Speaker Wires on Carpet

For those intending to do before and after testing, be aware that, with some cables, the simple act of moving the cables requires some further break-in time before the cables are again performing optimally. This is clearly apparent to me me with the Goertz AG-3 speakers cables, but not as much so with the Omega Mikro Planar speaker cables. With the Goertz, the re-settling time was only 2-3 hours or so, but it was very audible. Just be cautious of this in judging the outcome of your experiments.

The easiest and least exspensive way to find out if you need elevaters is to go to your dollar store and buy some anti-static spray.Spray the carpet where the cables will rest and see if you can hear a difference.If you hear a positive diffence either get some non conductive risers or more spray for $1.

You guys got me curious, so I tried it this afternoon with upside down ceramic coffee cups (Thanks Audiobugged). I'm actually a little surprised at how easy it is to hear the effect. Transients, like acoustic guitar plucks, are more dynamic. The overall tonality is very slightly brighter. One not entirely positive effect is the soundstage got shallower. I suspect if I toed out my speakers a little bit more I could make the soundstage as deep as it was before. I found I could vary the soundstage depth slightly by only lifting part of the speaker cable off the carpet.
In my system, the effect of lifting the cable off the floor is no where near as strong as changing ICs, for example, but it is audible.

If I had to guess as to the technical reason for this, it is the poor quality of the dielectric of the carpet that causes the degradation of sound. In particular, its dielectric absorption characteristic. It has been known for many years that capacitors with low DA are required for high fidelity audio, e.g. polystyrene, polypropylene, and teflon. Teflon is also widely used in cables. I think Rushton got it right - the signal, as it passes through the speaker cable, charges the dielectric, then the dielectric discharges somewhat lagging the electrical signal which muddies the sound. Air is the best dielectric possible, so this is why the cables sound better in the air than lying on the carpet.

I think you and I heard the same things, Nighthawk.

Would glass also work as an isolator? I was browsing in Pier 1 and saw some glass knickknacks that were about the right size and shape (and price) for running cables over.

Tony