Interconnects and non-believers

I would like to restate and elaborate on something I pointed out in the early part of the thread, which appears to have been overlooked in the ensuing discussion. What the OP replaced was not simply a cable. It was a cable that included a "network." Which its description makes clear includes an inductor, and presumably also other passive circuit elements since the cable’s description states that it has a "more complex network" than the manufacturer’s lesser cable.

And a stated goal of that network, among others, is to increase the efficiency with which low to mid frequencies are conducted, relative to the efficiency with which treble frequencies are conducted. (See the third paragraph on the first of the two linked pages, and also the link contained within that paragraph).

Is it any wonder that dramatic consequences would result from changing to a cable that is simply a cable from a cable which includes passive electronic circuit elements and whose expressly stated purposes include intentional introduction of effects on tonal balance?

Which is not to deny that the OP, whom I know from discussions in other threads here to be an accomplished classical musician as well as an astute listener and a sincere poster, would have perceived significant changes if what he had replaced had been simply a cable. But I would certainly expect that whatever differences he may have perceived in making such a substitution would have been significantly less dramatic.

On another note, to elaborate on one of Analogluvr’s comments I too find that the invariably cogent, thoughtful, well written, and IMO reasonably and appropriately open-minded nature of Prof’s posts makes them a pleasure to read.

Regards,
-- Al

@amg56, I never, ever said in any of my many posts about this subject, that a change in cabling does not affect sound. In fact, that was the basis of every single post I’ve written about this subject. A change in cable DOES affect sound. My argument is that cables do not get out of the way of the music as many audiophiles claim. In fact, they’re doing just the opposite. Cables add their own flavor to the Sonic signature of your system. They are in fact, tone controls. When one hears more air or more soundstage or whatever, it is because the cables whether it’s between your components or between your amplifier and speaker, are doing something to the sound to manipulate it to give you the perception of more this or more that. I just can’t stand to hear people say that cables do not make a difference. Of course they make a difference. No one however, has made an argument to support the idea that if you really want to hear what your components sound like, theoretically, your interconnects will be the same wire that’s inside of your components. Why hasn’t anyone giving me an explanation for this? Please, please enlighten me.

Also, no one has answered my question regarding percentage of critiquing versus percentage of enjoying.

@devilboy
I believe I did answer your question, sort of, maybe not in actual percentile numbers but how it is approached by myselfSo if you want percent lets say 10% critical analysis and the 90% listening which obviously includes some analysis but more for the art of pleasure.

@uberwaltz, wow that's impressive. With all due respect, what the hell are you doing on audiogon? This site is for people who care more about evaluation then pleasure.

devilboy,

You seem to make some sweeping claims that cables always change the sound and act as tone controls. What do you base that upon?

I’m no engineer, but having watched electric engineers hash this cable debate stuff out for many years, many will tell you - (that is, ones who aren’t trying to sell you a cable) that for the most part, cable performance has been a well understood phenomenon for a long time and if you select a well engineered cable with the proper characteristics for the job (e.g. insulation, capacitance values, etc) all the signal will get through. There isn’t therefore any particular reason to expect a sonic difference if you are using two well engineered cables both suited for the same job. Sure, some cables can be engineered to sound different by altering certain parameters, but they can also work essentially identically.

In controlled listening tests, (blinded for sighted bias), sometimes cables seemed to be distinguishable, other times not. Many times people who have sworn that they could easily distinguish between a high end cable and cheap cable have not been able to do so once they didn’t know which was playing. (I’ve experienced this myself).

Apropos of the subject of interconnects, here’s one example testing a variety of interconnects (french site translated):

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=...

Note the measurements of the cables; they are so similar it should have helped predict the results of the blind tests: that the panel could not reliably distinguish between the cables when they didn't know which was playing.

So....do cables sometimes change the sound of a system? Seems plausible it can be the case for a variety of reasons. But do they always change the sound and are high end cables always distinguishable from lower priced cables? Apparently not.