What Speaker Cables Taught Me About Audiophiles

@erik_squires wrote:

... we audiophiles need to be conscious that sometimes our preferences are unique to our culture and that the "normal" consumer may not share them at all. 

Must say I wasn't surprised by the outcome of your story, not that I knew where it was heading. Needless to say there are differences in preferences among "established" audiophiles as well, but do they necessarily reflect where we are on each of our respective journeys - i.e.: as an example, would a seasoned audiophile like @ghdprentice find similar preferences among other audiophiles with 50 years of experience, and would those preferences represent a tendency even among them? I'm guessing it's more of a rhetorical question of mine, also to say that those of your "inexperienced" blind test friends mayn't be representative in their preferences of the totality of those who are inexperienced in our audiophile adventures. 

If anything I believe that audiophiles may be prone to veer off at some point in a direction where he or she has cultivated a sound through their setup that doesn't as much emulate a live and/or natural sound, but rather one that has become "audiophile" and something onto itself. I like inviting more or less uninitiated people that are visiting to have a listen to my setup, just to get their spontaneous response and learn of their findings. They mostly don't use an accepted audiophile vocabulary, but I find that freeing in getting a different terminological angle with their descriptions. As it turns out they're sometimes more critical in actually comparing what they are hearing with the "real stuff," whereas audiophiles tend to accept what they hear within a framework of "audiophilia," having perhaps already abandoned any hope of listening to setups that sound like the real deal. 

Over the past few years I've had three sets of speaker cables in my system:

Acoustic Zen Hologram 2

Nordost White Lightning 

Belden 89259 diy

I rotated the Beldens into my system about a year ago and I've just never gone back. They don't resolve as well as the acoustic zens, they don't create that 3 Mile deep soundstage like the nordust, but they simply provide more presence, more than one if I go to cables were locking even though those cables are quite quite good. And the Beldens of course were exponentially cheaper than the other two.

My wife ran a blind audio test on me with a three sets of cables see if I had any bias for the ones I made myself, and with just about every recording I prefered the belden's.

Treble frequencies are most directional so how much will always affect imaging.

If you want to play with treble and its effects on imaging, DSP or similar EQ is a much more practical, cost effective and flexible way to do it rather than expensive wires that may happen to provide some kind of unique filter to the sound. 
 

Basic tone controls as well just not very flexible in most cases.  

I get good quality cost effective wires mostly off Amazon these days. Mogami is always a sound choice but not necessarily the most cost effective.

Erik,

Thank you for this. It's a fine example of...well, of one of the very many manifestations of subjective bias in our common obsession.

Yesterday, I spent a few hours with a friend's superlative system. He has written many reviews and other things for Stereophile, built his beautiful home around the electrical and acoustic needs of his music system, and so on. Of the several very well heeled members of our local audio club, I like his system best. 

My intent yesterday was to hear a piece I love and have listened to at least weekly for a couple of years now: Arvo Pärt's "Te Deum" on ECM—a composition I've also heard live. On my system, the church acoustic is tangible (it was recorded in the Lohan Kirkko, Finland), the voices discernible as individuals within the choir. Transcendent!

Well, he wanted me first to hear...wait for it...Black Sabbath! Then we listened to "Descending," my favorite track on Tool's "Fear Inoculum." Peaks (and that album is highly compressed) were over 100 db, I'm sure. I know that stuff on my system as well; with a SPM, I've dared to get the ambient sound up to just under 100 db.

The verdict? His huge Martin Logan Renaissance electrostats in his purpose-built listening room projected a much larger sonic image. And they played at a soul-shaking volume that would have blown out my drivers. But.... The sound was harsh, and somehow "electronic." My system is "warmer," and even with the heavy metal, more compelling (except for the sheer volume). As for the Arvo Pärt, my system better captures the mystical feel of that often delicate devotional piece.

Sorry; I know this has nothing to do with speaker cables. But it has everything to do with comparative reproduction. It is all subjective? Maybe. But if I can derive just one lesson from this critical comparison, it's that cost is not the main parameter of compelling audio reproduction.

But if I can derive just one lesson from this critical comparison, it's that cost is not the main parameter of compelling audio reproduction.

Agreed.