Cable auditions - Hard Work?

Auditioning cables is hard work - but it doesn't have to be excrutiatingly painful and the benefits can be great. The place that I get demo cables from to try (The Cable Company)has them already broken in, so unless I am trying something silver-based or one of the PAD cables with ferox, this isn't an issue for me. I have 6 specific "cuts" ( solo piano, solo female and male vocals, live acoustic jazz combo, symphonic piece, acoustic guitar, and drum solo)that I use and my methodology is pretty straight forward. I play all 6 cuts on my system the way it is which lets everything warm up and sound its best and refreshes my point of reference. I then change ONE set of cables and play the same 6 cuts again with the new cables in place, listening for how they sound or rather how the system sounds with them in place, compared to the reference and that completes the serious listening. I then play whatever else I feel like that night and repeat the process in reverse the next evening. The new cables will either prove their worth that way or the old cables will - one or the other. If I can't decide on this basis- the money is not spent and I haven't driven myself crazy.

Have your buddy, Jack Daniels, come over and help. After a bit, even the $8,500 cables will sound o.k. :)

See www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

Lots of good ideas, and great advice. Thank you one and all.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who finds this cable auditioning thing to be.....a pain. I actually find it to be stressful at times, like i have a final exam coming for which I haven't studied quite enough.

I would just buy some cables and stick with them, but I have found that different IC's - even in my self imposed price range - do bring various qualities to the table. I love 'air' and detail etc. but, i don't want to give up good deep bass with slam to get it. uuugggghhh!

I just have some self imposed rules on budget...I won't spend more than $250 on a pair of IC. Speaker cables are different for me because of the length of the run - 17+ feet. :-( That sort of limits my choices. I've done the DIY Canare 4S11 speaker cables - they're actually excellent for the $$.

I've never tried the Cable Co. I suppose I don't have anything to lose. Just some more sleep.

thanks again to all. Any more thoughts are still welcome.

paul

Hi Paul,

I have spent way too many hours agonizing over this same thing. I finally figured it out, spend a few nights listening to your system with one cable, then with the other. If you found one was less enjoyable than the other, get rid of the one you didn't enjoy. In your price range it should not require such intense listening and stress. It should be apparent without a lot of thought after a couple nights, as to which was more musical and enjoyable.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if you're listening to your system and not your music, than you're missing the whole point of this hobby. ENJOY THE MUSIC! That is the goal.

JD

If you are spending hours comparing cables, something is not right w/the rest of your system. Folks, the cables biz is a scam, and the sooner audiophiles learn this, the more money we'll have for what we value most: music.