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If Cables Are Not Tone Controls...

I can't count the times audiophiles have said "Cables are not tone controls".  But if we audition (remember that?) two sets of speaker cables and decide that one sounds "better" than the other, aren't we using it as a tone control?  You can call it whatever you want, but in reality we are deciding which cable contours the sound to our liking?  Or should we just buy the speaker cable with the lowest resistance, inductance and capacitance we can find and if it sounds like crap, change other components until it sounds good?  Then we're just using the other components we've swapped out as tone controls. Just asking.  
chayro
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
 separate the normally dual speaker wire into individual ones and place them away from each other

Ummm, maybe not
Capacitance will drop, but Inductance will rise as will Impedance.

Better bet is to buy well engineered cables that integrate well into the system.
alfa100's avatar
alfa100
237 posts
 
Different cables transfer information differently.   We hear the difference.  As with every component we strive to achieve as realistic quality of sound as possible. I am certain that my cable does a better job than cheap flex wire. Our audiophile community in general will not waste money on tone control items. We strive for purity and as a general rule one gets closer higher up the price pyramid. 
inna
8,240 posts
 
I use only two brands and just move higher, step by step. See no reason to experiment with other brands until I start seriously upgrading all or most of the active components. In any case, the most important cable - tonearm cable - I cannot change without tonearm rewiring, it is fixed.
inna
8,240 posts
 
Forgot another brand that I use, one interconnect, but I cannot upgrade it because I am near top of the line already, upgrading it would be extremely expensive.
gp4jesus
37 posts
 
All of my speaker cabling is a few years old. Would not mind doing an upgrade here or there. 
ICs: 2-3 years ago I repurposed some I bought in the 90s w/new connectors. Would like to upgrade some there too but $acing to complete something big first

retired...
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