Does raising speaker cables off the floor really make a big difference?

You have to ask yourself, do you really think the sound stage, which is almost all a factor of recording and speaker/room interaction, would magically collapse due to some exceedingly low level interaction between a cable and the floor?

Exactly. And funny how such a dramatic "change" is something no one (TMK) has ever demonstrated in a blind test.

It might serve to balance things to do a little googling on some of the controversies that have arisen with...*ahem*....certain tweak-selling and cable-producing company’s show demos.

(Somewhat along those lines: One engineer on an audio site talked about how, upon seeing a demo and the associated claims from one of these manufacturers at a show, he started asking simple technical questions and proposing how the claimed phenomenon could be tested. He was greeted not with the type of exchange one might expect between engineers, but with suggestions that lawyers may get involved if he wants to pursue that line of questioning).


But...there are audiophiles who want to believe....so there’s a market that will sell to them.

You have to ask yourself, do you really think the sound stage, which is almost all a factor of recording and speaker/room interaction, would magically collapse due to some exceedingly low level interaction between a cable and the floor?

All the subtle information we look for with our ears, in a recording, is low in level..so yes..I would expect that the subtle and easy to disturb high slew rate impossibly intertwined micro signals involved in our limits of human resolution ..might benefit from some careful handling.

The gross and subtle signals are also paired up in the sense of requiring perfected micro timing and long term accurate micro timing differentials between them for our hearing limits to be fully engaged...so yes..... there would be a difference between the two with the cable suspended vs just laying on the average floor.

All things being equal, as in good system, gross mechanical and complex LCR differences between floor and suspended, good hearing in the individual that is part of the experiment, and so on.

All things are not quite equal with respect to one person and their system, vs another.

audiozenology, this is a good example of why you should never trust anyone's hearing. I have also seen instances in which these "AB" comparisons were rigged by someone switching EQ curves or phasing.
If you can not think of a reasonable reason why something should work it usually does not. Cable elevators are a good example of this. There is no reason and they don't work, not even a little except in the minds of the easily influenced.

I’ve just read through this thread and it would appear there are people in both camps.

I am not surprised some people hear a difference and others do not, because we are all using different cables 

The one omission throughout the thread was
- NO ONE in either camp has identified the cables they are using.

What difference does it make? you ask...
- due to cable geometry, some cables carry so much internal noise that hearing the difference cable risers make is next to impossible

- others geometries reduce the amount of noise, so using cable risers with those would demonstrate the improvements.

- Also the insulation used in cables has an impact on the amount of noise generated internally.

Many years ago I tried cable risers with one of my older speaker cables and they made no difference, but with the cables I now have, lifting them off of the floor did improve the sound.

So - how much benefit is heard depends on the "geometry" of the cables and the insulation used.

- If you use simple geometries i.e. two wires side by side such as Van den Hul CS-122 or the NAIM speaker cables the improvement would be difficult to detect

- with geometries like the Planus III cables used by the OP, I believe they would benefit from the use of cable risers.
---- those big flat cables sitting on carpet or wood would have more internal noise than if suspended on cable risers
---- As one of the other posters mentions it’s all about dielectric influences of the floor on the cable/signal
---- Man Made Fibre Carpet is especially bad - wool would be better

For myself - I use a HELIX geometry in all my cables
- the signal wire is suspended in the center of a Helix Neutral coil by spaced wood beads, so a high percentage of the dielectric between the signal and the neutral is actually air
- also the coil acts like a faraday cage, so external RFI/EMI in the signal wire is very low
- the resulting signal that reaches the speaker is almost noise free
- hearing the improvement was quite discernible

I use DIY wood risers with a ceramic base that lift the cable up about 3/4". I did try lifting the cables higher, but there was no improvement.

Regards - steve