Cable lifters/towers- voodoo or the real thing?

Afc, OK your problem (if you have one) is mechanical vibration, and not electrical inductance. Standard wood frame construction which meets the building codes, can vibrate a speaker cable lying directly upon the floor or even on carpet. Vibration introduced to the conductors can affect the music signal, but 'if' and 'how much' depends on many factors, such as the construction of the cable, particularly the thickness and material of the outer jacket, the cable's length, the strength of the vibration, etc. So the foam insulators would be appropriate if there is a problem -- but that's the part that's hard to determine.

If your speaker cables have relatively thin outer jacket material, or even none, like the Speltz anti-cables, then isolating them from mechanical contact with the floor (assuming the floor vibrates) should result in a quieter (blacker?) program background, with instruments and vocals having better definition -- but it's a tough call, and only you know if your system is improved.

Depends! I am not sure about the tonal effects of cable lifters but I do know they help keep my massive speaker cables from bending or pulling down from the terminals of my mono amps which are raised off the floor by virtue of sitting on amps stands, Copulare style.

My speakers are bi-wired and if I were to leave the cables hand down from the amps, they would bind really bad causing an eventual bending of the terminals on the amps and or the connectors themselves.

I did not want to stick plastic or cardboard as lifters to raise the cables so I decided on one of the high tension varieties that a lot of people are using, the ones that are used for telephone poles or electric poles. They work great in that I do not have cables that are stressed.

I do not think I ever noticed any change in sound in my system with or without them. My speaker cables are about as thick as the Pangea AC9's, they are OEM Neotech pure silvers, ahem, some other high end cables name is on them in other varieties.
Ciao,
Audioquest4life

Went with 5/8" thick foam rubber pipe insulators from Home Depot. No difference that I can hear. Insulated speaker cords and power cords. Nothing. At least I can now step on the cords with impunity and not worry about damaging them.

HI all ! The purpose of lifting the cables is to get them in the air with cable elevators everyfoot or so . Just sliding insulation over them just lets them lay on a flat surface which is where you started .Putting the cable elevators closer together makes the bass tighten up more. I like to put them slightly different distances apart to even out the string resonance of the cables.