Cables are about electricity. Thinking about my own experience over the years, the main jump forward was making a separate high grade audiophile circuit, ca ten years ago. I contracted an electrician and we did the job together. At first he protested, was this big cable really needed, we had to drag it halfway around the house. I assured him it was. The cable runs into a breaker box with three local circuits, two 15 ampere and one 10 ampere (230 volts). The system sounded much better on this circuit than the 10 ampere "lamp circuit" already in the room, so I have never looked back.
Are audiophiles still out of their minds?
I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables. I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day. So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound? May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
- ...
- 486 posts total
o_holter Vince Galbo at MSB put together the following piece that explains the merits of avoiding line modulation. I use 10 gauge all the way to my isolation transformer. http://www.msbtech.com/support/wiring.php?Page=supportHome This wiring concept, a proper star grounding system and equipment isolation are the first steps in a holistic electrical design that will facilitate experiments showing the differences in cables. |
- 486 posts total