is pretty subtle; because of the difficulty getting them where I have interconnects, which are pretty much suspended anyway, I only use them on my speaker cables, which are well shielded. I really only noticed it when I took them out--more of a quiet background, a little more ease to the presentation. Probably couldn't tell in a blind test, to be honest. Part of this is likely that I have a 40 foot run of interconnect between my preamp and active crossovers, so I'm sure I lose some low level detail from that; others with more resolving systems may notice the effect more. While I like the Suspendors, as noted in the other posts there are cheaper ways to do this tweak that I'd suggest you try. Good listening to you!

Thanks a ton for these enlightening posts, gentlemen! Lots of enspiring ideas..I'll start experimenting. Happy listening to you all.