@lukemaximus
That looks like a good resource. Thanks. :)
Fun With Cable Risers
Well, since I blew up the forum with one controversial topic,
let’s do a Chuck Woolery and go two for two! (Ugh, showing my age there!) :D
What are your thoughts on cable risers? *ducks*
I do admit to having a sensible chuckle when I first saw Audioquest’s “Fog Lifters.”
A small, plastic, rack with a string to hold up your speaker cable. I was
thinking, “This doesn’t help your image, Audioquest.” I upgraded my chuckle to
an outright guffaw when I saw the price tag on these “Fog Lifters.” I thought there
was no way any sensible person pays hundreds of dollars for something that lifts
a cable off the floor. Highway robbery.
Then, when I branched out into other brands, I saw that they too made “cable
risers.” Shunyata has their DF-SS (Dark Field) supports and Synergistic has
their UEF Performance Elevators. Each
more expensive than the next. It’s one
thing to market cables, but it is quite another to market a thing that doesn’t
really do anything to your cables, your system or your music; right? I mean, who is their target audience? So…I
did some digging. I wanted to see who is
investing in this form of tech and why.
I discovered that the phenomenon ranged all over the audiophile spectrum. Mostly from folks with $100,000+ systems.
They tend to be very neat and clean setups with multiple power amps a strewn the floor. I thought, “Why? What do they
know that I don’t? How much hokum could there be for someone who invests
that kind of money?”
Turns out, there is some science behind this. Ground noise, power signals from
the cables and vibrations as well as static electricity. On a carpeted floor,
there is massive static electricity, and it can act similar to a ferrite choke on
your cable. Yes, it’s true. That static can impact a cable’s impedance or
standing wave ratio, even if it is only slightly. Also, vibrations can also
cause interference and there is no way to filter out or shield vibrations. On carpet this isn’t much of a problem, but
wood, tile or concrete floors? That’s a different
matter. You switch static electricity
issues for vibration issues.
Despite my desire to buy premium cables, I am *NOT* going to pay money for
a thing that lifts cables off the floor, but I did want to find out what the deal is. So…I made my
own. We had just moved and I had a ton of strong, multi-ply cardboard. I
borrowed Synergistic’s design, as it was the easiest to make. I started lifting
my cables off the floor. I have wood
floors and the subwoofer does a darn fine job of creating plenty of floor vibration.
I couldn’t find any data to support whether certain materials make any
difference. Best I could find was that
the material shouldn’t be conductive. Cardboard isn’t very conductive; it also
isn’t very pretty. However, I am not going for looks. :)
My conclusions are thus.
Does it make a difference? Yes, but
there are some provisos, a few addendums, a couple of quid pro quos.
First off, all it does is expand your soundstage a little bit. It doesn’t
increase or change any frequencies or alter your sound’s clarity or reduce noise.
Second, it’s most effective if you lift *ALL* your cables off the floor and not
allow any part of a cable to touch the floor.
Third, this includes power cables, and interconnects. I suspect that if you
have massive 10 and 8+ gauge power cables, those would benefit the most.
As a side note, one riser fixed a problem I hadn’t realized I had. The DBS battery pack on one of my Audioquest
cables was weighing down on the RCA connection.
When I was able to straighten the cable out, the RCA connector straightened,
and I got a bit of a fidelity increase. I hadn’t considered that the weight of
anything hanging off a cable could pull the cable out of the socket enough to alter sound quality. Go fig O_O
Anyway, there you go. Go forth and
discuss or in some cases troll, because hey, it’s the internet! :D
Showing 7 responses by guakus
@millercarbon Thank you! I actually started off with extremely crude versions that I cut out using a pair of scissors. I had to use packing tape to maintain the stability of the legs as the weight of my power cables were bending them over. The more I worked at them, the more I began to think in terms of engineering and busted out my drafting supplies. I drew out the design in terms of actual lengths 4" x 5" with notches one inch in on either side and continued the "V" cut on top. The notches are tapered so that when I insert the feet, the tension tightens as it continues up, removing the need for packing tape, which causes static. :) Then, weirdly, I realized that triangular feet were better than rectangular. Didn't see that coming, but it makes sense in how it offloads weight. Then I got more creative. Based on the setup of my particular system, I needed risers that didn't just hold cable. I had power bricks that needed to come off the floor. So I created risers that are flat-bed, but with teeth on either end. I also created longer feet so that two to three risers could be fastened. This holds up the brick and the large plug and then finally the beginning of the cable. I also had to create a special one for the Kimber Palladian, since it has a massive foot long contraption attached to it. My experiments aren't done, for sure :). I am actually thinking about getting a 3D printer and make them that way. Experiment with other weight bearing designs and heights. Maybe even ways to deal with cables that hang down and touch cabinets or desks. |
@tomic601
Agreed. That's sort of what I get by saving money buying their 0.65M lengths. :) In my previous house it wasn't a problem because the computer was on the other side of the desk I was using. In this new house with a new desk, the computer is on the opposite end and created some tension issues. This was part of the reason I changed out the cable for a longer one. Except this time, I went with Synergistic's Foundation cable. It's still burning in but it sounds as though it will surpass the Yosemite's performance. :) |
@matthewscott |
@antigrunge2 |
I guess folks ran out of folks to berate, so started digging around for more victims. |