Does the"quality" of jumpers affect the sound?

Notwithstanding the statements about jumpers making a difference and connecting at either the high or low side, cross wiring + to hi and - to low, cannot make any difference since the current is AC and effectively the + & - change continuously according to the frequency.

Notwithstanding the statements about jumpers making a difference and connecting at either the high or low side, cross wiring + to hi and - to low, cannot make any difference since the current is AC and effectively the + & - change continuously according to the frequency.

Try it and use your ears to determine what happens. You and anyone else who actually does the experiment, will easily hear the difference. It's not that subtle.

We are forced to do it here on a regular basis with the Linn Akurate speakers which have a true 5-way split crossover makeing them quin-wireable. When choosing the best way to hook up our two speaker cables, there are obvious differences depending on which drivers get the direct connection.

The point you make about AC has nothing to do with the reason that a direct connection sounds different from an indirect one. If we were talking about illuminating a light bulb, your analysis would be fine, but the sound we perceive through a stereo system is a much more complex animal. Lots of things matter (are perceivable) in audio that don't matter in other applications.

Dave is absolutely right; in systems with enough finesse to reproduce sound delicately the changes between jumpers and wiring is detectable. Just yesterday I replaced the power cord on my Rega Saturn cdp with an MIT Oracle and the difference was easily discernable.

I don't spend a lot of time on tweaks which are of the nature that one has to ask, "...am I hearing a difference or not?" If it's a beneficial change/noticeable change it has to be discernable immediately, or else what's the point? When changing cables or jumpers, the difference on a good system should be such that one notices it immediately. The issue of whether it's preferred sound longer term can take a while, but the question of "does it make a difference" should take less than 120 seconds.

How about this? Does polishing a CD make a difference in how it sounds? Before you say "it can't" why don't you try it? If you've got more than a Denon receiver and Radio shack speakers, you'll likely hear the difference. If you have a high end system and don't hear a difference, I'm sorry to tell you... you have hearing loss.

I find it incredible that in this age of nanotechnology, molecular biology etc, where it is demonstable that minute variations can have critical impact many are holding antiquated beliefs that physical changes (is changing a calble from 16 Ga to 8 Ga, and from stranded to solid core enough of a change?) on such a relatively huge scale don't make a difference.

04-26-07: inpepinnovations@aol.com
Notwithstanding the statements about jumpers making a difference and connecting at either the high or low side, cross wiring + to hi and - to low, cannot make any difference since the current is AC and effectively the + & - change continuously according to the frequency.

I'm not so sure about the accuracy of this statement. First, with AC power, the + & - do change continuously, but not according to frequency, they change continuously according to time. The North American AC standard is 60 cycles per second.

Secondly, I was always under the impression that an amplifiers audio output was DC, not AC, is this not correct? If the amp does output DC then absolute phase polarity is an issue. Please let me know if I am incorrect, and amplifiers audio output is AC.

Cheers,
John

Well I have tried wiring the positive lead to the top binding post and the negative lead to the lower binding post and was pleased with the results. I had been doing this for about 2 weeks and decided to see if anyone else had the same experience.

As of today I'm going to try bi-wiring. I am using a pair of Virtual Dynamics Master cables for the top end and a pair of FIM/CRL Silver cables for the bottom end. Unfortunately, my amp has one set or binding posts per channel so I have to use banana adapters on the VD cables for the connection to the amp end while the FIM/CRL cables will be connetcd via their Bocchino spades at both ends. The banana adapters I am using are from Bocchino and are recommended by VD. They are certainly well built and solid.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether it is best to stick with one brand of cable for bi-wiring?