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Cable Controversy

I love the cable forum. Discussions about cable can really generate sparks among the mature audiophiles. Regarding cable design: Other than the basics of resistance, impedance, and conductance, it seems that there is very little firm ground upon which one can form convincing conclusions. Witness the bewildering array of cable designs, incoporating network boxes, magnets, biased shields, liquid conductors, solid core, braided strands, exotic metals, air dialectrics, to name but a few. In contrast: Regarding balanced cables, at least one experienced poster and equipment designer has stated here that all balanced cables perform identically, once a few basic design parameters are met.  I ask for the voices of experience and sanity to offer their theories and experience on the topic of cable design and performance. Thanks in advance.
psag
infection's avatar
infection
808 posts
 
No surprise that WW recommends KLEI...!

As previously mentioned cables are system dependent & there is a limit to the capabilities of your system from which cables can extract. 
rja's avatar
rja
2,370 posts
 
What controversy?
psag OP
518 posts
 
Here's another example: At least one popular manufacturer of speaker cables and interconnects claims that the goal of cable design is to do no harm to the signal, or as little harm as possible.  Is that is indeed the goal of cable design? And if so, then what type of cable best achieves that goal?
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_wire
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,838 posts
 
Psag, it's all system dependent. It's a great goal to come up with something that won't hurt the signal but isn't that the goal of most cable makers? There's no magic bullet of a cable that can be all things to suit everyone's needs. Simply changing out a speaker or amp can render a great SC to a merely good SC since you've now altered the output of the amp or the input characteristics of the speaker.

You can have the "best" wire and mess it all up with lousy connectors as well. Not to mention should they be cold crimped or soldered or just bare wire.

Try as many as you can until you're satisfied. You'll know it when you hear it. :-)

All the best,
Nonoise
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