Speaker Cables

[f1eng]

f1eng Wrote:

OTOH I am an engineer and since there is no mechanism by which a cable can effect sound quality the only way IMHO that anybody hears a difference in them (and I believe them when they say they do) is either the placebo effect, or expectation bias.
Perfectly functional cables are available for a modest sum. I have experimented in considerable depth with, and can probably afford, fancy cables but am still unconvinced.
The only ones that sounded better to me were MIT cables with the filter(?) boxes, and they were twice the price of my amp at the time, which is obscene IMO.

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[quote='f1eng' pid='1053' dateline='1404766300']


Would you extend this logic to mains cables? If you consider that a stanard 13amp socket / "Kettle lead" can confortably deliver 3kw or more, it does not look like a bottleneck in a system? Although, there are many that claim that a good mains lead delivers more detail, more bass, changes tonal balance and so on. I know there is another thread covering mains cables but this does seem relevent in the context of your post here. I have never experamented with mains cables, so I have no view based on experience. I did hear Devialet with a mains conditioner, and thought it sounded worse! I can't recall the specific make / model though.

Yes, and interconnects. I know people report hearing differences, but I believe it all to be in the mind, particularly power cables, which are just the last couple of meters of maybe a kilometer of basic but soundly engineered cabling, switches contacts and junctions.
There is simply no plausible mechanism by which normally engineered cables could effect ac signals at audio frequencies.
Cable makers either say nothing intelligible about why their cables may make a difference, or produce some data related to RF which amounts to the same thing.
If a modern piece of electronics is sensitive to the sort of parasitics commonly existing on mains supplies, to the extent it needs a (stupidly overpriced) last meter of filtering cable then the designer of said equipment should be sacked and replaced by somebody competent.
IMHO.