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The Science of Cables

It seems to me that there is too little scientific, objective evidence for why cables sound the way they do. When I see discussions on cables, physical attributes are discussed; things like shielding, gauge, material, geometry, etc. and rarely are things like resistance, impedance, inductance, capacitance, etc. Why is this? Why aren’t cables discussed in terms of physical measurements very often?

Seems to me like that would increase the customer base. I know several “objectivist” that won’t accept any of your claims unless you have measurements and blind tests. If there were measurements that correlated to what you hear, I think more people would be interested in cables. 

I know cables are often system dependent but there are still many generalizations that can be made.
128x128mkgus
taras22
412 posts
 
@andy2

Nice post...thank you....

Heck, the same cable will measure differently at different times.

Ooooh that is going to get the wine or water glasses are always positioned to the left of the coffee cup, don’t you know anything, crowd into a serious wild and crazy tizzy!!!!!

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
So.. Belden ’confirms’ the existing science of high end cables.

So cable haters and naysayers....where’s your hater god now?
Please don't equate well designed cables with the 'EQ filters' that so many 'high end' cables represent.
andy2
1,545 posts
 
Has anyone tried Iconoclast cables?  How they compared to some high end cables such as SilTech Crystal Absolute Dream that costs about $9K each?

I've read the articles from Iconoclast and it's refreshing to see someone who discussed these issues with no prejudice or preconceptions.  

One thing I still don't understand is which cable parameters that are responsible for what we call "transparency"?  How do we measure "transparency" in cables?  I mean we measure "LCR", impedance, propagation time and so on but how can we translate all of those parameters into "transparency"?  Hm... I see a bunch of black a$$ ... err I mean black art lols.

Years ago I bought some cables from Blue Jeans which I think they use Belden cables.  The price is about $100 a pair which sounded pretty decent.  Then after a few years I bought a pair of QED silver cables which cost a little bit more at about $150 a pair but the QED sounds much more musical and transparent compared to the Blue Jeans.  The QED construction suggests a much more sophisticated technique was used compared to the Blue Jeans.  My guess is the QED construction was optimized for "TIME" which was discussed extensively in the Iconolcast technical papers. 
andy2
1,545 posts
 
I quickly went to Iconoclast website to see how much a pair of 8ft speaker cables cost - about 1400 to 2400 depending on the material and configuration.  Definitely not cheap!  

My current cables is Acoustic Zen Hologram II which is $1200 at 8ft.  Hmm...  I initially thought Iconoclast would be some type of cable Robinhood lols.  It would be very interesting if someone could compare the Iconoclast to some well known cables at similar price.
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
One thing I still don't understand is which cable parameters that are responsible for what we call "transparency"
It depends on what's stuck on the cable ends.

For example, a loudspeaker with excessive group delay and a ringy tweeter may require a cable that makes a more coherent speaker sound 'polite'. A tube amp with a puffy bottom may require a cable that makes a solid state amp sound anemic.

HiFi's great shame is too close a focus on parts and not enough on the system, iow "Not seeing the woods for the trees."
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