Audiophiles and Our Chase for Perfection
I'd like to solicit some thoughts and responses regarding some of our idiosyncrasies, taboo's and philosophies as audiophiles, specifically with regards to cabling.
Even if there was some magical fairy dust material that could coax protons and electrons into behaving differently or better; your signal is still going to be subject to the limitations of the “weakest component” in the signal path.
A perfect example of this is speaker cable. You can spend $50 to $100K or more on them, but as soon as they hit the next connection, junction or conductor, for example, the speaker terminal, you’ve fundamentally nullified any “perceived” benefit from those cables. Not to mention the soldering materials and their impact.
And the cycle goes on through the entirety of the circuit; including the connector/lug, back of the lug terminal, more soldering, wiring from the internal lug to the next component, to the next component and so on until you finally come to the wire or cable connecting to the driver, and even then you hit another junction at the terminal at the speaker itself as well as the subsequent wire from the terminal connecting to the voice coil, then the voice coil wire itself.
The bottom line is, there are so many contributors in the path that, unless you tear the entire speaker apart and replace them all with your idea of the “gold standard” or perfect material/component, you're still only going to be as good as the weakest component in the path. At the end of the day, just get some reasonably good 14 to 8 Gauge cables that are made of sound conducting material (e.g. 99.99% copper, or Silver if you prefer) because that same logic can be applied to ALL of the materials in the signal path.
The scenario above doesn’t even consider the influence or impact of all of the predecessor components in the signal path coming from the Amp, CD transport, DAC or any and all upstream components, as they all influence the integrity of the signal.
It should also be noted that the length the signal travels in that speaker cable (perhaps 6’ to 15’ or so) is a very short path in comparison to the rest of the system both pre and post cable connection.
The following is used with permission from Eric Alexander, Founder & Lead Designer, Tekton Design, LLC
"I truly believe audiophiles are chasing illusions, constantly attempting to fill an acoustic void that standard high-end audio simply cannot satisfy. When a flashy new component or wire comes along, the industry reacts with predictable, superficial hype. My 'In Real Life' (IRL) technology directly proves this theory—it delivers the authentic sound and visceral connection that audiophiles have been destitute and desperate for.
@willywonka Thanks, and I agree. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and even a little can go a long way. Just dealing with a couple problems -- most important, probably, are first reflections, can do a world of good. But it requires analysis and some patience and some non-sexy spending of money. But, like flossing, it does a world of good, in the long run. |
The only "tweak" I’m interested in at the moment is the room, using REW and a consultant. We are not done yet but have made some great progress (audible sonic improvements), at a very reasonable cost, way less than many here might spend on a PC. The detailed acoustic reports, 1st with Harbeth 40.3 XDS, 2nd with MBL 126 + subs that replaced them are in my system profile, URLs are in the system description if anyone is interested. But cables do matter too, mostly interconnects and speaker cables in my experience, but I’ve also invested in a good PC for my amp, balanced power supply for all other components, and an LPS for my streamer and TT. |
I can only assume that room treatment freaks don't think any room works with simply furniture and normal room stuff, and I, like most people, have zero interest in "treating" what I feel is an already great sounding room. My cable museum has plenty of stuff that isn't being used (hence "museum") because I liked something else, and after a while you simply get things working to your personal satisfaction. I never search for "perfection," whatever that is, but I do somehow find things that are fun. Open baffle horn speakers, Class A amps, high value wiring (sounds great and not particularly expensive), accurate source components, ear wax removal kits, gummies, craft beer and Irish Whisky...fun... |
Perform an REW measurement of your system. Then decide if you really like what you have or if you might want to change it. You may be happy with what you have now. However, there very well may be some changes that will make you more happy. I guarantee that your room will create peaks and valleys below 100 Hz. You'll not know where they are in frequency or room location unless you measure. At a minimum, REW will assist you in speaker and listener placement within the room. |
I think all of you, while engaging in an interesting discussion nonetheless, have missed the point the OP is making. All audiophile tweaking is now obsolete. We are now in the golden age of sound reproduction and I-R-L is being gifted to us by the audio gods. I have no idea what IRL is, but I will guess that somewhere in the technical explanation the word quantum appears. |
