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The Truth About “High-End” Cables? - ELECTRONIC HOUSE.COM
April 15, 2008 | by Jeff Winston

So you’ve just spent a bundle on a new HDTV or a home theater system. You’re about to head for the register, and the salesperson suggests that since you’ve invested so much in your system, it needs expensive cables to give you optimal performance.

If visions of rust-proofing and high-end floor mats come to mind, you may be on the right track. Ever since Monster Cable started operations decades ago, the myth that “more expensive cables are better” has been heavily promoted to the A/V consumer. It’s true that we should all avoid poorly-made cables, but whether there’s anything out there that will give you better performance than, for example, Radio Shack’s “gold” cables, has yet to be proved. Years ago, Stereo Review magazine (now Sound and Vision) did a true double-blind study of premium cables. A few of their testers discerned a very slight difference between cables, but no improvement was detected. .....................

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/ ... cables/C29

Trendy, you may be aware that the following facts about audio or video cables are extremely unpopular/controversial amongst audiophiles:

• In digital transmissions (let's say inside a computer or via SPDIF), if the signal is accurately transmitted: 0 is 0 and 1 is 1, meaning there could be no right bits and wrong bits. If this wasn't true, computers would not work.
• The electrical parameters one should worry about are Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance (R, L & C). Adequate plugs, contacts, shielding & isolation are of course required but cannot justify expensive or exotic materials.
• ABX tests (sort of 'state of the art' blind tests) do work and help identifying what can really be heard by human ears

Discussing such controversial topics here may lead many people to write posts as long as yours in endless sterile debates.
Did you do it on purpose?

Isnt THAT what its all about?

As far as I'm concerned, if you can hear the music clearly then what the fuck else do you need?

[quote="Maroual"]Trendy, you may be aware that the following facts about audio or video cables are extremely unpopular/controversial amongst audiophiles[quote]
Funny you should bring this up.
I was telling Trendy just the other day in chat that I am in the process of
reviewing 5 high end speaker cables ranging in price from $75.00 per foot to $675.00 per foot.
More to follow as I am still "burning in" these cables.
G.C.

I use string.

But I pull it really tight.

Wow, crazy stuff dude, you just made my day confirming that chatting with Trendy was technically possible.
$675.00 per foot ( ) OMG, what could they possibly use to make those cables?
I suppose you got 20 feet cables for each speaker in your 5.1 system (6 spk. * 20 feet * $675 = $81000).
How do you intend to review the cables? Just curious.

Those are So special, you could stuff them up your ass, and pull them out, and no shit would stick to them.

I'll bet.

And I hold the can tight to my head, too.

The Anjou speaker cable $7250.00 for a 1 meter pair.

I intend to review them objectively.......... Along with 4 other pairs.

Just don't breathe on them or anything. Handle with gloves only with a surgical mask on.

Make sure you do the ass test!

I am feeding a 140 volt square wave through them into a 4 ohm dummy load. Which is just a very large 4 ohm resistor across the terminals.

Okey doke. Just making sure.

May I recommend you to try the possibly excellent Enigma speaker cable as well:


"2.0 meter with Termination of 12 silver-gold-spades: $24,500.00 pair"

Its price is nonetheless enigmatic to me

In any case, you should also compare all of them with a cheap generic noname cable with appropriate RLC... and why not find an easy way to kill costs.

OMG. See, I used to be an audio nut in the '70s and bought wholesale the poop surrounding certain 'high-end' equipment.

That is, until it registered with my addled brain that without completely building a new home that was properly baffled for sound from scratch, there wasn't much more fidelity that you could get.

Anyhoo, FZ sounded better on a cassette boom box than almost any other fucking thing I played on said machine.

There's a secret amongst studio engineers I shall share with you.

Save a fortune and buy electricians electrical cable. It's cheap, it has much more copper for conduction and it sounds fantastic.

I always surmised as much - good to know

Not when I own MIT Oracles $21,995.00 for each channel........

I'm using Wal-Mart 1 cent per yard cable.

It's like I'm in the studio.

May I also suggest to recycle old hangers from the pressing for the people who do not have a Wal-Mart in their area.

I've found stripping the plugs off an extension cord, and using that works just dandy!