The 1969 yellow with the black stripes and blackout hood, that's the car I want when I win the lottery. :-) I remember when Mark Donahue brought out the AMC Javelins. That was some racing. And your right, I'm not married so the beer bottles are fine and add an interesting touch.
Hey Boss (great name...growing up, loved the 302s vs Camaros in road racing) - don't think the beer bottle approach would fly with the wife. Good idea, tho'.
I use 22 oz bomber beer bottles filled with sand and then wooden skewers to make a V for the cables. Works great and I can change the motif by using micro-brew or German beer bottles to change. Stone Brewing and Capital Brewing are great silk screened bottles!
Ghosthouse... I'm a believer. The Mapleshade cable lifts are nothing more than wooden dowels and a wooden napkin ring. You can buy this stuff at most any craft store for next to nothing.
I'm posting here in an attempt to respond to a more recent (2012) post asking about the merits of cable lifts. I couldn't find that 2012 thread but found this one. I have been very much a skeptic about all manner of audio tweaks (cables, power cords, isolation, fuses) until I actually started hearing (unexpectedly) sonic differences associated with changes in these areas. The 2012 cable lift thread made me decide to experiment with my Consonance Opera Joplin speaker cables. They'd been resting directly on carpet. I made several cardboard lifts for each channel. Basically cut some corrugated cardboard into a 3" x 6" rectangle. Folded it in the middle...now a V shape 3" long and 3" high. Put a wine cork in the middle to keep the thing from collapsing and wrapped a rubber band around it. Placed 4 of these under each speaker cable. Forgot about it. A few days later I was listening and realized things were sounding more detailed but also very sweet. Attribute the improvement to getting those cables off a very static prone carpet. Even if it is a completely "psychosomatic" benefit, so what? Anyway, cost to play was "zero". My wife thinks I am mad (she may be right). I tell her I'm not the only one. She says, "What, you and the 10 others?" But here is the good part. She tolerates my obsession (She knows where I am every night)and she hates the little carboard constructs I made. This gives me license to buy something upscale but no way am I going to pay uber bucks for Cardas blocks (do they even give you the dimensions on them?). Thinking I will go to HD or Lowes and get some 4x4x4" wood blocks cut. Looked on line and wood craft blocks above maybe 2 inches on a side look to be hollow. Solid helps to give a little weight and keep things anchored. OK - hope this is of interest. A little window on my dementia. Time to change the Van Morrison CD.
That's a good idea, Rhljazz. A good experiment might be to try the sand bags against the elevators Jfeldt found to work best. Maybe that would tell us something?
I don't use cable lifts but I have experimented with other cable treatment methods. Here's a cheap easy tweek to try. Fill four sealable sandwich bags with sand. Place one under and one over the speaker cable at the nearest point to the speaker where the cable rests on the floor and see if you hear a difference.
Don't take vibrations too lightly. Take a look inside your speakers. Chances are the wires are held in place with cable ties. Look inside your electronics. The caps and some other components usually get potted or strapped tightly to avoid what? Vibrations. You can hear this.
And for you vinyl folks. What does it sound like when you drag a cartridge lead on the surface of an LP? You can hear this plainly. It is vibration.
I've compared and noticed an audible difference between none, toilet paper rolls, cardas maple blocks, and Shunyata Dark Field elevators. Any of the risers were better than none. Between them it was more a matter of tuning than being necessarily better than each other.
I don't know about fancy lift products, but there is usually benefit to keeping the cables off of the floor. Especially carpet over concrete. It could be a capacitive interaction, I don't really know. Lifting my speaker cables did result in a bit more blackness in the background.
We Galibier owners have often demonstrated the effect of lifting the battery power supply off of the floor. There is no change in speed, but there is a sudden effortlessness when the battery is lifted. It seems that after these batteries have been sitting on the carpet for a while they also build a little capacitance. It can be demonstrated again, but the battery has to be used sitting on the floor for a while to build the effect back up.
Vibrations in cables do matter, but I don't think any of our stereos can put out that much energy to do this through signal power. ;-) However, try tapping on an interconnect lightly and see if you hear it through the speakers. This tells me the cables just need to be left alone, not nailed to the wall or something.
"Cables vibrating? I don't think so" I bet you don't think that speakers vibrate either. "Quantum this or that". That happens too of course, but that's not what I was talking about. Elizabeth, you want something good for nothing; special treatment, in a manner of speaking. I can understand it; good luck to you. Interesting thread anyway.
"Theoretically, the good ones should be able to improve the sound especially at high volume." Inna (Threads | Answers | This Thread)
Many of these tweaks and "theory" should not be mentioned in the same sentence. They may or may not work, but there is almost never any theory behind them, or a huge stretch at least. Same here. Cables vibrating? I don't think so. Unless you're talking about the theory you conjure up in your own head. Then it makes perfect sense, theoretically of course.
When the cables are on the floor they are prone to the floor vibration in addition to other sources of vibration. Whether those cable risers will decrease it, unchange it or make it worse should depend a lot on those particular risers and their interaction with particular cables. Theoretically, the good ones should be able to improve the sound especially at high volume.
Yes, but very very little; the diff is extremely small. Still, give it a try using tips from Elizabeth, if the result is un-noticeable, go elsewhere. Perhalps, lift off Cdp and/or speakers using diff materials, instead.
Thanks for the tips Elizabeth. The Mapleshade triad lifts essentially look like 3 sticks tied together IMO.
Currently I used unfinished myrtlewood blocks from Battlerock studios to raise my speaker wires and some long run RCAs about 2 inches off my carpeted floor. They came free with the speaker plinths I ordered from Battlerock. I have not heard any difference either good of bad by elevating various cables with these blocks.
Before I got the blocks the way I tested cable risers was really budget. I took some extra CD cases opened them up and put them on the floor like a tent and rested my cables on them. There was no difference in sound in my sound system. Maybe if they raised the cables higher a difference in SQ would have been made?
Interesting the two no's are from 5 and 5A owners!!! Maybe the 5 seris isn't that reveling and no difference can be heard!!! Just a possibility!!! Agree with Elizibeth it was a snide unnessary remark! Apologies to RV and JR!
seriously,,my car goes faster with those flame decals on the side. but i do keep my cables off the floor. looks cool and sounds better. ha i want to find they way to test for placebo effect. i personally like placebo effect, works for me.
"And just because YOU can't hear worth a damn*, does not mean no one else can. *(or have equipment with enough subtlies to allow one to hear the difference)"
Ah yes, the ultimate audio put-down.
"Just because you can't hear some nonsense tweak, it must mean either your ears or gear is defective".
Been used for years. Just as smarmy as the first time.
Like many other issues in audio, it'll sound as good as you want to believe it will. One thing I'll agree with is that it's cheap enough to do some experimenting and not waste too many $.
Interesting the two no's are from 5 and 5A owners!!! Maybe the 5 seris isn't that reveling and no difference can be heard!!! Just a possibility!!! Agree with Elizibeth it was a snide unnessary remark! Apologies to RV and JR!
The OP asked if cable risers made any difference and Stringreen provided an answer to the question and included a specific detail related to the previous post made my Elizabeth. I don't really see what was so offensive about the post unless there is some other history that I don't know about.
For what it's worth, when I was reading the original post I was thinking that simple wood blocks would be an easy way to test the risers. I have significant doubts of the risers making a difference in 99.99% of systems but I also know that placebo is just as good as reality, especially when it's cheap.
Elizabeth...just because I haven't heard a difference with or without them on MY system or the systems that I tried it on, doesn't mean you or I can't hear a difference on YOUR system. I'm disappointed in your fire breathing conclusion...perhaps this is the time of the month.
I've never heard the differnce between putting something between the cable and not putting something between the cable. I've tried several inexpensive tweeks like that and I didn't notice any difference. Some people hear the difference, but I haven't.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
