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

"The chassis obviously closes in the sound stage"? ... huh? The only thing that is obvious is that this is a claim with no merit or factual basis.

Do those big transformers have closed magnetic paths and cover shields?

michaelgreenaudio1,009 posts12-22-2019 4:22am

I have a question. Those of you who call things like cable risers snake oil and BS, what do you call amplifiers costing tons of money based on super heavy chassis? The chassis obviously closes in the soundstage. So does having big transformers next to sensitive electronic parts qualify as BS? What about metal chassis period?

Not a disbeliever OR a believer. 

I like posting this link link now and then when this subject on speaker cable 
pops up. Food for thought. 

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#conditioner

I've read his stuff before and after rereading his passage on cable risers, he offers nothing but his opinion that it doesn't matter, along with some pictures. Not any different than if he would have posted it here.

A lot of the negative bashing seems to be wholly rote in nature, like a knee jerk response.

All the best,
Nonoise

@drbarney1 - RE:...

That is why I am a little suspicious of over-priced cables and the questionable physics describing why you need them.

The only proven method to gauge the effectiveness of a cable is to try them.

But the good news is - there are some very good cables to be had out there.

Here are some general design points that I have found contribute to good cable performance:...
- conductor material - high quality copper, silver plated copper and solid silver
:- insulation type
----- Teflon is OK,
----- "foamed" variants are generally better
---- cotton is very good- e.g Duelund wire with cotton/oil insulation is amazing
:- conductor gauge...
---- cables with a larger neutral generally provides better performance
---- larger gauge cables does not always provide superior performance
:- cable geometry
----- I use a helix geometry - like the Anticables IC’s
----- ribbon geometries as used on Nordost speaker cables are also very good.
---- braiding as with Kimber Kable generally offer better performance than parallel wires, but beware of high capacitance in braided speaker wires

Hope that throws some light on a very complicated topic

Regards - Steve