A Couple Little Things I'm Wondering About

Anything on which your cables rest can add it’s constants to their dielectrics.    That changes the permittivity and permeability.      If you’ve spent money in an attempt at bettering your reproduction, on good cables; you’ve detuned them (ie: resting on wool, synthetic fibers, etc).       The Naysayer Doctrine preachers may scoff, because of their 1800’s belief system, but- 20th Century science says that the electromagnetic current/signal travels outside the conductor ("waveguide") and through the dielectric.     Even wiki-scientists are aware:        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity#:~:text=Speed%20of%20electromagnetic%20waves%20in....                                                Just one possibility, regarding cable lifters.

Ok on the covers, they do help depending on the type you use. They are for point to point, crosstalk, and noise reduction. Not so much the newer stuff. The older tube preamps, they can get a lot of crosstalk between different, sources. They still work quite well, just one source at a time, is an option too. Otherwise, they do dress it up a bit in the back, and keep the dust and tarnish down, on the actual contact area, until they are used.

Regards

+1 rodman99999  Electric current is a motion of electric charge. The same amount of electric charge that leaves the source comes back to it.  Energy has to be delivered different way.  It is delivered on the outside of the cable (most of it between wires, but some outside) in form of electromagnetic wave.  Even when AC current changes direction electromagnetic wave doesn't - it is always from source to load.  Electromagnetic wave around the wires travels thru dielectric.  This dielectric affects speed of electricity, capacitance, dielectric absorption etc.  When you place cable on the floor some small fraction of electromagnetic wave travels thru floor impacting a little dielectric constant (wood has higher dielectric constant than air).  How audible it is I don't know.  In my system cables hang in the air between amp and speakers, but with other cables I don't remember hearing any difference.  It does not mean there is no difference.  Some people have better hearing and better systems than mine.

The current doesn't travel anywhere it isn't a thing but a concept. Electric current is the rate of flow of charge carriers in the conductor not in the dielectric. Electromagnetic energy flows outside the conductor,  most of it not all of it.  All the energy that flows in the conductor is used up as heat. The flow is close to the speed of light the miniscule amount of flow that is affected by a carpet or wood floor is barely measurable much less audible. The cable risers do nothing but calm the neurosis of the user.  If placing cables on risers affected the sound then your music would have a staccato effect as the flow passed over them. The whole notion of cable risers is ludicrous.