Cables, a case history of an Agnostic


I have been reluctant to post any information regarding cables for two reasons. First, I only became serious about trying various different power, speaker and interconnect wires about nine months ago. I felt that most of you knew so much more, and I did not want to sound stupid. Second, I was hearing very little if any significant differences. After a number of purchases, I realized what had happened! You guys were all on this site for a big scam just to separate ME from my money!
Well that was quite a shock, knowing there were so many of you out there spending all your free time making up stuff just to get me.
But, a mere $30,000 worth of shrink fees took care of that. I now understand we are all Bozos on this bus.
For those of you still with me here, this is what happened. I have an "office" system where I do most of my listening. At the moment it consists of B&W N speakers on stands filled with shot, a Cary SLI80 integrated amp, a Cary CD303, and a Sonic Frontiers CD1 (why? because I can't make myself sell one.) I tried various cables over the past months. Listed below are most of them.
SPEAKER: Audio Quest Granite, Analysis Plus Oval-9, Tara Labs 1800, Nordost Blue Heaven (thanks to the Cable Co. for lending me these 4 sets) Cardas Golden Cross, Canare 11gauge self-terminated with WBT and Monster something....all were biwire configuration.
INTERCONNECTS: Steath (blue), Monster middle of the line something, Homegrown Audio Super Silver and Silver Lace, Cardas Golden Cross, Nordost Red Dawn, and one or two others in the same league.
POWER CABLES: Tried several under $80 and settled on BMI Elite. Can't explain why.... more expensive,need to see the shrink again........
If one or two of you are still reading this drivel, there is a point to all this. Last week I had a long talk with Joe at JC Audio. I was looking for a deal on Audio Tekne speaker cables. He had sold them, so naturally he tried to sell me something else. Uhoh, the conspiracy theory is creeping back......Ok, I'm back. Thank God for prozac.
Anyhow, Joe recommended I try this combination by Ensemble: Megaflux FSF speaker cable and Dynaflux FSF RCA ICs. I demanded a money back guarantee, he decided I was crazy, but took a chance and sent them to me after breaking them in on some special new break-in machine. They arrived on Friday.. Two days later I stand here bleary eyed and can honestly say...
I AM A BELIEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cables can make a difference. No more shrinks. I have seen the light. Thank you Joe and Ensemble.
Ag insider logo xs@2xsnooker14
I will post my own opinion fo rwhat it is worth.

I also know that many people on this site have way much more experience and knowledge than I have. Still, after doing a fair amount of fiddling and listening I have at least formed a kind of viewpoint.

I think that the cable question is not at all hogwash. But at a certain level the cable that works well for you is the one that mates best with your system and ears. The cable kind of fine tunes the sound to your liking.

I have heard cables with my spectral/avalon system that were many thousands of dollars and some less than a thousand. Happily I happened to like the sound from the cheaper spectral/MIT ultralinear cable rather than far more expensive cables fromMIT and others. The other cables nearly all sounded great but I just happened to like the sound from the UL cable best.

Hey I might even change my mind.

jd
Whew!!

I was worried we might have to cut you in on the scam for a while there. Fortunately you are now hopelessly hooked and your expectations of better sound from a new cable will keep me and the others of "The Cable Family" in CDs for the rest of our lives. I don't mind admitting this to you because you are totally addicted now. It may or may not surprise you to know that those of us in the Family never touch the stuff.
Oops!

Dekay just told me we had cut you in on the weekend - keep up the good work!
I've tried two burners. One did nothing as far as i could tell and the other made a very noticeable difference. The "good one" was a Mobie. While i know that Music Direct sells them, i think that Bob Bundus was able to find a better deal on the one that he just bought. If he doesn't catch this thread, i'll ask him for the specifics. Sean
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Redkiwi: Your responses confused me 'cause I can't remember if I got cut in, or did not get cut in, or just plain had a bad dream, or what. But I'll keep up the good work. I know Joe did mention a Nordost burner, but there was another one too .... More will be revealed tomorrow.
Someone on another recent thread mentioned the difference between being addicted to audio and being addicted to life and death type substances like alcohol, drugs, cigs, etc. I have been in the hell that surrounds both, and I have returned to tell you this. Compared to the hell of the latter, the former is heaven.