Hopefully this isn’t some spoof account so a cable manufacturer has a topic which they can use another spoof account to advertise their cables in the comments. Whole lot of BS m these forums like that. I like the ones where it’s a new user but that got this jew piece of gear that in their 20 years of being audiophile and trying all the big name brands (insert here so searches read tags of popular cables) these absolutely smoke them!
audiophile folklore - cables and claims from manufacturers
The cable debate.
Cables make a difference, sure.
But SHOULD they?
I have been grappling with this question for the better part of 20 years!
Fanatical claims from manufacturers, talking about how their cables will improve your system in specific ways, sonically.
More accurate bass, cleaner midrange sounds, treble resolution... etc. soundstage and imaging, you get the idea.
The fundamental disconnect is - they have never heard YOUR system!
So then, how do they know what their cables will sound like in your system. Not to mention, astronomical prices on some of these interconnects. The wilder the claims, the higher the cost.
The behavior we should be looking for is passing on the signal, with as little losses as possible. That can be done relatively cheaply, with well made professional interconnects that cost less than 100 dollars in most cases.
If you could build an audio system (all of it) from thrift store finds and cables really did make that much of a difference, then wouldn’t the sound quality scale that way?
It seems many audiophiles I know are in denial. And even worse, some use cables as TONE controls! This is where audiophoolery becomes a religion. Audio dealers promote it, because it impacts their bottom line!
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I personally am a cable guy. cables are actually some of the most Colored things you add to your system. They are flawed. These flaws allow cable manufacturers to have numerous ways to “voice” their cables. Then you have brands like iconolast that have literature teaching you about it, then their cables supposedly fix the issue. They have all the numbers that prove their cables are the best. But they’re not. Their cables still fit a category of colored. The other category and best category is absolute transparency. Because iconolast doesn’t fit in this category, you still hear the cable. But because the cable is “technically correct” it is very bland and far from the resolution other companies achieve. |
@bthrb4 Wow, what a wonderful post. We have a very similar way of thinking about cables. I think the electronics should make the sound, not the cables. but that's just me. @jr1000 You are free to believe what you want. it's a free country. However, there is some logic to be found in my original post about cables. The manufacturers have no first hand or even second hand knowledge of your system. They claim improvements in x, y, and z. There's no way for them to determine what you have. So it becomes a big guessing game rather than anything provable. the best signal passes the signal through cleanly. if someone wants to pay more for very well shielded cables that are immune to wi-fi signals and radio frequencies in the house, especially in an office set up where many other electronics are plugged in, i think that's fine. but when it becomes about owning something just because its expensive and becomes audio jewelry, that's when i think some audiophiles have it backwards. |
Just go to Home Depot use awg 12 as your speaker cable ,and just put good connectors on it , same copper wire as on a awg12 on a 20 amp circuit then then a awg 18 for interconnects see how they sound after 100 hours breakin , one step above is blue jeans cables not too expensive you can experiment and see if it’s good enough , maybe in your system it is good enough when you buy a amplifier it comes with a $10 power cord , ,it works , on a entry level setup it maybe good enough , you decide . |
I’m not a believer in cable break in. However, cables absolutely can and do make a difference in a system. Thin cheap wire like those found in Hosa/Rean Silver/standard dollar store cables is pure garbage... internally, ultra thin low purity copper mixed with lousy dielectrics and poor shielding. Bad in any environment. However... The electrical properties of wire, whether inside audio equipment or interconnects/power cables do not change. I think we all know who talks about... Quantum Tunneling process to enhance audio performance by altering the molecular structure of cables and components, improving signal flow and reducing noise. But the molecular structure was DEFINED when the cable was built in the factory, or when it was custom-built by hand. For example, 7N copper, PCOCC copper, LC-OFC copper, and even pure silver wire do not change their state like capacitors, resistors, and other passive components inside audio equipment, which are complex machines. In addition, there is no documented proof that cable burn in even exists. It is a speculatory reaction rooted in cognitive bias. Hours have past... you’re enjoying your system, and even more now after days, weeks, or even 30 minutes following a cable swap. So of course you will hear a difference. Truth is, the cables didn’t change at the quantum level or the molecular level. Else they wouldn’t have been operable to begin with if to reach their "optimal" state they needed time. You’d be getting partial audio output, not clear and consistent audio output. Audio dealers and cable manufacturers have you believe in the cable burn in fantasy, so you pass the warranty timeline and can’t return the cables for a refund. And herein lies another problem... Let’s suppose an audiophile goes on a long vacation. The system is left for a month in the house, nobody is even powering the system on. Then upon return, does the audiophile need to spend hundreds of hours burning in the cables again? |
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