How Black is Your Background?


The term "black background" is bandied about quite a bit by cable makers. But has anyone actually ever seen one? Of course, this a visual metaphor because the sound of music is not black, nor is the absence of music black.

If we change the wording, what does that elusive "silent background" actually sound like? The only times I have ever hear a silent background in my system are before the music starts playing and after it stops. Are cable manufacturers and reviewers just pulling our collective legs with a wonderful marketing term -- selling the concept of a "black background"? Or is there more to this than meets the ear?

Here are some of the terms that cable manufacturers and reviewers use to describe the "black background". Can you pick out which term applies to your system? Can anyone explain the differences between these multifarious descriptions of blackness?

“dark background”
“black background”
“blacker background”
“blackest background”
“an almost eerie, black background”
“super-black background”
“liquid black background”
“black hole background”
“exquisitely black background”
“inky black background”
“surprisingly black background”
“absolutely silent and black background”
“velvety black background”
“naturally black background”
“jet-black background”
“totally black background”
“deep black background”
“wonderful dark blackground”
“drop-dead silent background”
“pitch black background”
“quiet black background”
“blacker quieter background”
“blackest background possible”
“blackest background that you have ever heard”
“darkest blackest background”
“very black background”
“darkest and blackest background possible”
“blackest of backgrounds”
“blackest of black background”
“enhanced black background”
“deep dark background”
“impressive dark background”
“ultra black background”
“dead black background”
sabai
@RLHJazz,
can I borrow your "Sonic Enima" cable name that one is very funny.
Lol, Mechans, I first thought that you just wanted to borrow his sonic enima cable...ewww!
A "black background" refers to the absence of noise, allowing each instrument to exist apart from other instruments surrounding it, ALONG WITH its own pocket of the ambience of the venue. It generally means, as Ablang, put it, a lack of RFI/EMI, which add a sonic "halo" around the instruments, joining them together instead of displaying them as separate entitites (e.g., a violin section will sound like there are [depending on your tweeter, of course] 10 violins instead of, say, 5 or 6, or 3 or sometimes - 1 BIG violin. It will have liquidity, but not always, as some backgrounds are clear black, but dry-sounding (usually a lack of 4-8k airiness that allows the venue's ambience to distinguish itself as Carnegie, Musikverein, Avery Fisher, etc.)
The VPI TNT has a black, "velvety" background (the original one: I wouldn't know about later iterations), but it is not a liquid background, nor is it dry. It would be akin to a slightly humid background.
Otherwise, backgrounds are shades of gray-ishness, making for a less clear "picture" of the placement of instruments. Just think of it as a low, low, low, LOW noise floor.