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What Speaker Cables Taught Me About Audiophiles

Hold on tight because none of this story ends up where you think it will.

Ages ago I did a half-blind speaker cable test with friends in the building who loved Jazz. The amp was a Yamaha P2100 with Focal profile speakers. Cables were Mogami vs. Wireworld. Source was a CD player through a Theta Casanova preamp / processor (oh how i miss it).

I thought i was going to impress my friends with how great the Wireworld Silver 7s sounded. In particular the imaging I thought was so much better than through the Mogami Sound Runners.

To the surprise of many "scientists" here, my friends did in fact hear a noticeable difference between the two sets of cables. They absolutely preferred the Mogami.

I was a little shocked. I tried very hard to keep a poker face, and not guide them either way while switching. They could not see which cables were connected from their listening location.

What happened? Did they not understand how much better the imaging was with the Wireworld?

Well, actually they did and they didn’t care. Richard and his wife did notice that but felt that the loss of treble and beat was not worth it. Hands down for them the Mogami was the clear winner.

What this taught me was:

  1. Speaker cables can make a small but noticeable difference
  2. The improved imaging came at a cost of treble energy
  3. Most listeners wouldn’t make the trade. They’d rather have the tempo and foot tapping experience over my precious deep into the room imaging.

Over time of listening back and forth between my Wireworld collection and Mogami or DH Labs pure silver IC’s and Mogami speaker cables I’ve given that up. I think my neighbors were right. I’d rather have the beat and energy. It’s a fetish I was giving up far too much for.

I'm definitely not encouraging you to overhaul all your cables, but rather saying that 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. 

erik_squires
yoder
29 posts
 

A statement like that should be followed with "I have spoken ".

As long as I have decent cables I can't tell any cable differences for my ears in my system. My current speakers are good,  but I previously had some speakers very sensitive to every system adjustment. For me it drove me crazy trying to get them dialed in to sound their best.

On average I'm less able to perceive subtle system differences than other critical listeners. My girlfriend is not an audiophile,  but  a cello player. She has one particular test track that she knows very well and how the instruments should sound.  I sometimes cringe when we use it to test gear because if she hears something off, she's usually right. 

I don't think different cables will do much for me right now,  but maybe they will at another point.  I know just because I haven't experienced something yet with my limited sample size doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

When I do want to try to understand some of the electrical theory,  I have found some technical articles by Nelson Pass to be helpful such as this one:

https://www.passlabs.com/technical_article/speaker-cables-science-or-snake-oil/

brianlucey's avatar
brianlucey
162 posts
 

@squared80 literally every cable sounds different ... speaker, interconnect, AC power, etc 

just like all the various AC power conditioners and regenerators and balancing transformers, they all have a sound also  

if we don't hear it that's OK, it could be the system doesn't have the resolution, or maybe our listening skills aren't evolved, but absolutely everything has a sound.  

more money doesn't necessarily mean it's a better sound, sometimes it does. 

The whole snake oil shade you're throwing is really out of date 

respectfully 

bigtex22's avatar
bigtex22
87 posts
 

I have expensive speaker wires, but I remain unconvinced they make any sort of noticeable difference in my system. Same for power conditioners and other ancillary audio accoutrements.

Ag insider logo xs@2x
jji666
538 posts
 

One thing that I think doesn’t t get enough clarity in these discussions of digital vs analog.  Analog cables, at least there is some possible science behind potential differences.  Not that I’m saying I’ve heard anything dramatic.

But digital…that’s where the real mythology is.  Applying analog logic to the digital side…no bueno…

mark200mph
230 posts
 

I use power conditioners for the surge protection if it gives me a better sound quality that's a bonus but I can't afford to lose audio equipment.i do believe in large gauge cabels and twisting and have made some of my own DIY for the experience.enjoy the experiments and music

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