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Cable elevators - conventional wisdom wrong?

Reluctant to put any considerable money in them, the reasons for using cable elevators seemed intuitively correct to me: decouple cables mechanically from vibration and insulate them from the carpet's static. I have therefore built cheap elevators myself using Lego building blocks. (Plastic with a more or less complex internal structure; moreover, there is enormous shaping flexibility, for instance you can also build gates with suspended strings on which to rest the cables)
In their advertisement/report on the Dark Field elevators, Shunyata now claim that conventional elevators are actually (very?) detrimental in that they enable a strong static field to build up between cable and floor causing signal degradation.
Can anyone with more technical knowledge than I have assess how serious the described effect is likely to be? Would there, theoretically, be less distortion with cables lying on the floor? Has anyone actually experienced this?
karelfd
karelfd OP
476 posts
 
Thank you all. There is a wealth of information here. If I may draw a conclusion at this point: differences, if any, are small enough not to have to worry over my system's performance if I'm not using the Dark Field elevators. On the other hand, I do like to experiment and so will gladly take up some of the suggestions (Justin, sorry, can't engage MusicDirect in this since I'm based in Europe but I'll look out to find someone with a comparable sales policy over here). To me that's one big fun factor in this hobby, always something to discover (even if once in a while the discovery is there's nothing new under the sun after all ;^))

I'll A/B in my second system where I have easiest access, but I can't do it straight away since I've only just made a change that had a considerable sonic impact. I'll report to you guys in a couple of weeks.

Also, sincere thanks for a very matter-of-factual discussion on a topic such as this.
twentypaws
3 posts
 
When I was a kid I used to collect glass and ceramic insulators. The kind you see on old telephone poles along railroad tracks. There are still hundreds of thousands if not millions of these still in use in rural areas. Just look up at the poles when driving along some old tracks. Most no longer even have wires on them anymore but what are they going to do with all that old glass, so they just leave them up there. What I'm getting at is they are ideal for use as cable elevators, if you think you need them. Go to any flea market even antique stores and get all you want for a buck a piece. All shapes, sizes and colors. Some are worth a lot of money to collectors but most are worthless, except for cable elevators and door stops.
clio09
3,356 posts
 
The reason I use cable lifters (homemade version) is that it makes it easier for me to vacuum the rug without accidentally running over them.
dpang233
31 posts
 
Hi, Clio09

I second your comment. I tried with "Quartz made" ( exact English Name I may not be sure, Black-silverish Mineral:
and Padouk-wooden made elevators, really cannot feel anything. Now I had two extended plastic rod standing out horizontally behind the rack, and use Nylon (cloth-hanging type )ropes to make "hanging freely" my speaker cables and
Power cables. Some articles had products also selling
" free-hanging".... and much convenience for my maid
( though it is a restricted and protected area for her
to be near, but I cannot shoot her if I am not in the house
!!!! )
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Rushton is 100% right - try getting your cables off the floor, and give it a chance. I have personally heard the effects of lifting a cable off the carpet exceed the differences between cables themselves.

From an electrical standpoint, carpet serves as an enormous dielectric - and normally one of very low quality (nylon or polyester). Audiophiles spend enormous sums on cabling, accepting as fact the dielectric component, along with metal composition and cable geometry, add together to represent the sonic signature of the cable itself. Letting the cable sink down into the carpet, and take on the charactertistics of that dielectric equates to a significant amount of the money, effort, and benefit of purchasing better cable being wasted.
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