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.
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. |
@clearthinker What a shame, you merely told @soix that you disagreed with and did not call him derogatory names, insult his taste, or tell him to get off the site. as he did to the OP. Soix: "So, what the hell are you even doing here trollsicle? Enjoy listening to your cheap-ass, crap stereo in total ignorance, attend only un-amplified acoustic performances, and while you’re at it feel free to not come back here. Your post and uninformed opinions are absolutely meaningless in the context of this site. Troll elsewhere." We all know cables are one of the best profit centers in hi-fi, perhaps that explains the ferocity which some defend them. Personally I am open to persuasion on the issue but am leaning to being skeptical for the following reasons, A.) cables get much less attention on the pro side whether it is the recording studio or the electric musician. B.) I am not aware of cables being overly significant in other mission critical electronics such as in the medical field or aeronautics or telecommunications. There is a justification in all of these areas for a well built, properly specked wire, but none of the hocus pocus that only seems prevalent among us audio hobbyists. C.) I can't overlook the fact that precious few manufacturers that I know of bother to include anything more than basic well made cables with their equipment. If it really made a difference wouldn't you want to add a $1000 power cable to you $10,000 amp to make sure your customers got the best out of it? Especially if equipment matching is part of the equations as has been frequently claimed. D.) Reviewers I respect, Darko, Lavorgna, have stated that on the scale of possible audio improvements cables are way, way down the list. Others have said that cables may change the sound but whether it is an improvement is an entirely subjective determination. As for the issue of acoustic vs electric music for evaluating "fidelity", I just don't see how anything other than acoustic music could be the standard. Yes, there is the very real issue of acoustics and the importance of the recording venue AND the very real issue that symphonic orchestras just don't play in people's homes in real life, so there is some artificiality even in these cases. But for electronic and amplified music how can you talk about fidelity when no one ever really heard the original music till it was all mixed, dubbed and mastered? I think that it is closer to the truth in this hobby to say we all just pick the forms of distortion we prefer. |
