[ampgalore]

When was the last time anyone has looked inside their speaker cabinets?

Most speaker manufacturers use plain vanilla 16 gauge copper wires to connect the binding posts to the speaker drivers.

If anyone believes that multigrand cables make a difference in sound. They should:
1) Purchase those multigrand cables to use as interconnects.
2) Purchase a 25ft of those multigrand cables, strip the ends, open up their speakers, and solder the fancy cables between the binding posts and the speaker drivers.


Oops, forgot about the amp and the preamp, which probably use 20 gauge copper wires for internal wiring. You should open up your amp and preamp and replace those wires as well.



As to powercords, you should rewire your entire electric grid (thousands of miles) with those fancy Virtual Dynamics power cords. After all, with thousands of miles of dirt cheap copper wiring, the power really gets dirty. Just replacing those last couple of feet of the power grid (from the electric socket to your amp) with Virtual Dynamics power cord just wouldn't make a dent in that dirty power.

 

[RnB180]

anyhow..

theres more then enough people to verify that a good interconnect can benefit sonic performance.

Why are you trolling?

 

[Ferbose]

And don't forget the copper wires in the coils of speaker drivers.
I lament for the five feet of silver connected to all that copper.
B&W had a special edition speaker with silver coils, though.

As for the AC line, the situation is not really that dire.
If I am not mistaken, the nearest transformer is where the AC line to your house really starts.
It is probably only a few hundred feet away, but you do share this line with every other house in neighboring blocks.
I thought it is EMI (injected by other appliances) and RF that makes AC dirty, and I am still amazed at how a power cord that allows for the unobstructed flow of electrons can solve AC noise problems.
Again, what do I know?
My new, fat power cord seems to make a difference in sound--for the worse, though. May be I should cut it open to see how this degradation can be achieved.

 

[omedon]

Check out John Risch's web page if you would like an explanation why a higher quality power cord can make a difference.

http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/ac-cords.htm

 

[Jon L]

"Multigrand" cables don't necessarily sound good; good cables sound good. If I find a $200 cable that sounds as good as a $2000 cable, I will buy the cheaper cable, but if that $2000 cable is clearly better than any cheaper cable I can find, I will buy it (if I can afford it). The fact it costs "multigrand" does not mean it won't sound fantastic. Better yet, if I can DIY a competitive cable, I will make my own (and have).

As far as internal wiring of speakers and components, many manufacturers worth a damn do NOT use those generic wires internally. Any speaker, component with crappy internal wiring that happens to sound good anyway WILL sound better with better internal wiring.

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omedon Check out John Risch's web page if you would like an explanation why a higher quality power cord can make a difference. http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/ac-cords.htm

It looks to me the author quoted knows what he is talking about.
Does the amp really draw 80 Amps of current? I don't know.
I found a research paper on the actual impedance of a residential outlet in Canada.
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/harmo...cs/canada2.doc
The impedance is ~0.2 ohm in normal home 120V outlets.
If the amp can really draw 80 amps, the drop would be 16V--is this really what's happening?
Anyway, the difference between 12 and 18 AWG (6 feet power cord) is only 0.06 ohms. How that would matter when the outlet has 0.2 ohms impedance is beyond me.

 

[adhoc]

what about inductance? capacitance? rfi/emi rejection? these are all things which a good IC have to contend with.

and Ferbose, a 16V swing can be said to be normal. you should try measuring the output voltage of an AC outlet during peak usage in your neighbourhood (eg 7pm) and at an odd hour (eg 2am). where i live (240V), i've heard of swings as large as 20V in older apartment blocks.

 

[Svperstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RnB180 anyhow.. theres more then enough people to verify that a good interconnect can benefit sonic performance. Why are you trolling?

I wouldn't call it trolling and he has a valid point. You can spend 20 grand on a cable, but in the end if the connector on the amp/dac/whatever leads to a plain jane wire that is comparable in quality to a $2 radioshack cable then how could it make a difference?

I don't have a link handy but I read a long article by a Physics Ph.D. that ripped the claims of cable companies apart and showed how much fud they make up on the spot to push more cables.

 

[grandenigma1]

Placebo or not the difference is there… and if people are willing to spend “multigrand” on cables and not feel cheated at the end of the day then there is no problem.

 

[markl]

It's a DBT-free Forum, folks. That means that the incredibly boring and repetitive "debate" about aftermarket cables has been "resolved" on this forum-- in favor of those who want to discuss their new cables, get cable recommendations, or read cable reviews-- not debate their efficacy.

Why? Because it always ends in name-calling, trolling, flaming, etc. Go back and read any of the myriad cable debate threads to see why.

I expect this thread will be closed shortly.

 

[Svperstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl It's a DBT-free Forum, folks. That means that the incredibly boring and repetitive "debate" about aftermarket cables has been "resolved" on this forum-- in favor of those who want to discuss their new cables, get cable recommendations, or read cable reviews-- not debate their efficacy.

Didn't notice you weren't allowed to debate that here, nuff said then.

 

[RnB180]

Funny thing is that those that claim there is no difference have never tried aftermarket cable themselves.

attend a meet that will have nice cables and bring the rat shack and run comparisons.

Especially with a well built headphone cables compared to stock, sonic signature is changed so drastically,there is no denying that the difference is there.

 

[ampgalore]

This coming from an audio cable manufacturer.

I raise my white flag in resignation.



Quote:

Originally Posted by RnB180 Funny thing is that those that claim there is no difference have never tried aftermarket cable themselves. attend a meet that will have nice cables and bring the rat shack and run comparisons. Especially with a well built headphone cables compared to stock, sonic signature is changed so drastically,there is no denying that the difference is there.

 

[RnB180]

ampgalore, before you knock it just have faith for a moment and just listen. Even if you cant hear a difference its still an opinion formed from your experience.

Tell me the truth, have you ever sat down and critically listened to comparisons?

This RnB180 headfier speaking, not an audio manufacturer, seriously. I wouldnt even be into cabling at all, if I didnt feel it would benefit a system.

 

[comabereni]

Isn't it possible that the RCA-terminated interconnect and corresponding jacks are the worst sonic offenders in high-end systems? Further, is it possible that joining those same separate components together with solder and decent grade wire (like that found inside the components) would render results equivalent, or superior, to the kilobuck IC?

The experiment that would reveal a lot would be to take a mature system everyone agreed sounded great, and even greater with the $5,000/meter IC, and then disassemble the components and solder everything together directly using "standard" wire.

I suppose this wouldn't defeat the reason or demand for high-end IC's, but it would negate the argument for replacing everything inside the components with the same kilobuck IC wire since it would be known that the $5,000/meter IC works toward overcoming the physical/geometric/conductive weaknesses inherent in how components are snapped together (i.e. with RCA's).

Still, for the adventurous, or for those otherwise happy with their systems and short on IC $$$, it might be worth soldering components together rather than shelling out $20k for cable.

-coma