Are you buying the right interconnects ?


In the late 90's I purchased a pair of Paradigm Active 20 speakers from Definitive Audio. Prior to buying I purchased a 3 meter pair of MIT interconnects from Audio Advisor. Regular retail price was $700 and they were on sale for 50% off. 
Hooked every thing up and waited a month for a full burn in. Wasn't satisfied. I thought, whats going on here? So I decided to try the Paradigm stock interconnects that came with the speakers. They were twenty feet long and looked really, really cheap like you find in a department store. They cost $20 a pair. I switched them out and was blown away.
The sound from those 20's suddenly sounded, rich, full, very sweet top end and the bass sharpened up to complete focus. I called Paradigm and spoke to an engineer and asked why the sound difference? He said the MIT's are not a match since they are a high impedance/capacitance cable and it has nothing to with the price. He mentioned the impedance/capacitance value numbers vary with different brands. He said you should always talk to the engineers at the amp/preamp companies, and ask which cable values would best match their components. Once you get the specs, go to a local electronic supply house, the one's that sell cables to TV station's and radio station's. Give the measurements to the salesperson to find a match and your good to go. 
audiozen

Showing 1 response by jhills

MIT? Massachusetts Institute of Technology? How prestigious is that?
Oh right, MIT cables actually has nothing to do with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - amazing how many audio buffs I've talked to over the years who thought there was a connection.

There are four things paramount in good cables - low capacitance, low inductance, low resistance and a quality connection. Still the best coating according to industry standards (whether signal or data transfer)  is a thin layer of PTFE or Polyethylene, with shielding (only if necessary)  in locations of high EMI/RFI or when near an unshielded transformer.

I do not believe that all cables sound alike - some cheep, poorly made cables, assembled with poor conductors and cheep connectors, sound bad and some very expensive cables sound even worse.

Uber expensive cables (usually of dubious, design, fraught with outrageous, unfounded claims) play to the egos of those who believe that they alone have super-human hearing that demands something extraordinary or simply have more money than technical understanding or good sense......IMO.....Jim