Cables more hype than value?

Tpcarter - cables can make a difference to systems of all price points.

Personally, I've had great success upgrading power and speaker cables on my Yamaha mini system ($340) and my neighbours boom box ($250) benefited in clarity and bass control with just a simple power cable upgrade.

What cables you select and how they work with your system - i.e. synergy can be significant as to whether you hear a difference - or not.

Personally, I think the order in which you upgrade can play a role - I start by upgrading power cables, then speaker cables and finally IC's - that way I can hear the subtleties IC's bring to the party :-)

As for why others do not hear improvements - this hobby/obsession can be fickle and complexities like room acoustics, speaker placement, musical tastes and other anomolies can play a significant role masking the subtleties cables can bring to the performance.

And these are just a few things I've experienced in my "cable journey" over the years.

Unfortunately there is no sure fire formula - wish there was :-)

Regards

Tpcarter,

You're right, but you're pissing in the wind. I've tried to make the same argument at least a thousand times. The only thing I can tell you for certain, is that for people who argue the opposite position, this has nothing to do with cables. You won't get anywhere with them.

ZD542 - I think it makes more sense to some people that a more expensive component provides better performance rather than cables - after all, they employ things like quality circuit boards, quality electrical components, quality power supplies - these are bound to sound better - since they do cost more!

But cables ?

It's only a piece of wire! AND they're passive!

How could they possibly improve sound quality simply by having...
- better quality conductors & connectors
- more effective cable architectures
- noise cancelling conductor geometries
- etc...

Unfortunately, I've also met people in the business that don't believe in, what I consider some pretty basic cable science, like the a technician that repaired high end gear for a very hi-end hi-fi store...
- he didn't believe high capacitance speakers cables could be responsible for driving a SS amp into oscillation
- he believed the reason for the amp blowing was that the cables had shorted somehow.
- now he is a little more educated.

But as you pointed out - for the most part trying to convey the benefits of quality cables is very much PITW :-)

The optimist in me likes to think the tide might be turning
- just - v e r y.....s l o w l y

Regards... ;-)

Old news somewhat but I did notice an improvement with the Pangea power cord on both my DACs and on my ARC sp-16 pre-amp as well but to a lesser extent.

I employed isolation as best possible prior. Adding shielding in my case was worthwhile as it turns out. And the Pangea's did not break the bank in the process. So I can easily recommend them to potentially add teh advertised benefits. Not to say they or any other product always will in each individual case, but they seem to do what is advertised at least in my cases which is all one can ask for.

"08-12-15: Williewonka
ZD542 - I think it makes more sense to some people that a more expensive component provides better performance rather than cables - after all, they employ things like quality circuit boards, quality electrical components, quality power supplies - these are bound to sound better - since they do cost more!"

I was responding to Tpcarter's post only and not comparing how much of a difference cables make vs active components. I wrote this last week.

" I've read some reviews online and it seems very difficult to purchase cables without auditioning, but this is my situation. I really want to bring out the best of the Olympica III's, the soundstage, midrange warmth, instrument/vocal placement, and overall seductiveness of the speakers."

The only thing I can tell you for sure is that its not going to happen. What you're talking about are major component differences and qualities. Amp, preamp, speakers etc. Cables may effect those areas, but nowhere near the level that components do. When you read reviews, the descriptions they use make it sound like a pair of cables will have the same impact on your sound as a pair of speakers. The differences with cables are usually much less.

The second, and more important thing that reviews lack are difficulty levels. If you're new to audio, its not easy to pick through a bunch of cables looking for differences. The differences are there, but there's no guarantee that you're going to find them. It takes a lot of listening and experience to do this. The last thing you want to do is rush in and spend a lot of money.

So my recommendation would be to keep your 3k in your pocket, and spend about $100-200 on speaker cables. At least for now.
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