Hi oblgny,
I am sympathetic to the desire to squeeze any more performance out of our systems as possible. I certainly succumb to that desire myself.
I have come to my conclusions about cables through having paid close attention to the technical arguments regarding cables and having followed the results of blind tests for decades, as well has having participated in some. I used to review audio gear for a while, and have been heavily connected within the audiophile community, I have friends and acquaintances who are high end audio reviewers, etc, and so I've had the opportunity to use, audition, test, including blind testing, a large number of high end cables - from the cheapest to speaker cables/interconnects costing $45,000!
That's not to say that anyone here has to or should believe anything just because I believe it. Rather, it's simply to point out that my stance on cables doesn't come from a position of inexperience with high end cables - as if I have dismissed them out of hand or never tried them. Just the opposite. (And the immediate reaction of many audiophiles to doubt about the relevance of expensive cabling is usually something like "You must not have experience with great cables, don't knock it until you've tried it." I've tried it, in many systems, for decades).
I'm not going to claim no (competently designed) cables can make a difference. I'm open to the possibility. But in my own tests...this has not been born out, nor does it seem any consensus has been reached by more rigorous controlled methods of testing cables. Unfortunately beyond that we have anecdote, and audiophiles generally have about the worst protocols you could have for actually getting to the bottom of these type of issues (even as I count myself among that group).
But, again, to be clear I'm not trying to say no cables can possibly make a sonic difference. But it's a rather huge leap to the claim that cables amount to the MOST important component in the sonics of an audio system. That is a particularly dubious claim, to say the least.
In the realm of anecdote: the first high end system I heard as an adult were Quad ESL 63s, hooked up to a cheap amp and zip cord. It blew my mind. I'd never heard such transparency and realism. Did the cheap equipment hold the Quads back from showing their distinct benefits? Heck no. It was the speakers, not the cables, that were doing that work.
Another time I remember an audio pal and I visited the home of Waveform Mach 17 Speaker designer John Otvos, and had a demo. He was notoriously against the idea of high priced amps and cables making a difference, and the system was powered by - as I remember - cheap amps like Kenwood (or something similar). And cheap speaker cable.
The sound was utterly mind-blowing! I'd heard every big named system you can mention, hooked up to the highest end amps and cables, and the sound coming from Otvos' speakers were a revelation in dynamics, clarity, imaging, natural timbre, etc. Now...am I open to the possibility that some amazingly designed speaker cable could rend slightly "better" sound in some way in that system. Yes, perhaps. But even granting the possibility, it's still a fact that it HAD to be the design of the speakers that was responsible for the head-of-class performance of that sound, not the cables that were used or not used. The competency of the speaker design utterly swamped the importance of cabling, as it should be.
As for Thiels, yes they are revealing, but most high end speakers are revealing. (I also tried Nordost and other cables on my Thiel 06s when I had them, BTW). I've had nothing BUT revealing speakers in my room.
My friend (audio reviewer) has bought my cast off speakers before. Did they sound at all better at his place on a panoply of super expensive speaker cables than they did at my place with Belden cable? Nope. Not that either of us could detect. In fact, the speakers tended to sound better at my place, because I have a room with better acoustics, and that swamps possible cable differences. (Though he does have good acoustics - it's just that my room was designed with an acoustician. My Thiel 3.7s with simple belden speaker cable sound better than pretty much every speaker he has reviewed at his place, with all his expensive cables).
I can make my current Thiel 3.7s sound anything from bright, incisive, lively tight and focused, to dark, lush, looser and less focused...just by where I place or angle them in the room. An alteration of literally an inch can change these parameters, rendering all the similar types of differences one reads for cables. All of us who have played with speaker positioning know this.
So, again, I'm not out to claim all cables sound alike. In rigorous empirical terms, it seems the jury is still mostly out on that proposition.
But I have to admit to feeling some discomfort when I read recommendations that suggest cabling is among the most important
sonic components in an audio system. That, in my view could mislead newbies into thinking they HAVE to join the crowd in spending lots of money on cabling to get their system sounding excellent. I certainly support jafant and anyone's right to make that claim, and to cite their own experience. I'm simply adding my own as counterbalance.
The more voices the merrier!
Having got that off my chest...back to Thiels...
....and I've been going through quite an audition process to attempt to replace my Thiels. I even have Harbeth speakers in at the moment.
Very interesting...(I plan to post my comparisons once I've made a decision).
Cheers,
