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Who says cables don't make a difference?

Funny, after all these years, people still say things like "you wasted all that money on cables". 
There are still those who believe cables don't make a difference.
I once did marketing for a cable line I consider to be about the best-Stealth Audio Cables. 
One CES, I walked the rooms with the designer/owner, Serguei Timachev. He carried a pair of his then new Indra interconnects. Going from room to room he asked the room runners to replace their source to preamp IC with the Indra. There was not one that was not completely flabbergasted and said that the Indras blew away what they were using. That was the skyrocketing of Indra and Stealth. The Indra became one of the best reviewed cables ever.
Serguei now makes the Sakra-an IC that blows away the Indra!
I don't understand why some still do not value cables as much as I.
mglik
denverfred's avatar
denverfred
252 posts
 
IMCE there is one documented, peer reviewed study of audio cabling that has failed to make an appearance in any of our favorite magazines (or those of the medical profession?). Where is the tech/skeptic proof that ALL cables sound the same? They should be able to measure Home Depot zip cord and ANY cable from any other manufacturer and prove that the output from any of them is exactly the same as the output from all of them.
I would at least read their study.
I wonder: Do the docs in the cardiac cath-lab read mags like "Absolute Thrombosis" or "Stentophile" to keep up? I know for a fact that the MD's have moved beyond zip cord and Belkin plug strips.
Why, if everything comes out the same?
mitch2
3,947 posts
 
@denverfred 
Why, if everything comes out the same?
Here are three reasons to consider:
  • Persistent and proficient cable marketing
  • Illusory truth effect, and finally
  • Investiphobia (the fear of not "keeping up with the Joneses")
roberttdid
534 posts
 
Most medical equipment will use fairly inexpensive shielded AC cables but that is as much to prevent noise into other equipment as noise into the one with the cord.
Most medical wire is application specific and there are no voodoo claims, there are hard scientific reasons, measurements and results. Much of the requirements are purely mechanical, but some are for extremely low signal levels with high impedance where noise susceptibility is much much higher than anything in audio.

I know for a fact that the MD's have moved beyond zip cord and Belkin plug strips.
Why, if everything comes out the same?

roberttdid
534 posts
 
One word Mahgister, religion.


And all the testimonies in this direction cannot be explained by an induced mass placebo effect taking place in several phases ....

roberttdid
534 posts
 
It's being able to actually quantify these differences arrived at through characterization why people who understand the tech will accept audible differences in some cases and not others.  There is a reason companies like Kimber and Mogami list electrical specs.

They should be able to measure Home Depot zip cord and ANY cable from any other manufacturer and prove that the output from any of them is exactly the same as the output from all of them.


We also do things like hang cables a few inches from a speaker at high volume and measure the signal with a typical preamp/amp impedance to show that vibration typically has no impact. Maybe we measure the voltage on a cable just sitting there with a typical preamp/amp impedance to show that it is near 0 debunking crazy notions of "static" voltage that require burn in to fix.
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