The Intellectual People Podcast - Galen Gareis (Former Belden Wire Designer)

Very funny! And what exactly did YOU bring to this discussion? This?


dletch2161 posts04-18-2021 10:07pmThis thread strikes me as the blind leading the blind. The article is meant to be impressive, but technically is super weak, but if it suits what you want to believe, it must be true. Same people who going gaga for Galen, pun intended, also go gaga for Ted, who comparatively, probably barely knows what a cable is. Can't have it both ways boys and girls.

dletch2, When an engineer/designer has put out boatloads of technical information, I do not need to do a highly technical review. I only need point to it. 

I do not think you understand the audiophile community well, at least beyond a cursory comparison. You strike me as one of the objectivist types, and lump any cable enthusiasts together without much sophistication. Were you more informed, you would know that those who would listen to Galen would most likely not be very impressed by Ted's work. 

Why don't you share what cables you have compared in sets? Please list your system from first power cord through to speakers, and preferably present images for us. Please, go ahead and start a Virtual System here, complete with all details. Thank you. 

Were you more informed, you would know that those who would listen to Galen would most likely not be very impressed by Ted's work.

Oh give me a break. Writing for a 2nd rate online magazine makes you informed?  Those who understand cables, I mean really understand them, will think about the same, ultimately, about Galen and Ted (and any number of other companies). Whether the bamboozlement comes in the form of somewhat accurate but meaningless engineering speak, or pure fluff, the end result is the same, and ultimately is the reason why no, and I mean NO cable company every does blind public tests. For all the claims of obvious differences, they know that is not the case. If they were confident in the results of blind tests, they would do them.  Heck, Shunyata does not even show noise results for audio on their website, they show medical equipment and they don't even portray exactly the same signals side by side.


Your attempt at a call to authority is laughable. You can't adequately address the content in my posts, so you try to go after me personally.  You may want to think on that. The people with half a brain see through that.  Do you think this little part of the audio world is all that exists and that people don't have fairly active audio groups in the cities they live in where people regularly experience not only their equipment, but those of others?  For someone who claims familiarity with the industry, you seems a little out of touch with what happens on the street. The total high end audio market is barely the size of just Sonos, and while it is growing due to expansion into emerging markets, its penetration drops every year, which has made the industry self serving as it tries to maintain local revenue and struggles with irrelevance, while not seeing it orchestrates its own irrelevance. Younger generations, including ones with now significant income, are not embracing high end audio, and not embracing turntables for anything but kitsch.  One only needs to recognize the ever increasing average age of audiophiles, especially here to see that is the case. The younger generations are better educated, more informed, and believe it or not, more skeptical. "Trust me", does not fly well with them.


If you must now, most cables in my system are custom made. I like things neat and tidy, not the rats nest in so many so-called system pictures. Everything (now), is just the right length. No more, no less.  Interconnects are made with Mogami 2534, but the runs are all short so the capacitance does not matter. Subs are 2549. Limited frequency range so less EMI concern. I use Furutech XLR connectors, mainly because I got 20 of them at next to nothing. I have no illusions they sound better than Neutrik, but I they do look a lot better. AECO for my RCA. Jewellery. I like the way they look and easy to work with. On the non DSP speakers, custom 8 awg for bass, Kimber 8PR for mid/highs. I use Audionote spades, they crimp perfectly.  I also have some Goertz cables. Normally I am listening to speakers with a direct digital feed, so no need. I didn't plan to make my own phono cable but did that too. It was that or open up the phono stage and modify the values for proper cartridge loading. I just started with a longer wire and kept shortening it till the capacitive loading was correct then tweaked the resistor in the connector. Dirty secret in audio, most people's cartridges are poorly matched to their phono stages. No where near optimum.   I used to use shielded instrument AC cords, but looked a bit crappy. Ran into ESP at AES pre-covid. Nice guy, sure a bit distorted view of how electricity works, but kept the spin to a minimum.  Ended up buying 5 cables, custom to my desired length, with several of them with right angles IEC. No difference in sound, but really cleaned things up and looks great. The DSP speakers have custom made AC cables.   ..... oh, and ya, I have had many a friend drop by with expensive cables, and only twice could anyone tell a difference. With one IC, there was a very slight hum, probably faulty construction (for $1,200!), and with one set of speaker cables, by a "well-known" company, you could hear a warming when switched, but really not a warming, but a loss of high frequencies. Not at all surprising when you looked at it. 

dletch2, thank you for your additional comments. You have homemade "custom" cables and appear to not understand how to assess cables in systems. Of course, you didn’t share what cables you have compared in sets, as I requested. You provided two instances of comparison of cables in mixed sets, as though that is evidence to dismiss the efficacy of different builds. Congratulations! You follow the same ignorant errors of other highly intelligent people who use poor methodology in reaching erroneous conclusions!

You blathered on and on, never sharing the info I requested - I presume because you have not compared cables in sets. Consequently, you are clueless on this topic, an opinionated and ignorant person. You could become an asset to this site and the community, but not until you humble yourself. :(

BTW, when you boast of your homemade cables, and dismiss one of the world's foremost authorities on cables' electrical properties and sound characteristics, then I know it's a waste of time to discuss with you.  

As regards ABX, I did so and wrote about it in the ABX Comparator review at Dagogo.com 
I could care less about your opinion on ABX. 

I’m finished with this discussion.

dletch2, thank you for your additional comments. You have homemade "custom" cables and appear to not understand how to assess cables in systems.

Well isn't that a convenient and absolutely meaningless conclusion there Doug. I don't use your flawed methodology, therefore I must be wrong. Sorry Doug, when I want to detect small changes in performance, I blind test.  Are you familiar with the concept? I don't think so since you never do it, and think this mixed cable concept of yours somehow gives you super hearing and removes bias. Sorry Doug, the world does not conform to how you want it to work.

Of course, you didn’t share what cables you have compared in sets, as I requested.

Request all you want. It is a meaningless request, therefore requires no answer.  If a single cable, replaced anywhere in the signal chain provides no audible difference when using actual critical listening testing, with attempts to remove bias, then replacing the whole loom is not going to either.  Let's face it, this whole "loom" concept is nothing but manufacturers trying to extract more money from customers. I don't blame them, every company tries to do that. However, anyone who has a shred of understanding of electronics or the possible interactions a cable could have, understands it MUST be highly dependent on the two components being connected, with the possible exception of speakers in most cases, hence the concept of a full loom is again, just marketing. Using critical listening methods would help you with this.  The other advantage of a supplier insisting full loom, to reviewers, is it forces a change (and hence contact swiping / cleaning) of every connection. 

You provided two instances of comparison of cables in mixed sets, as though that is evidence to dismiss the efficacy of different builds. Congratulations! You follow the same ignorant errors of other highly intelligent people who use poor methodology in reaching erroneous conclusions!

Doug, you have explained your methodology. It is flawed and so highly susceptible to mood and bias, that it is effectively worthless. That you think you are magically infallible is the start and finish of your methodology.  In terms of actually reading what I said, I provided two instances where an actual audible change was noted. There have been high 10's of high end cable comparisons with no evident changes. I have also made changes along the way that reduced noise, and it is pretty easy to make a bad speaker cable that produces a somewhat evident change in performance, at least with somewhat quick changes.


Until you accept you are biased, have moods, and are fallible, you will continue on the flawed path.