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How essential is shielding?

Both my analog interconnects and my speaker cables are unshielded, yet my system is pretty much dead quiet. This is making me wonder whether the importance of shielding is sometimes exaggerated.

The majority of cable manufacturers seem to emphasize shielding as an essential feature of design. I don't doubt that there are many situations where shielding is both necessary and effective. But my results with unshielded cables makes me suspect that there are also situations where shielding is unnecessary or even detrimental, and that these situations may be more common than would be suggested by the dominance of shielded designs.

How essential do you think shielding is?

Thanks for any input,
Bryon
bryoncunningham

Showing 2 responses by tholt

tholt
547 posts
 
Devil's advocate: Given that a system is dead quiet with unshielded cables, how are any of you comparing shielded and unshielded cables, and know that the 'openness' that was mentioned (or any other sonic difference) is due specifically to an absence of shielding? One would need 2 identical cables, the only difference being shielded vs non, in order to make a reasonable comparison.
tholt
547 posts
 

What I'm trying to say is that I believe that useful generalizations can often be made about the typical characteristics of a particular design approach, even in the absence of carefully controlled experiments.

True, but how would you isolate the general characteristics directly due to shielding, or lack thereof? Cable type, gauge, single/stranded, connectors, solder etc. all are part of the sound of a cable. I assume (could be wrong) that shielding wouldn't be as influential to the sound as some of the aforementioned components.

I once used 47 Lab Stratos cable: 26 gauge single copper wire in plastic tubing, about as naked and unshielded as it gets. I liked it. Thinking back, I suppose it had a certain open quality to it. The 47 Lab motto of "only the simplest can accommodate the most complex" is epitomized with the Stratos cable (certainly sans shielding). But I can't help but think that the cable itself had more to do with the overall sound than it's (lack of) wrapper. Would it sound significantly more 'muffled' if it were shielded? Maybe. Actually, It would be a great cable to experiment with, going back to my first paragraph. One tiny copper wire: to shield or not to shield.
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