@mclinnguy I couldn't have said it any better.
A fresh approach to cable analysis
Here’s an interesting idea that I wish someone would do. Start a YouTube channel in which you take full range of power cords, interconnects, and speaker wire ranging from cheap to top-of-the-line and carefully dissect them and expose how they are constructed and with what. In the past, we have been through all the arguments about measurements and subjective evaluation, and that gets us nowhere. I think, looking at the physical construction of these chords, which I assume almost no one ever does, especially on the more expensive ones, would produce some surprising results and really be hard to argue with. I’m sure manufacturers would hate this idea, but I don’t think there’s any way legally that they could challenge it.
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Thanks for posting the Mr. Carlson video! I had seen that and wish more people here at the ‘Gon would watch it. It is very thought provoking and he has no ax to grind. It really deserves its own thread! He is just talking straight electrical properties of a very inexpensive but well shielded category of wire. I plan to make some interconnects from the roll I have in my basement that used to cary the TV signal down from my antenna to the tv. His argument makes a lot of sense. Imagine how weak that video signal was compared to mere audio coming straight from a preamp? @goodlistening64 I was going to engage but you are a bit rude, so I won’t. @mclinnguy Agreed some manufacturers offer more specifics than others but wouldn’t you at least be curious to see if the pretty pictures accurately reflected what’s inside? As others have mentioned so far cable dissection would not answer all questions and it would not definitively tell you what you might expect to hear from a given cable. BUT it would peel back several layers of the onion and reveal obvious frauds. It would also reveal similarities or dissimilarities in construction that might align with listening experiences and thus make possible some generalizations about how the physical configuration of cable along with it’s measurable electrical properties line up with peoples listening experiences. |
Afraid I have to call a foul on that line of argument when discussing manufactured products. Especially pricey manufactured products. The amount of allowable variation in that case is just about zero. You expect them to exercise quality control. Consumer Reports just tests one specimen of a given model car or one washing machine model, not a population. We are not talking about the average weight of a gerbil's liver. Either the cable is built to spec or not. |
@total111 Thanks for the comments and the document. I began it and it looks interesting. I think you and I are kind of on a similar quest. The big caution with AI however is that we must always remember it is not thinking, it is returning things that have been presented to it elsewhere as being connected. It can spout nonsense when it has found nonsense presented in a logical or convincing fashion elsewhere on the web. I have found this to be true in areas where I am somewhat competent to judge. But with controversial subjects like audio cables judging the soundness of what AI reports gets difficult. |
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