Are cables like pipes?

[Carmantom]

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik

Maybe so. But you'll also have to consider every wire in your house and other electrical device plugged into it as well as your local grid. As well as every solder joint in your gear, the leads on discrete components, solar flares (ionization of the atmosphere affects RFI) and the time of day (depending on the ionization of the F2 layer), local broadcasting towers, cosmic background radiation, and several thousand other considerations. You can keep going down the scale of relevance into an intellectual dead end. You'll never have two identical sets of conditions, ever. Also consider that components age and change in value, which can be measured with a DMM, by the way. And you change, too. Your state of mind, how much sleep you've had, your blood pressure, the temperature, ambient noise, and many other things affect how you perceive sound.

It is my opinion that chasing these down is a very, very expensive and time consuming dead end.

My thinking is that you have to accept the possibilities for what they are and enjoy your listening anyway. Maybe some tweak would help. Then again, a sun spot might negate it for a week.

It isn't worth the trouble. I think the best approach is to use cables that are sturdy and well made and resign yourself to the fact that it might not be everything.

Uncle Eric

Thanks for one of the more sane answers on this never ending subject. I too believe too many factors that come into play and their relationships to each other.
Add to that another belief I have, which is we understand way less about the science of sound than we think we know.

[V-Duh]

Interesting replies! Thanks for the thoughtful feedback.
Being an engineer I spend a lot of time mulling over variables and often just end up assuming most of them out of the equation.
I got through a whole engineering education without a single electronics course so I'm limited to a far off memory of physics - obviously adding to my difficulty.

[Edwood]

Originally Posted by RedLeader

I think it's always a good idea to save your money for beer.

Though I'm a Canadian, so your kilometerage may vary, eh.

Fixed.



I don't think cables are like pipes.

Fluid dynamics and electrical resistance are two very different things.

-Ed