peter Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I thought you'd all appreciate to see this: http://gizmodo.com/363154/audiophile-death...s-a-coat-hanger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Brilliant!! Strike a blow for sanity, science and logic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammie300 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 For a counterargument, I find that the Proel Die Hard cable are far more rugged than their cost effective counterparts, The ruggedness needs to be a factor with me as cheaper cables seem to break more often with me James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*bigrod* Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 1-0 for common sense. I approve of blind testing! If it sounds good. it is good. unless it's bad.but that's another story... r. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mervaka Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 next time my old friend comes down I'll have to sit him through a blind test :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsource Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I think I need to buy more coat hangers ;) Just thinking tho' It's possible these guys weren't super-hardcore audiophiles that might not be able to tell the difference. Ignoring the main point for a second, we don't really recommend re-wiring your home theater after a firesale on wire hangers. [Audioholics via Consumerist] I think I need an audiophile in my crew :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I heard a DJ tried to duplicate the experiement but used plastic coat hangers..... Seriously, I don't think any professional in here would argue against using "good" cables and connectors. However, "good" means genuine, quantifiable specifications: a sheath that protects the cable well and coils easily, rugged connectors with good strain relief, twisted pairs with the "right" twist to aid in CMR, and so on. What most of us object to are paying WAY of the odds for unsubstantiated "you can't measure the difference but it sounds better because all the electrons travel the same direction" type claims. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimWebber Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Quite a few years back, I remember reading in "What Hi-Fi" an article advocating the use of 2.5mm solid Twin & Earth cable as speaker cable, and quoted several blind tests to back up this suggestion. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benweblight Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I saw thease recently; make some pretty strong claims:http://www.elixirstrings.com/cables/thedifference.html I wonder if you'd actually hear that much of a difference to warrant the price (over £20 for a 10' cable!) :) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 If you buy that guitar cable on the basis of that "technical" explanation, please can you PM me? I have a lovely bridge in Sydney harbour that I'd like to sell you. That promo is nothing more than pseudo technobabble. At one point it actually claims that capacitance in a "standard professional" guitar cable causes a differential in frequency response of around 14dB between the low mids and high mids...and implies there's no highs at all. This is total rubbish. I'd wager that if you generated pink noise between 20Hz and 20,000Hz, fed it through a guitar cable, then measured the frequency response, you'd be unable to detect any difference even with good quality test gear. Save your money. Buy a good sound engineering book instead. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlyfarly Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I spotted that too, Bobbsy.....nice "technical" graph with merely Bass, Mid and Treble! In the early 80's I used to work for an "esoteric" hi-fi company and the annual hi-fi shows (sponsored by the likes of 'What Hi'Fi' etc) were an absolute joy. The claims by some companies selling their wares were highly suspect along the lines of if you can blind them with science, you can baffle them with bulls***......and the punters, as they still do, lapped it up!One of the few sensible things was spiked feet for speaker and turntable stands; that I can live with. There was also a big hoo-ha about "non-essential transducers in a hi-fi environment". Linn products took this so seriously that they completely stripped out their hotel suite that might have a transducer in it; the TV and telephones were removed and anyone entering the room who had on one of the trendy, new fangled digital watches with an alarm built in had to remove them before entering! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikienorth Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Quite a few years back, I remember reading in "What Hi-Fi" an article advocating the use of 2.5mm solid Twin & Earth cable as speaker cable, and quoted several blind tests to back up this suggestion. Jim And I've seen nightclubs installed in exactly this manner.... 'big' cable, cheap enough and installed out the way terminated in wall mount speakon. Probably a problem with the Earth cable causing unwanted harmonic interferences makes it unacceptable to the audiophool though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesperrett Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 That promo is nothing more than pseudo technobabble. At one point it actually claims that capacitance in a "standard professional" guitar cable causes a differential in frequency response of around 14dB between the low mids and high mids...and implies there's no highs at all. This is total rubbish. I'd wager that if you generated pink noise between 20Hz and 20,000Hz, fed it through a guitar cable, then measured the frequency response, you'd be unable to detect any difference even with good quality test gear. I'd have to say that guitar cables are possibly one area where cable construciton is important. The relatively high impedances involved mean that capacitance could be an issue with poorly made long cables. Interference is also going to be harder to eliminate in unbalanced high impedance circuits. And how many guitarists have never trodden on their lead? That's not to say that you need anything exotic though - just something properly made. Oh - and certain Hifi amps have been known to self destruct if the wrong speaker cable is used. It seems that some designers don't understand the importance of a Zobel network. Cheers James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 That's not to say that you need anything exotic though - just something properly made. Exactly! Being serious for a moment, what angered me watching that video was the implication that ALL guitar cables except theirs will exhibit severe capacitance problems. Patently, this is untrue...but people could be taken in to spend unnecessary money on an exotic audiophool cable. As you say, all it takes is a very ordinary cable properly made. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mervaka Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 audiophoolmy new favourite word :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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