Speaker wire is it science or psychology


I have had the pleasure of working with several audio design engineers. Audio has been both a hobby and occupation for them. I know the engineer that taught Bob Carver how a transistor works. He keeps a file on silly HiFi fads. He like my other friends considers exotic speaker wire to be non-sense. What do you think? Does anyone have any nummeric or even theoretical information that defends the position that speaker wires sound different? I'm talking real science not just saying buzz words like dialectric, skin effect capacitance or inductance.
stevemj
You know, I once paid a little visit to a well known and highly regarded speaker manufacturer (shall be nameless) who swore that all cables with similar inductance and cappacitance had to sound the same...and did! And, that if there was no messurable differences, then indeed there was no differnces (audibly or othewise) period. "God himself couldn't hear the differnces in cables!" he claimed!! So, ofcorse, he used all generic wires and various "stuff" to wire his display and demo systems up around the factory.
Needless to say, I think you can all immagine how good his systems sounded!...
...Should I tell ya?....Come on...You know...I don't have to even say it!....Right!!!!...They sounded like Crap!!!
12 Gauge generic wire all around and zip cord for interconnects! God the sound was really awfull...Brings back nightmares when I think about the display's they had set up there for demo's and what not. I mean down right imbarrasing! I couldn't believe they could even allow people over to hear there speakers set up like they did.
And this company produces some very highly noted class A speakers.
I mean, it was a shame because the speakers were pretty good and all. But there "systems" really sounded poor...and with just cause in my oppinion.
Need I go on to say that that same manufacturer also believes that amps and digital gear(with same sample rates and bit rates, etc) all sound the same as well!
SHOW ME A SYSTEM PUT TOGETHER BY SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES THAT WIRE IS WIRE, AND I'LL SHOW YOU A SYSTEM THAT SOUNDS LIKE CRAP!!!!....EVERY TIME.
Interesting post....but not intended to discover whether there are any differences in speaker cable, merely to discover how defensive the commentary would be. Perhaps the poster is a marketer of cables....your comments provide some of the buzz words that are useful for ad copy. The supposed features and benefits advertised will attract you, and you will tend to defend your purchase, using the reasoning in this thread, regardless of the qualities of the cable.
This thread reminds me of the debates (turned ugly) from years ago on the defunct Daja News Opinion
Sean

Good note! Agree that there are differences, though they may
be hard to quantify. I'm of the "diminishing returns" school about wires, just as everything else in audio. Are there differences? Yes. Am I willing to pay some preposterous prices to own the esoteric? Nope, can't afford it. But that doesn't mean I can't hear them, and I certainly don't begrudge anyone who has the wherewithal to avail himself of it. I've assembled a very nice system without spending the GNP of a small nation. Do I call it SOTA? No. But it will not embarrass me, and it will extract just about everything on vinyl or other sources that is there to be extracted.

As an aside to "Tireguy"... loved that simile of "like talking to a roof shingle". Gave me a good laugh.

Anyone who wants to plumb the science might want to take a look at Harmonic Tech's web page and read their arguments.

Finally, why do these debates invariably end in the ad hominem attacks? Guys, just agree to disagree. ( Saw on another post someone who took a shot at Bryston. I could fire back and tell him this or that. Pointless. If he hears "bright" so be it. There are a whole lot of other people who disagree, all of whom have perfectly functioning hearing.) Why argue perceptions? I find Krell to be "tipped up", but also understand that for many it's musical Nirvana. It's not my place to criticize that, merely to state my opinion and move on. Krell is excellent gear. I just don't care for it. That's opinion and perception, nothing more. Seems to me ICs and speaker cables fall into the same category.