A Couple Little Things I'm Wondering About


Two quick questions for anyone with any experience with either topic.

1. Why do some folks with usually higher end systems use those cable lifters to keep the cable elevated? What are they intended to do? If you use them, what do they do for you please? And if you know do they make sense from a purely technical standpoint? 

2. I bought a bunch of those gold plated caps to cover all the unused RCA jacks on the back of my AVR. I believe they are intended to keep noise down. If you use these, please comment on them. Do you think they do what they're supposed to do, and/or do they make sense from a purely technical standpoint?

Thanks!
jcolespeedway
I have a quazi-high end system.   I experimented with cable lifters.  I found that 1/2 round vibrapod/rubber-like balls under the cables benefited the sound the most.  They eliminated vibration and elevated the cables 2" above the nylon carpeting (90oz-dense).  I tried caps on my unused terminals on a tube preamp but it diminished the sound quality in every location so I don't use them.  
Post removed 
I found most of these expensive so made some myself but didn't like the result.  Judging from what is now available and the prices, I think many audiophiles may have lost interest.  I'm going to try them on my new system but found that jack pad adapters may work so ordered a few:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Skelang+4+Pcs+Jack+Pad+Adapter+Rubber+Slotted+Universal+for+Jack+Stand%2C...
https://www.amazon.com/Slotted-Durable-Rubber-Cylinder-65x33mm/dp/B07L3W88SL
In the matter of electromagnetic radiation from a speaker cable, at 20,000 Hz at the speed of light or close thereto, how could different arrival times of a signal through the fraction of a second of two or three meters of cable at 300,000,000 meters per second be heard? For one meter, far less difference more than a wool rug could make, that is 1/10 of a microsecond. Different arrival times at the speed of sound from a live acoustical instrument is magnitudes more. What fraction of the signal even gets through the insulation? How much dipole shifting in the dielectric of the insulator takes place and is it so slow the minuscule electric field of it able to induce in the cable itself more than a fraction of a micro-Volt? There are too many claims of questionable physics by cable marketers such as skin effect attenuation at audio frequencies which when calculated in a circuit containing a speaker with hundreds of times the impedance of a cable's resistance diminishes the signal current to the speaker by often less than 1/100 db at 20 Hz. What engineering credentials, such as graduate school, do cable designers have and where in any E&M textbook does the golden ratio appear? How can materials and labor cost anywhere near the $20,000 plus some speaker cables sell for? That is why I do not believe most of these stories about high price speaker cables and so many audio components. I am not suggesting some designs sound better to some than other. I just want some honest physics for a change.
You're not going to find honest physics on this forum to much hokey subjective nonsense. Cables resting on little cups or balls every so many feet has audible differences to laying on a carpet? If it wasn't so sad it would be hilarious.