Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

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Re: Message to Commuteman from Soundminded

Posted by CUlater (A) on August 30, 2004 at 14:20:43

In Reply to: Message to Commuteman from Soundminded posted by Soundmind on August 26, 2004 at 08:12:46:

Hi guys.

I love following these types of cable holy wars when they break out. Always an entertaining read, and a great source for new and unusual putdowns and insults to try out on my friends.

While my engineering background makes me dubious of the significance of any possible contribution, I certainly have to admit that as part of the system cables must have some effect. I just think that it is, on a relative sense, so small a contribution to easily be masked by other, more gross effects, like relative humidity or air pressure, or the non-linearities and distortions inherent in how our systems work in the first place.

I'm just amazed that any sound system could be characterized as 'accurate' or 'lifelike' enought such that the significance of cable selection could be so great. After all, we're talking about an overall system that has so many points of non-linearity and compromise that it is amazing to me that a well crafted system can even sound as good as they do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there aren't some amazing sounding systems out there - there are! Just none that I've heard that are so lifelike that the cables could possibly ruin the effect.

I guess that I'm looking at my speakers right now and thinking that its quite the miracle that running an electrical signal through a coil of wire that's in a magnetic field and attached to a cone of paper or composite material can sound anything remotely like a violin, tom-tom, acoustic guitar, or even many instruments all playing simultaneously.

Given sufficient gauge wire to ensure minimal LCR effects at the power levels and distances my system operates at, for me there will always be lots of more economically sound avenues for audio improvement than the 10' of wire I use to connect my amp to my speakers.

Cheers,

PBG

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