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Forums - Music techology
Subject: Your weakest link
Viewing all 21 messages - View by pages of 10: 1 2 3
Original Message 1/21 19-Nov-03 @ 04:15 PM - Your weakest link
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Able cables (New Scientist)
Question:
Is there any scientific basis for the claims that expensive, oxygen-free hi-fi cables produce audibly better results than cheaper standard ones. What would the nature of this difference be and has anybody been able to tell the difference unaided in a scientifically controlled test?
Brian Eno , London
Answer
The purity of the conductor material of a hi-fi cable does affect sound quality, but this is a highly complex area. A more expensive cable is not necessarily a better one.
Below is our conclusion after detailed study of the physics of hi-fi cables. To evaluate them, an engineering team and a listening team of "golden ears" worked independently. The members of the listening team are referred to as "golden ears" because of their ability to analyse small sound differences and describe them in words that the engineering team can understand, rather than an ability to hear things others would not.
Each evaluation was conducted under double-blind conditions. The tests on loudspeaker cables, and analogue and digital interconnects, found that many factors other than the purity of the conductor could produce marked differences in sound quality. These differences are easy to hear, sometimes difficult to put into words and very often a matter of taste and preference.
The choice and design of the screening materials for the cable and its connector and the termination of the cables within the connector are critical. The material and design of the connectors played a very large role in the overall results. This is not surprising considering the noisy electromagnetic environment we live in, with electronic systems everywhere.
The cable has to carry very sensitive signals, preserving the smallest variations. To keep signals clean, it would have to be perfectly screened, which is impossible with the cables and connectors used commercially.
Yet if great care has been taken to ensure that a cable has the best possible screening and that the conductor is suitably pure, then the screening of the connector will become the weakest point. Using different materials for the outer shell of the connectors, such as copper, brass, plain and anodised aluminium, generates distinct differences in sound quality. The worst add a fatiguing harshness to the sound and reduce the stereo sound stage, the best give a larger, spacious sound with a more natural, smooth, pure and detailed reproduction (see www.tagmclarenaudio.com/dev/white/wp8.asp)
Message 2/21 19-Nov-03 @ 04:50 PM - RE: Your weakest link
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AT THE UK's annual hi-fi show, held recently in two hotels at London's Heathrow airport, several exhibitors were selling exotic cables to connect amplifiers to loudspeakers. The price of these cables was staggering. A 6-metre length of oxygen-free copper could cost as much as £30,000 - and no, those four zeros are not a misprint.
We cannot comment on whether these cables really do make music sound better, because none of the exhibitors offered a controlled blind test - switching the same music between cheap and expensive cables without the listener knowing which was which.
But now that the show is over, we can reveal a secret.
One of the most popular demonstrations at the show was staged by British company Quad, to mark 50 years of making its world-famous hi-fi equipment. Recording engineer Tony Faulkner demonstrated Quad's latest loudspeakers. He explained how he used them to monitor the sound while making a recording of Saint-Saëns's complete works for piano and orchestra, which recently won the coveted Record of the Year award from Gramophone magazine.
As hi-fi buffs enthused over the sound, we spotted that the speakers were connected by some orange wires that looked strangely familiar.
"Yes, they would look familiar if you have a garden", Faulkner told us. "Before the show opened we went over the road to the DIY superstore and bought one of those £20 extension leads that Black & Decker sells for electric hedge-cutters. They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me. The show's been running for three days and no one in the audience has noticed".
Message 3/21 19-Nov-03 @ 05:11 PM - RE: Your weakest link
G
Message 4/21 19-Nov-03 @ 07:08 PM - RE: Your weakest link
$30k, eh? shoot them
Message 6/21 20-Nov-03 @ 01:39 AM - RE: Your weakest link
pict
Posts: 1005
Link?: No link
File?: No file
Message 7/21 20-Nov-03 @ 02:11 AM - RE: Your weakest link
you can go UP-ampage for thicker/more copper - but lighting flex is great!
Message 8/21 20-Nov-03 @ 07:02 AM - RE: Your weakest link
Some people are just nuts and I hope I never care about such things.
Message 9/21 20-Nov-03 @ 01:49 PM - RE: Your weakest link
Message 10/21 20-Nov-03 @ 02:05 PM - RE: Your weakest link
Message 12/21 20-Nov-03 @ 08:25 PM - RE: Your weakest link
this is 100% true!!
Message 13/21 20-Nov-03 @ 08:44 PM - RE: Your weakest link
(ps, I'm logged in so this doesnt count as impersonating okay?) ;)
Message 14/21 20-Nov-03 @ 10:04 PM Edit: 20-Nov-03 | 10:05 PM - RE: Your weakest link
Steve Roughley
Posts: 1178
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Steve.
Message 15/21 21-Nov-03 @ 12:28 AM - RE: Your weakest link
i've suggested he see quagmire but does he listen?!!!
only to state-of-the-art stereos.
only the best.
"i paid thousands."...he smiles.
i smile.
we all smile.
Message 16/21 21-Nov-03 @ 01:18 AM - RE: Your weakest link
[image file]
hey this is remotely related:
Glowing Pickle
What You Need
* Wire cutters
* 6-foot extension cord
* Two large nails
* Large dill pickle
* Paper towels
What to Do
With adult supervision, cut off the outlet at the end of the extension cord,
separate the two wires for 1 foot, expose the two wires, and wrap each wire
around its own nail, just below the head.
Insert the nails into opposite ends of the pickle, without letting the nails
touch each other inside the pickle. Hang the cord from a hook or string so
it hangs in the air. The electric pickle will smell, so allow plenty of
ventilation. Lie paper towels on the floor under the pickle to absorb drips.
Plug the extension cord into an electrical outlet.
What Happens
After sputtering, hissing, and smoking briefly, the pickle glows like a
bright green electric light (sometimes at just one end).
Why It Works
The glow purportedly results from the sodium in the salt used to cure the
pickle.
Message 17/21 21-Nov-03 @ 01:28 AM - RE: Your weakest link
Message 18/21 21-Nov-03 @ 05:52 AM - RE: Your weakest link
Message 19/21 21-Nov-03 @ 09:55 AM - RE: Your weakest link
Message 20/21 21-Nov-03 @ 11:13 AM Edit: 21-Nov-03 | 11:14 AM - RE: Your weakest link
Message 21/21 21-Nov-03 @ 09:06 PM Edit: 21-Nov-03 | 09:06 PM - RE: Your weakest link
LMAO!
Viewing all 21 messages - View by pages of 10: 1 2 3
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