Interconnects and non-believers

jafreeman,

IMPORTANT: Use the best available speaker wires and interconnects.
Audio Research cannot emphasize this enough. As better components and systems are developed, it becomes increasingly important to avoid the limitations of inferior system interconnections.

The thing that tends to get buried in the effusive praise for audiophile cables is that a good cable, that can send a high quality signal, just isn’t that hard to achieve. It doesn’t take thousands of dollars. It takes mostly getting the right cable for the job.

Take, for instance, Belden cables. They were founded in 1902. So they’ve been making cables for well over a 100 years and they are standard fare in the professional recording/broadcasting industry. These guys know more than a little bit about how to construct a cable with the required properties to pass along all sorts of different signals with high fidelity.

And they are not charging anything like the crazy prices your local high end dealer will charge you.

I needed a fairly long run of speaker cable so I chose Belden 5000 series 10 guage for it’s low resistance, high conductivity (which was probably overkill even for what I needed).

I’ve had expensive cables in my system (before I switched to the longer run of Belden I had little need to buy cable as I had audiophile buddies giving me various cast off or spare high end speaker cable, or just lending me stuff - some being the garden-hose-thick variety).

Does my sound "suffer" from having gone to meagre Belden cable ("meagre" as in "industry standards quality"....)?

Not that I can tell. My system sounds a glorious, open, detailed as any other system I’ve had.

And as I’ve said, when I go to listen to other systems - and since I used to review a bit myself I still have friends who are reviewers and aside from having a parade of great gear, they usually cabled up with the best of the best (e.g. Nordost etc.) and my system sounds just as good - as my pal with vasty more expensive cabling often acknowledges.   I've also auditioned speakers in a good high end audio store - hooked up to expensive cables - and then at my own home, and found no loss of fidelity due to my lower priced cabling.  So there is no apparent lack of fidelity holding back my system from not having spent thousands of dollars on upmarket audiophile cables.

That’s not to say (as I feel I must repeat) that "cables never sound different." I think there are plausible reasons some cables can sound different (though many of the reasons given by high end companies seem like quite a stretch). But the point I’m making is that cables are not some Black Art. The main body of knowledge behind constructing good cables has been known for a long time. As I said: all those incredible sounding classic audiophile recordings were made with cables before all this high end stuff started coming out.

I just think that it’s good to offer some other perspective, as newbies coming to the average audiophile site will tend to take away a message that, unless they spend a lot on audiophile cables, their system won’t be high fidelity. And that the more they spend on speakers and other equipment, well the more they have to spend on cables.

aalenik,

Guys, if you don’t hear a difference... just don’t spend your $$, and let everyone else make their own decisions. You don’t need to make your opinion into a crusade.

This is a very common reply and I think it reflects a strange imbalance, or bias, operating in these types of forums.

So long as one is claiming cables make a difference, they can happily post about the superiority of any cable they buy over others and it’s all accepted in good cheer. There are thousands of such posts made on audiogon and other high end forums.

But should someone have an alternative view - that they are not convinced of the wisdom of spending lots of money on the high end cables everyone is lauding - well then THAT person’s view is seen simply as negative and harassing, even dogmatic and evangelical. Or, conversely, a heretic has snuck into the pews.

Even if a more skeptical opinion is couched in a way that is no stronger than any of the many "cables OBVIOUSLY make a difference" posts, it becomes an occasion for the "stop harassing us!" replies.

Even look at the OP of this thread. It’s as "evangelical" and challenging to those who don't spend money on high end cables as anything a skeptic would write. (Even suggesting anyone who disagrees is deluded or dogmatic).

But is it greeted as obnoxious, harassing or pushy by the folks who agree cables make a big difference? Apparently not. So long as a post aligns with that bias that high end cables obviously make sonic differences from lower priced cables, then it’s "Well...yeah...of course...what’s the problem?"

prof,

Despite, your seeming erudition, you ignore the facts.
Nowhere in my original post do I indicate, or even infer that you have to “spend money on high end cables.” In your ardor, you misstate what was written.
My statement merely avers that “there are differences in cables.”
Nowhere! Is there even a mention of “high end.”
Indeed, in a later post, as a response to a similar challenge,  I indicate that the price I spent is about the same as the one I replaced.

Please, next time, please get your facts straight.

Prof,  I agree that the big names in cable are way too expensive.  I don't think I would spend the same amount again on my Transparent cables.  Good thing is, they have remained in place during the evolution of my system, so I now consider them a good value over time.  
Yes, the newbie should not be thrown off their goals by daunting prices but should also be aware of "...the limitations of inferior system interconnections."  Common advice is to "nail down the speakers", or "nail down your front end".  Connections tend to come in last, but not least--I consider the total of my interconnections as important as a component, in that, everything is additive.  
Not sure of what Belden offers in grain-free copper, but not sure what Transparent uses, either.  With today's ultra-pure copper available in DIY, I would also construct a speaker cable before buying.  I did find that OCC copper in bulk AC cable gave me the sweet clarity I was looking for and would recommend building before buying.  Interconnects are more complex but would be a good project.   

"Guys, if you don’t hear a difference... just don’t spend your $$, and let everyone else make their own decisions. You don’t need to make your opinion into a crusade"

The above quote is solid advice