[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreAdidas /img/forum/go_quote.gif A lot of what you're paying for in cables, hell in high end audio in general, is the R&D that goes into building the cables or equipment. I can't imagine the materials for any of these high end cables climbing to more than a small fraction of their asking price.

A lot of it could also be the large overhead of running a business divided by the very very small volume of esoteric voodoo stuff like Transparent's cables

 

[TreAdidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling /img/forum/go_quote.gif A lot of it could also be the large overhead of running a business divided by the very very small volume of esoteric voodoo stuff like Transparent's cables

Heh... touche my friend.

 

[chroot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreAdidas /img/forum/go_quote.gif ".. One simple, but often overlooked, method of minimizing noise in a system is to limit the system bandwidth to that required by the signal. Use of a circuit bandwidth greater than that required by the signal allows additional noise frequencies to enter the circuit." -www.transparentcable.com

********. Cables are linear systems, so they don't shift noise from one part of the spectrum into another. It doesn't matter if you have 100 volts peak-to-peak of noise at 5 MHz, you're not going to hear it.

- Warren

 

[TreAdidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chroot /img/forum/go_quote.gif ********. Cables are linear systems, so they don't shift noise from one part of the spectrum into another. It doesn't matter if you have 100 volts peak-to-peak of noise at 5 MHz, you're not going to hear it. - Warren

So what about RF interference? Am I getting that cables in general would not pick it up or transmit it?

I've seen RF interference in action. I had an old rat shack mixer hooked up to a super nice but old amp. I bought a CB hand held radio and I was tinkering with it while I had a CD playing in the background. I put it to channel 1 said "check check" and my voice came out of the speakers fully amplified. Actually it scared me. Obviously that stereo picked up RF interference, but it is low quality. Would something of higher quality still be susceptible to it? I would think yes. Would efforts to stifle this be worthwhile? I would think yes. Does your comment above mean my thinking is off?

I appreciate the comment as I'm very interested in learning. I'm seriously novice when it comes to understanding electrical principals, hence my propensity to buy into the voodoo.

 

[chroot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreAdidas /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought a CB hand held radio and I was tinkering with it while I had a CD playing in the background. I put it to channel 1 said "check check" and my voice came out of the speakers fully amplified. Actually it scared me. Obviously that stereo picked up RF interference, but it is low quality. Would something of higher quality still be susceptible to it? I would think yes. Would efforts to stifle this be worthwhile? I would think yes. Does your comment above mean my thinking is off?

Well, the cable is acting as an antenna; all cables do, even the expensive ones. (Putting a couple of capacitors or inductors on an unshielded cable won't do much, particularly in the middle of the cable.)

The AM demodulation is NOT happening in the cable, though -- it's happening in the amplifier. Specifically, some kind of (possibly accidental) rectifier in the amplifier is doing the demodulation.

The use of shielded coaxial cables will greatly reduce RF reception. The use of amplifiers with properly designed bandwidh will further eliminate accidental AM demodulation.

The intention of the www.transparentcable.com's statement about reducing bandwidth to the audible frequencies is correct for amplifiers, but meaningless for cables. Putting a one-pole RC filter in the middle of the cable does not magically prevent the half-cable connected to the amplifier from continuing to act as an RF antenna.

This is part of the reason I loathe audiophile marketing so deeply: manufacturers will start with a rule of thumb that's pretty much correct when applied in one context, and then start applying it in meaningless ways in other contexts. The intention, of course, is to make you think it sounds sensible, and give in to being charged thousands of dollars for a cable with a little inductor soldered in the middle of it.

- Warren

 

[Thelonious Monk]

i don't think anyone in their right mind thinks that the ultra-high-end transparent cables are worth the money. boutique cables are the dark side of hi-fi. if i ever win the lottery, and have money for an ultra-high-end system, there's still no way i will spend more than 5% of my budget on speaker cables. i don't care of the transparent opus gives you eargasms, pleasures you after a hard day at work, makes breakfast, and cures aids. ******** at its finest. i'm not curious at all about what's inside that carbon fiber egg; all i know is, unless there's $40,000 in $1,000 bills in there, i doubt it's worth it.

edit: edited post to specify that the main thing i have a beef with is the REALLY REALLY SUPER expensive cables. you can spend thousands of dollars if you like, but it's just unethical to spend $40k on a ****ing speaker cable. that really just gets to deep into the "poor starving kids in africa" zone. there's a certain point where audiophile products go from crazy to just plain wrong, in the diminishing returns area and the "you should really use your money on more useful things" area.

edit2: darkside of hi-fi not head-fi.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thelonious Monk /img/forum/go_quote.gif if i ever win the lottery, and have money for an ultra-high-end system, there's still no way i will spend more than 5% of my budget on speaker cables.

x2. Even if I had more money than Bill Gates I wouldn't purchase any speaker cables like these.

 

[milkpowder]

If you earned over $500k-$1M a day like most of the Fortune 500 do, then I don't think $40k would be really anything but loose change to you.

 

[Brian_the_King]

Man, if I spent that much on cables I would at least want them to look cool. Like, 4 AWG cool ; p

 

[gotchaforce]

http://web.archive.org/web/200508251...er=asc&start=0

web archive of the swedish thread. Love all the glue crap around the cable.

 

[milkpowder]

that's a disappointment, though no surprise. Mind you, that is one of the lower end cables. The Reference range might have more stuff in the carbon fiber network boxes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian_the_King Man, if I spent that much on cables I would at least want them to look cool. Like, 4 AWG cool ; p

I've seen them in real life quite a few times at hi fi shows and dealers. I wouldn't say they're particularly nice looking although they are certain impressive looking. I knew there were expensive the second I saw them.

 

[Icarium]

Maybe what looks like glue to us is actually nano-robots that are programmed to commit seppuku when their carbon fiber chamber is breached to protect the sancitity of Transparent's tech secrets. Maybe that's why they don't need patents they have a full proof method of keeping their tech secret!!

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you earned over $500k-$1M a day like most of the Fortune 500 do, then I don't think $40k would be really anything but loose change to you.

Doesn't matter what little percentage $40K would represent of my income. I just most definitely wouldn't spend in a speaker wire as much as I would in a nice car. Simply doesn't make sense to me, regardless of how much I earned.

Actually there's more to it. The bottomline is, I am simply pretty confident that I wouldn't hear a difference worth anywhere near that much of a price. Hence, no reason to spend that much on it, even if I had ridiculously huge amounts of money.

 

[Thelonious Monk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian_the_King /img/forum/go_quote.gif Man, if I spent that much on cables I would at least want them to look cool. Like, 4 AWG cool ; p

yeah, if i was crazy enough to spend $20,000 on interconnects i'd go for jena labs awakening cables.

hubba hubba.

 

[Spare Tire]

If i was a millionnaire, i'd buy these to open it up for the world to see.