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Creating space between interconnects & keeping cables off the floor

I strongly doubt this is an original idea, but since I came across it on my own, I thought I would share it and solicit the opinions of fellow Audiogoners. Conventional audio wisdom seems to be that power cables should be elevated off the floor and interconnects should not interconnect with one another (i.e., cross)  if at all possible. If you have a minimalist system, that may not be a major problem. But if you have a lot of separates and only a narrow space behind your racks to accommodate all the connections, it can become a real problem, as it was for me. Various companies offer various (but generally expensive... and not always effective)  solutions for this. For instance, since I use mostly Shunyata power cords and conditioners, my first instinct was to try their Dark Field Mini separators for the web of interconnects behind my system. While these may work as advertised for the thicker and heavier interconnects that Shunyata makes, they were useless on my thinner, but beloved Nordost interconnects, which lacked the weight and the mass to keep the Minis from falling to the floor. Ditto with my Ocos speaker cables. Short of redesigning my entire system, I didn't know what I could could about it until, one day, while walking down the wrong aisle at CVS in search of dental floss, I came across packages of wooden clothes pins. Forgetting all about the dental floss, I bought them on an impulse, took them home, and discovered they make stable lifters and separators for normal width cables. They attach easily to my speaker cables and, spaced about 3 or 4 feet apart, keep them about 3 inches off the floor. If you use them to separate interconnects behind your system -- with the grip end around one cable and the other cable sandwiched between the handle end, the separation is about 1.5 inches... A really cheap, easy and, as far as I can tell, effective way to help tame the tangled web of wires behind one's system. But I'd be interested in what others who have tried this have to say about it. Thanks
mross1949
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,312 posts
 
Hi mross - I like your clothes pin idea.  I wonder if you might benefit by incorporating some rubber bands so as to make a double headed spacer.  Use a rubber band or two to hold the overlapping "legs" of two clothes pins together.  This would provide grips at opposite ends.  

Personally, I keep my mono block power cords off the floor using 3" solid hardwood blocks (birch, I think) from an on-line craft supplies seller.  I manage to keep my speaker cables separated and off the floor just running them across the top of the furniture I use for an audio cabinet.  The other interconnects and power cords behind the rack are separated and kept off the floor as much as space, length and gravity will allow. I do use some cut up rubber flip flop soles to keep ICs off power cords where those cross.  Elsewhere that crossing and contact of wires must occur, I try to make it happen at right angles (or as close to 90 as possible).  I must not be a true audiophile because I don't get too obsessive about "dressing" my wire.
mross1949 OP
17 posts
 
Ghosthouse,

Re: rubber bands, that's a good idea and I'll try it, as I've got a couple of places, back in the abyss behind the racks, where the additional separation might be helpful. Thanks! As for being a "true audiophile," in the sense that I think you mean it, I prefer the term "audiophiliac" because I think it conveys a more disturbed quality. I'm still trying to figure out which one I am -- and haven't ruled out the possibility of seeking professional counselling. Bests,

Michael
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
You will graduate to true audiophile in a pico second, as soon as you suspend all cabling and cords using strong thread or fishing line from eye hooks in the ceiling. A small rubber band connecting the cable or cord to the thread or fishing line will provide a second line of isolation defense.

mross1949 OP
17 posts
 
Fishing lines from the ceiling to suspend the cables in mid-air... I've heard about that and trust that you're right. There's only one problem with that and it's a four letter word: W-I-F-E. Do I really want to jeopardize a successful 38-year-long marriage in a quest for that last little decibel of pristine sound?Maybe if I had a better system...
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