All wires are the same? - if you believe that - read this

[Guest " "]

"After unplugging components one by one, it turned out to be some poorly shielded cables that were to close to some AC lines. Moving the cables was not enough, but moving and replacing the lines with ones that had better shielding solved the problem. "

What gives...you folks that keep quoting the DC resistance article...please explain.

Hold up, let me get a refill on my drink before I watch the tap dance.

[djk]

I find 6' patch cords always sound better than 3' patch cords.

(of course my amp is 5' away from my preamp).

[WMcD]

No tap dance here. But read as you will. I see that you're quoting from a guy who doped out his system. And found a solution.

I have never had the hum problem which did not turn out to be a bad connection, usually at the sleeve connection of an RCA connector.

I run very old wires some which are left over from decades old "stuff that came with the Sony." And they are run right along side of the a.c. And, yup, plain old zip cord to the speakers.

I know people say they have ground loop problems, cheaters are a solution, etc. I've never found this necessary.

In my view, it is impossible to solve a bad connection by running high tech wire into a bad connection. Yet people insist on this notion. And then they inadvertently solve the bad connection by taking great care in installing super wire.

There must be something wrong with me. Or, I've got TheKnack. See Dilbert on UTube.

Gil

[Wrench722]

No tap dance here. But read as you will. I see that you're quoting from a guy who doped out his system. And found a solution.

I have never had the hum problem which did not turn out to be a bad connection, usually at the sleeve connection of an RCA connector.

I run very old wires some which are left over from decades old "stuff that came with the Sony." And they are run right along side of the a.c. And, yup, plain old zip cord to the speakers.

I know people say they have ground loop problems, cheaters are a solution, etc. I've never found this necessary.

In my view, it is impossible to solve a bad connection by running high tech wire into a bad connection. Yet people insist on this notion. And then they inadvertently solve the bad connection by taking great care in installing super wire.

There must be something wrong with me. Or, I've got TheKnack. See Dilbert on UTube.

Gil

HERE HERE

The only hum I every had was a 75' cable comming my computer.

[mas]

Life is too short to worry about this nonsense.

Besides, if you waste your time debating this, when are you going to have the time to 'condition' your interconnects?

[*-)][:S]

[JJkizak]

I'm waiting for the coat hanger guy to pop in here.

JJK

[Guest " "]

"I'm waiting for the coat hanger guy to pop in here."

Have not tried those yet.....but there is a guy on audiogon selling something simular and he's both raking in a lot of cash and getting good reviews from happy customers.

[ZAKO]

I use razer wire & get a sharper sound.......I dont know why but a better set of connecters WBT always helped.

[jtkinney]

Gil, you are a ham, you do have the knack.

I too have some old cables and zip cord in my system. As long as the connectors are clean they work fine. Read Roger Russell's (ex McIntosh) web page, he has some interesting stories.

[IndyKlipschFan]

Thanks Gil... Now this song will be in my head all day! Darn you!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kXVitkINDp0

John Mellencamp even wrote a song "Cheap Shot" based on the Knacks song, "My Shaorna" which also was a hit.. hahahahaha There is a spot in the middle of the song that the bass player does the classic "My Sharona" bass line.. Everyone loves the inside joke reference I am sure.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0007XBMZ2001011/104-6959012-5550360

In a way we need a song like this today. Someone to say look at all of this crap out there.... We need to go another direction!

Then sometimes the music style plays itself out.. Look at hip hop now.....

NEW YORK - Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.

The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is now struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the cultures negative effect on society.

Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year.

Is hip-hop to blame?
Hip-hop also seems to be increasingly blamed for a variety of social ills. Studies have attempted to link it to everything from teen drug use to increased sexual activity among young girls.

Even the mayhem that broke out in Las Vegas during last weeks NBA All-Star Game was blamed on hip-hoppers. [NBA Commissioner] David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize, columnist Jason Whitlock, who is black, wrote on AOL.

[IndyKlipschFan]

BTW Dr Who and others will get a kick out of this how the solo was recorded and done...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uJjySP6YG_4&mode=related&search=

Also "Toto" used this same bass line as a hook on this song... "I'll Supply The Love."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B0000025CY001002/104-6959012-5550360

It was a weird time in rock n roll.

[colterphoto1]

WOW so that's who invented the multi-micing technique. I'm sure that was never used by Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton or Keith Richards or Brian Jones or John Lennon......Glad the Knack thought of it first..

[Klytus]

Replacing the lines? I'm assuming the lines are power lines. Were the lines hardwired or removable be design? In either case, a open ground line either through workmanship or defective material could be the problem and any additional shielding would be beside the point.

Boutique power cables are a comforting extravagance. I bought one for my DENON 9000 DVD player. Do I hear an improvement? Not really, I'm just erring on the side of overdesign.

[Fish]

I'm not sure of the position so here's mine.If you use decent cables with good shielding you may have less cable related issues.After all we do for a good setup a few bucks for decent cables sounds ok,nuthin' too fancy for me but shielding is important in my set.

[Champagne taste beer budget]

My take is that it could easily make a differance, if the wire in use initially was of sub par quality.

I believe that when most folk say that wire has not made an appreciable difference in their system they are talking about a quality built wire/cable that is adequate for the job at hand. It need not be an esoteric or expensive wire or cable. Switching out "poorly shielded cables" with "ones that had better shielding" is not comparing apples to apples.

Much like if I were to say that I noticed a dramatic improvement in my cars ride and handling when I switched from $300 a piece Perrelli's to $30 a piece Dunlops. That could be true if you initially had 7 lbs of air in the Perrelli's and ran 34 lbs in the Dunlops.

[Islander]

An interesting problem surfaced a few weeks ago when I replaced a 2-metre Electrohome Pro Series sub cable with a 4-metre Ultralink Advanced Performance sub cable. The shorter cable would barely reach, and I had to run it out of the cabinet beside the power leads. It seemed logical to get a longer (and supposed better quality) cable so that it could be run beside the other interconnects and be less subject to interference from the power cords.

Didn't work out that way. I didn't notice the increased hum at first, but I found that the sub amp wouldn't turn itself off, even if the system was shut down overnight. When I listened carefully, I could hear a faint hum from the subwoofer several feet away, with everything shut off but the sub amp. When I reinstalled the shorter and less expensive cable, the hum could only be heard when I put my ear right to the grille of the sub.

It appears that the longer (and possibly less well shielded) cable was picking up enough hum from somewhere to send a noticeable signal to the sub amp, keeping it turned on. At any rate, I decided that the theoretical improvement of re-routing the cable didn't pan out in practice and went back to the noticeably quieter original setup.

[DrWho]

I gotta discharge the static in my carpet floor before I can listen to the music....it's the only way me fancy cables work properly.

[Jay481985]

really? I use an ionic breeze in the smae room and the sound quality went up exponentially!

[Deang]

I've gone wireless.

[IndyKlipschFan]

Colterphoto1, Michael... take a break... he never claimed to invent it? geeze.. He is showing how it helps to do so today. Again read the discaimer. SoloDallas is a just a fan, that IMO, kicks *** playing guitar in this classic song solo too. The original was done live, if I remember seeing them do it, on video in a circle looking at each other in one take. Again real musicians, like Elvis and others... Sun Studios style..

As for today, I am sure this is done all the time. Let alone computer modeling, pitch correction, digital effects, etc., to make that big fat sound. (In a way that is a shame too, IMO.)

Added October 12, 2006
From SoloDallas

This is just a humble attempt of mine at capturing Mr. Berton Averre's (The Knack's Lead Guitarist) unmatched abilities and taste.

Thank You for your contribution to Rock and Roll Mr. Averre, may you have all you deserve in Life.

Disclaimer: At some point in the video, I stated that "this is how you do records". I would like to add that this WAS NOT the way The Knack did it back then.
Given their amazing energy and talent, they recorded most of their performance LIVE, and playing TOGETHER (at the recording studio).

This is how they used to make records back then (i.e. the worthy musicians). Just good, ol' unmatched Rock and Roll.

To learn more about Berton Averre, please visit my friend's tribute site:
http://www.bertonaverre.com/

Thank you, Brian!