Cable curmudgeon


I'm not an 'audiophile" but I like to think I have a good ear having been a professional musician (principal wind player in major symphony orchestras) for 50 years. A number of years ago going into an excellent audio equipment store I talked with, what seemed, a knowledgeable salesman.  Being a musician experienced in audio systems but not expert on all the equipment out there I had some questions concerning high (over-priced?) end cables. The salesman assured there was an audible differencet in a demo room switching back and forth etc.  After a few minutes I noticed the sound coming out of only one channel.  He complemented me on my "good ear."  Hmmm? A few years later when setting up my home system I investigated speaker cables. Two sets of Monster, stranded standard cable, solid core copper (used for alarm system) attached with like connecters. There was a difference.  However, not in terms of better or worse: bass and treble were acceptable as was clarity loud and soft.  Differences were esthetic- like asking "whose the best tenor" (I like Plácido).  Now I know as a musician used to live (i.e. un-amplified) music that all I hear coming out of a loud speaker is perforce ersatz.  But most everything today comes out of a loud speaker whether a rock concert or a hi-fi system so perhaps my opinion is curmudgeonly. But, for me, spending oodles of money on hyped cables, well... I  liked the solid core for my alarm system- still do.

 

exflute

Why the vitriol here? An experienced musician and lover of live music is simply doing his/her best to share an experience in a light-humored way. It's so hard to be PC on this board. 

So I'll try:  "My opinion is that Audioquest are full of s**t".

I am not saying they do not make good cables.  

But, if you are going adduce SCIENCE to explain the why it is worth spending $5k on a 1 meter mains cable which is attached to ~ 10m of ordinary 20 amp house wiring, attached to a circuit breaker, attached to miles of power utility cabling, to listen to music recorded in studio NOT using $5k per meter cabling to power its equipment, then:

  • Scientific method should be readily accepted for evaluating the technical claims made. I.e., the specific scientific benefits quoted should be scientifically measurable vs. the cable that came in the box. I wonder why AQ never publish those results?
  • Said explanation should be easily understood, and make sense. A cable that has “Zero Characteristic Impedance” (Not the same thing as Zero I\impedance, btw) is not going to help much attached to 10m of house wiring etc, etc.
  • (Btw the impedance of a 3ft 12 gauge copper mains cable is ~ .05 Ohms  - which would drop your supply voltage, even drawing 10 amps, from 115v to 114.9v    —   http://www.electrician2.com/calculators/vd_calculator_initial.html )

My guess for AQ’s next trick? An audiophile circuit breaker to replace the one in your breaker box, with special filtering to prevent interference from other circuits in your home seeping into your system. Only $4,999!

The forum requires additional moderation, for the sake of the forum, it's members, and the continuance of the fundamental intent and direction desired in any business model associated with it.

As the contrary blind grind will NEVER give in. Not in this life - or the next.

It requires a permanent and enforced high bar, that may be required to be continually vigilant, for the foreseeable future.

@clearthinker Apparently your thinking isn’t as clear as you think as you completely missed the core point of my post, or maybe you just can’t understand it. Either way your comments are meaningless to me as you’re obviously clueless, which the moderators obviously recognized and acted accordingly.