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Do Cable Makers Know Their Own Products?

Like most of you, I have owned cables from many different manufacturers. How many of these cables are truly distinct from similar products put out by competing manufacturers? In my experience, there are some truly distinct cables out there but most fall into a gray area when they meet my system.

I was wondering if manufacturers would be able to recognize their own cables if they were put in a room with a high end system with someone conducting true A/B testing. For the sake of argument, let's say we put 5 top manufacturers in a room to test their top interconnects, speaker cables and power cords -- and their next-to-top interconnects, speaker cables and power cords. That means 5 manufacturers listening to 10 models of each cable. Before the testing begins we give them an hour to get used to the sound of this system. Would they be able to pick out their own cables?
sabai
rrog
1,958 posts
 
"it is impossible to know the sound of a component, because, it is part of a stereo system. you can't listen to a component by itself."

Mrtennis, Maybe this statement is true for you. However, it is not true for me.
tiltedhalos
10 posts
 
I don't think you could ever make this experiment happen, but I would love to be there if it did. :)
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Rrog,
The recordings in my system vary according to the quality of the production. Great recordings sound great -- not lean or warm.

Mrtennis,
IMO what has been proposed is not complex. We are only talking about testing 2 cables from each of 5 manufacturers in each cable class -- interconnects, speaker cables and power cords. I believe this would be fairly simple to do. IMO if there is a complex part it would be be the manufacturers trying to figure out which cables are theirs.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Furthermore, we have all read that the best cables do nothing -- they just allow the music to come through in all its naturalness. Then how come all of these interconnects, speaker cables and power cords from these 5 top manufacturers sound different?

Which one or which ones are those that are supposed to be doing nothing? And how do we know they are doing nothing? One maker might claim their cables are doing nothing and that the cables from all the other manufacturers are doing something but how can any manufacturer prove to us that their cables are doing nothing?
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
hi rrog:

could you please explain how you can ascertain the sound of a component ?

thanks
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