Interconnects

[moray james]

Big + for what Dean has to say. Too many folks cannot tell the difference between a Telle and a Strat or a Les Paul. I can tell the difference between a single piece of wire in one direction or the other or a cap in one direction or the other and just because not all can does not mean I cannot. Thanks Dean. Best regards Moray James.

[mark1101]

Dean,

I bet you can't hear the difference between power cords [6]..........or can you?[]

[Thaddeus Smith]

there was a power cord testing group that went around a couple of years ago. I could hear a difference in sharpness/warmth as i swapped materials around. I ended up liking the 12ga solid core (AntiCable brand) copper power cord ..turns out it matched my ebay 12ga magnet wire speaker cables perfectly.

[juniper8]

I am with Dean on this one, I hear differences in cables. I have tried a few different types, and the ones I keep going back to are simple inexpensive mogami cables a studio engineer in california makes. He did a test at one of the studio's he designed, against 10,000.00 a pair connects, in a system, when a salesperson came in. In the test, almost everyone in the room after ABing them blindly, agreed that his were better...including the GIRLS....

[mark1101]

The truth is that EVERYONE should hear the difference in these super expensive cables. They build them specifically so listeners can here a difference, and sell them as tools to tweak the sound of your system.

The questions is..........is that what you want and are they worth the money? Some say yes, others say no. Nothing different than any other topic in audio.

[dtel]

OK so that settles it, it depends, [] so it just depends on your ears, duh.

Personally I don't listen that close, and there is much more room for improvement in other places for me to get down to slight differences in wires. Any way it's hard to hear slight differences while dancing........ok never mined I don't dance, upright anyway.

[oldenough]

I can hear the difference between magnet wire (Cardas), copper and silver. I can hear the difference between capacitors of different type, and the difference between a dirt cheap metallized polypropylene, a quality one, and a good film and foil. Most of you have hearing damage and are half deaf from years of high SPL exposure. If you fall into that category, or are getting on in years, or wear hearing aids -- please don't bother with telling me what I can and cannot hear.

Sheeesh!! That ain't nothin' I can tell if my power is coming from a coal fired power station or a hydro-electric station. The difference is amazing.[8-)]

Have you ever heard so much crap?

[Cut-Throat]

Sheeesh!! That ain't nothin' I can tell if my power is coming from a coal fired power station or a hydro-electric station. The difference is amazing

I prefer Solar.....The highs are much brighter and the Mids are a nice warm sound....

[Don Richard]

Electricity from a wind farm causes the system to really move the air[]

[LarryC]

I bet you can't hear the difference between power cords ..........or can you?

I can hear differences between power cords, and side with Dean in differences between copper and silver wire. I once spent a whole day comparing power cords on my juice-hungry OTL tube power amps, and heard plenty of differences. However, most differences were not very big or were ambiguous as to net positive effect. But, yes, they were audible.

The clearest advantage, IMO FWIW, belonged to the ESP Essence cord on tube preamps (a CAT SL-1 and my current Joule LAP-150). The amps benefited from a different brand which I won't bother to name.because it may be system-specific and may not be consistent from amp to amp.

IOW, there are differences in power cords, but most likely they're ambiguous and often slight.

My pricey Siltech silver I/C's are very transparent, and very delicate in the way they render music. Silver should be tried before buying.

[derrickdj1]

I wear aluminum foil in my hat and everything sound different[^o)]. This also protects from alien brain probes as a plus.[8-)]

[djk]

All food tastes the same (if you have a zinc deficiency), all women kiss the same (if you're a eunuch), VHS and Beta look the same (to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder), and all amplifiers sound the same (to the deaf old men at Stereo Review).

WHO?

Tell the deaf/dumb/blind kid to go play pinball.

[MikeSt]

I've heard a difference using cables. Both speaker cables and interconnects. A engineer I talked to laughed about it, but then again he doesn't really listen to music enough to be able to hear small differences. I play music and can hear any little change. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on cables though, i'd put the money in better speakers or amp if you want to change the sound. Being able to hear small differnces takes time and experience, you're ears have to be trained to listen carefully.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I still have some snake oil for sale, it seems that there were not enough discerning TT listeners to use my supply the last time I had talked about it, remember one drop of my snake oil on the bearings of your TT will eliminate rumble and wow, your motor will last twice as long due to the reduced load on it. Only $999.99 per 10 drop container. Such a bargan!

UH, sorry, it does not affect the quality of your cables, though I have heard that when lightly applied to the connectors of the cables, it tends to smooth out the sound and makes smooth jazz ever so much more enjoyable. YMMV!

[LarryC]

I wear aluminum foil in my hat and everything sound different. This also protects from alien brain probs as a plus.

That should do it!

[emmvette]

I've played with a few nice cables that were made and sent out for trial and was not able to tell a difference. My daughter could, but she didn't prefer either. So I just purchase decent quality interconnects from Monoprice. Pretty much the same for speaker wire.

[joshnich]

Yes I can tell a difference with some cables and interconnects. But unlike other "incremental tweaks" I certainly could not say one is better than another. Unlike others here I do beie e there are differences and preferences for tubes crossovers capacitors and the like. I certainly wouldn't compare those to interconnects.

IMHO

J

[thebes]

You call this an interconnect thread?

Now this is an interconnect thread:

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/137316.aspx?PageIndex=1

Now I have nothing but respect for my good friend DeanG whom I hope to turn back to the dark side some day, but comparing capacitors to cables is like comparing Teddy Roosevelt to Richard Nixon.. Caps are designed for numerous uses. Composition differences aside, there are many basic differences like tolerance. ie 1% tolerance versus the typical amplifier cap of 20%. Drop a 1% in there and I'm sure those little electrons who have been wandering down the street will tighten their formation, start singing marching songs and soon be shouting "sound off, one two, three...".

Cables are like bus lines. They have one purpose, to move a signal from one point to another. The have a simple job, and with nominal care in their construction they do it well. Yes you have to guard against something called "skim effect" which I do believe is an actual description of what cable peddlers are dong to your wallet. There's probably 10 times their typical length of wire in any stereo setup. So if we are going to obsess over them, then obsess over all the other wire involved. For example should a proper stereo setup have all shielded silver breadboard wire, silver speaker cables, silver inductor cores, silver wire wound voice coils, silver drivers, silver spangles, silver saddles, etc to get that proper silvery tone?

It's all marketing nonsense and hype. Any interconnect that meets the RCA specs is all anyone should ever need or want, and save your money for those little tweaks that actually mean something.

[dolbyscat]

You call this an interconnect thread?

Now this is an interconnect thread:

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/137316.aspx?PageIndex=1

Now I have nothing but respect for my good friend DeanG whom I hope to turn back to the dark side some day, but comparing capacitors to cables is like comparing Teddy Roosevelt to Richard Nixon.. Caps are designed for numerous uses. Composition differences aside, there are many basic differences like tolerance. ie 1% tolerance versus the typical amplifier cap of 20%. Drop a 1% in there and I'm sure those little electrons who have been wandering down the street will tighten their formation, start singing marching songs and soon be shouting "sound off, one two, three...".

Cables are like bus lines. They have one purpose, to move a signal from one point to another. The have a simple job, and with nominal care in their construction they do it well. Yes you have to guard against something called "skim effect" which I do believe is an actual description of what cable peddlers are dong to your wallet. There's probably 10 times their typical length of wire in any stereo setup. So if we are going to obsess over them, then obsess over all the other wire involved. For example should a proper stereo setup have all shielded silver breadboard wire, silver speaker cables, silver inductor cores, silver wire wound voice coils, silver drivers, silver spangles, silver saddles, etc to get that proper silvery tone?

It's all marketing nonsense and hype. Any interconnect that meets the RCA specs is all anyone should ever need or want, and save your money for those little tweaks that actually mean something.

Well put Thebes, now lets not hear anymore nonesense about cables...[]

[moray james]

sure the new mantra "everything sounds the same" fits in perfectly here. Embrace it because it will be easier for you that way. On the 8th stay home it won't make any difference. Sad. Best regards Moray James.