Wire: Pet Peeve

SCompRacer

MSALLA wrote:

I'm just on here trying to learn some things. You guys have helped alot so don't worry about it. I didn't see it as a hijack anyway.

Thanks for being understanding. History has shown us the questions you have asked will ultimately turn into a lively discussion.

F1nut

hearingimpared wrote:

I agree that some of his philosophy is extreme but in theory a lot of it makes sense. This obessession is based on a lot of subjectivity and I think that is what makes it great.:)

Some of his thoughts makes sense, but theory and practice don't always come out the same. There was one speaker designer that built a speaker with a perfectly flat frequency response. In theory it should great, but according to him it sounded like crap. Go figure.

hearingimpared

F1nut wrote:

Some of his thoughts makes sense, but theory and practice don't always come out the same. There was one speaker designer that built a speaker with a perfectly flat frequency response. In theory it should great, but according to him it sounded like crap. Go figure.

I had taken a realy great electronic equalizer and mic'd it throughout my listening room and set the frequencies (this out of SDA/SRSs fed w/Crown amps) so that in the sweet spot and just off axis, the entire spectrum of frequencies were flat. It sounded absolutely aweful so much so that I thought I had blown the tweeters or screwed up the output transistors in the amps. Once I bypassed the eq. to allow the speakers to play what was fed them it resolved itself. You are correct flat frequency response in theory is a completely different ballgame than in the practical world.

BobMcG

How refreshing it is to see a new topic come up for discussion!:rolleyes:

OK, OK, enough of the sarcasm. (I have to keep myself in check once in a while. )

I look at it this way... If you can't hear a difference in the sound of your system with a swap between the cheapest of cables like large zip cord speaker wire being used with those gray patch cord RCAs and speaker cables that cost oh, say $300 for an 8' pair being used with matching quality interconnects, (not cheap yet not expensive) you're just wasting your money spending it on cable upgrades. Simple. Save your money.

You may be able to beg, borrow, rent or buy and return a set of cables to test out. But just try to do it some how. It's the only way you'll know if more costly cables are worth it for you (or your system).

hearingimpared

BobMcG wrote:

You may be able to beg, borrow, rent or buy and return a set of cables to test out. But just try to do it some how. It's the only way you'll know if more costly cables are worth it for you (or your system).

And therein lies the problem . . . trying them, A/B ing them. Unless you have an intimate relationship with a dealer you are out of luck unless you get cables with a 30 day money back guarantee on it or a friend has the cables. Also with ICs I have found that if I just change out one set of ICs (e.g. the IC from the turntable to preamp but leave the preamp to amp ICs the same) there is not an appreciable difference (changing both would be my choice). A/B ing interconnects and speaker cable is tough, I use souce material that I am very familiar with and have a very good "audio memory" with. The problem is that sometimes the differences are very audible but in my mind it takes time to determine whether or not it is a desirable change, a natural or unnatural change or musicality, whether the cables need to be in for a while (burnin???) or if I am just trying or wishing to hear a difference. When the difference is blatently obvious that is when the down time between A and B can be distressing.

In any case I love doing it!

MSALLA

BobMcG wrote:

How refreshing it is to see a new topic come up for discussion!:rolleyes:

OK, OK, enough of the sarcasm. (I have to keep myself in check once in a while. )

I look at it this way... If you can't hear a difference in the sound of your system with a swap between the cheapest of cables like large zip cord speaker wire being used with those gray patch cord RCAs and speaker cables that cost oh, say $300 for an 8' pair being used with matching quality interconnects, (not cheap yet not expensive) you're just wasting your money spending it on cable upgrades. Simple. Save your money.

You may be able to beg, borrow, rent or buy and return a set of cables to test out. But just try to do it some how. It's the only way you'll know if more costly cables are worth it for you (or your system).

I knew when I posted this I was going to take some flack and I wasn't going to post it but I wanted to lern some things.
In all the threads, I never read WHY they make the sound better. People argue that they do or don't make the sound better. On this thread some people have posted links to technical information. Some of the info made sense so I might try some speaker wires on my fronts because of the short length.

yenoorekim

I prefer ripping the paper from the ends of twist-ties and hooking them together. Awesome sound. 86 more loafs of bread, and I can wire my left channel. :rolleyes:

hearingimpared

MSALLA wrote:

I knew when I posted this I was going to take some flack and I wasn't going to post it but I wanted to lern some things.
In all the threads, I never read WHY they make the sound better. People argue that they do or don't make the sound better. On this thread some people have posted links to technical information. Some of the info made sense so I might try some speaker wires on my fronts because of the short length.

Hey Buddy,

How about Pierre from Mapleshade saying that speaker wires under 8' should never be used (no matter what guage) because they sound horrible. That makes you think!:eek:

Joe

steveinaz

FWIW, let me make an anology. To me, cables are like spices; they all communicate all of the core information. Some cables give a little bit different presentation than others---another audio-flavor if you will, based on materials, connectors, and topology. You select your cables based on how they flavor your system, not necessarily on cost.

That's the way I see it.

MSALLA

hearingimpared wrote:

Hey Buddy,

How about Pierre from Mapleshade saying that speaker wires under 8' should never be used (no matter what guage) because they sound horrible. That makes you think!:eek:

Joe

I think I might try some different wires just to see what happens.