John Dunlavy On "Cable Nonsense"

Sean wrote about lamp cord...

Lamp cord is not bad per se, as it is 12 ga copper stranded wire, which is adequate for most speakers as a conductor. The 20ga mentioned in Grungle's post is too small for most speaker applications.

The problem with lamp cord, as I mentioned before is two fold: the insulation and the geometry. While some published tests have shown that lamp cord *measures* pretty good for use as speaker cable, I disagree. I feel that the geometry and the insulation DOES dictate sonic signature(s) that are audible on systems of sufficient quality. You may or may not be able to detect a significant difference depending upon your particular listening situation. It is entirely possible to make a very expensive and "colored" speaker cable - so expense or looks do not mean that it is better than mere lamp cord.

_-_-bear

I think you have it right. Nobody really wants to pay more money for no improvement, but it does happen with cables. I have access to almost everything that John Dunlavy has for measurement. So what? I still hear the difference, even if I don't have the equipment to measure it properly, at least with respect to my ears.

I have to agree with Dunlavy. Beyond a reasonable limit, spending HUGE bucks on fat, fancy, and colorful cables is a waste of money.

If you want a real laugh, check out the thread here on Audiogon titled "Nice Warm AC cord for a PLC".

Abe, you can laugh all you want. As an electronics tech by trade, i used to do more than laugh at such things. I was UTTERLY APPALLED by such things. That is, until i tried playing with various power cords. The differences WERE noticeable. In fact, i recently re-affirmed this by accident.

I purchased a piece of equipment that created a hum in one of my systems. Changing the power cord altered the pitch AND amplitude AND frequency spectrum of the hum. This was verified both by ear and by an SPL meter. The change in hum was not due to electro-magnetic interference created by the position of the cord either, as the cords were well away from everything else in the system.

Just because we can't explain something or seems to defy logic doesn't mean that it is impossible. Keep an open mind and see for yourself. I did and i'm still learning every day. Sean
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Sean, while I respect what you are telling us and I cannot judge what you claim to be hearing, I still stand by my original point about cables in general. With regard to AC power cords, if your new equipment introduced hum into your system that varied in pitch and amplitude with different cords, I would suspect a more severe problem somewhere in the system that was only altered (and perhaps not even solved) by trying different cords. If a different cord did solve the problem perhaps the original cord was defective or something else in the system was not quite right. I have cheap cheap power cords on some of my gear with no weird hum or variations in amplitude or pitch when I change the cord.
My main point should be that, in my opinion, it is wrong to spend huge bucks on interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords that are essentailly being used as tone controls to make up for deficiencies elsewhere in the system. With regard to AC power cords I cannot understand the logic of spending hundreds of dollars on colorful fat cables to plug into a wall outlet that has cheap wiring behind it throughout the house. I would ask, would it possibly be more wise to improve the wiring behind the outlet before dumping mega-bucks on the cool looking power cord? I would agree that an inadequate power cord should be replaced but again, in my opinion, spending more than $50 or so is a waste of money (unless you get pleasure from looking at it like a piece of jewelry).