Do you consider yourself an audiophile?

[beesonthewhatnow]

I did click the link. That’s why I thought you were joking. You linked to a post saying change the cables without the knowledge of the subject and don’t ask leading questions. This is stating the obvious. In fact you are still joking aren't you? How many subjects do you think necessary? What sort of percentages do you think start to show bias? Do the subjects need vetting?

I am sure Mr Randis test would cover all of this as every time you see him on TV he seems to employ a rigorous methodology. It is almost as rigorous as the one outlined by Crispy

Go away. Learn some maths. Learn some physics. I simply can't be arsed to spoon feed you.

 

[badseed]

I recently purchased a pair of B&W 602 S3's really cheap from a bloke who had to get rid of all his hi-fi equipment (baby on the way) I like the yellow cones.
I made some speaker cables from two lengths of black Cat-6 twisted together with red and black heat shrink on the ends and a braid cover. All stuff I had lying around at work but they look like the real deal. Speaker cables like a garden hose.
They sound amazing, they seem to be a quality speaker. I made the cable just so I could lie to a mate and tell him I paid 4k for the lot.
Earlier this year I bought a new tube phono-amp and the shop keep chucked in some interconnects for another $10. They are braided and really nice looking. They feel like a quality product and are definitely much tighter fitting on the connections.

Is this how it starts?

 

[alan_]

Go away. Learn some maths. Learn some physics. I simply can't be arsed to spoon feed you.

You say learn some maths learn some physics (can’t be arsed to spoon feed you)

But you haven’t. Very little maths and physics have come up and I am confident that if it did I know enough of both to cope

Your link led to a post from Crispy and to be honest I do not think it is a very rigorous methodology

The only statement of substance you made was that separating the signal cores would not cancel the interference when inverted, but unless you can back that up with "maths and physics" (or link to where someone else has done it) then that is your opinion only

I realise that this is getting tiresome now but to be honest the only thing that keeps me going is the sneery tone adopted by the people who think me a wanker whilst they post opinion in place of fact.

There are not many threads on urban where peoples opinion are taken at face value without being asked to back it up

 

[Saul Goodman]

There are not many threads on urban where peoples opinion are taken at face value without being asked to back it up

Bono is a cunt, Tony Blaire is a cunt, audiophiles are deluded cunts. All of these things are a given and need no further evidence to back them up.

Audiophools are the ones who expect people to take their bullshit at face value. They insist a piece of magic-pixie-dust-infused-woo-woo-wood will change the audio properties of a piece of music if you buy enough of them and use them to stop your 5 figure kettle lead from touching the floor.

Deluded bullshitters

 

[Enviro]

Balanced audio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...If the noise source is extremely close to the cable, then it is possible it will be induced on one of the lines more than the other, and it won't be canceled as well, but canceling will still occur to the extent of the amount of noise that is equal on both lines.

Based on the above, if the cores are separated then it's feasible that an interfering electromagnetic field may well influence one core more than the other, thus reducing the effectiveness of the balanced cable.

Next.

 

[bi0boy]

I bet no one here could tell the differnece between a balanced cable, an unbalanced cable, and a chain of paper clips.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I bet no one here could tell the differnece between a balanced cable, an unbalanced cable, and a chain of paper clips.

Tell the difference in audio terms you mean?

 

[existentialist]

You say learn some maths learn some physics (can’t be arsed to spoon feed you)

But you haven’t. Very little maths and physics have come up and I am confident that if it did I know enough of both to cope

Your link led to a post from Crispy and to be honest I do not think it is a very rigorous methodology

The only statement of substance you made was that separating the signal cores would not cancel the interference when inverted, but unless you can back that up with "maths and physics" (or link to where someone else has done it) then that is your opinion only

I realise that this is getting tiresome now but to be honest the only thing that keeps me going is the sneery tone adopted by the people who think me a wanker whilst they post opinion in place of fact.

There are not many threads on urban where peoples opinion are taken at face value without being asked to back it up

For my part, I think you have done little to demonstrate that you're posting in good faith. The (non-dismissive) responses you have had have been rejected by you as insufficient, and your whole demeanour on this thread has been of a kind of petulant superiority, like a toddler demanding that this or that be done for you. I don't have the theoretical or practical knowledge to answer your questions to the standard you demand, but, given how you have responded to those who do, I'm not sure I'd want to if I did.

After all, what have any of us got to prove to you?

 

[alan_]

Thank you enviro. After all this time you are the first person to have directly addressed the point under discussion. The following article fleshes the wiki article out a bit. (I linked to this series of articles earlier in the thread)

Calculating Inductance of Zip Cord Speaker Cable

It certainly raises the question that something quite different must be going on in the expensive cables. It may or may not interest you, but the following two PDFs are concerned with a testing regime for balanced cables (it’s for microphones not speakers, but still a transducer )and an article on the design of High-Performance Balanced Audio Interfaces

http://www.canare.com/UploadedDocuments/A Technical Paper - Evaluating Microphone Cable Perfrmance and Specifications.pdf


http://sound.westhost.com/articles/balanced-interfaces.pdf

For my part, I think you have done little to demonstrate that you're posting in good faith. The (non-dismissive) responses you have had have been rejected by you as insufficient, and your whole demeanour on this thread has been of a kind of petulant superiority, like a toddler demanding that this or that be done for you. I don't have the theoretical or practical knowledge to answer your questions to the standard you demand, but, given how you have responded to those who do, I'm not sure I'd want to if I did.

After all, what have any of us got to prove to you?

Nobody has anything to prove to me. Nobody is dragged kicking and screaming to the keyboard and forced to reply and it is individual choice as to whether you choose to respond to me or not. Look at the last two replies, not exactly constructive in fact looking back over the thread where I came in a few pages ago, that has been the general tone. It seems that by even questioning peoples opinion on this subject, I am somehow doubting their integrity.

 

[existentialist]

I think I'll just carry on enjoying this thread for the purpose it was intended. I seem to have managed to accumulate a little extra knowledge along the way, too, without having to impugn the motives of the thread's contributors in the process.

 

[skyscraper101]

Can we just have more links to expensive de-oxygenated fuse sockets with special analogue sound enriching woo spray costing £45,867 each please.

 

[existentialist]

Can we just have more links to expensive de-oxygenated fuse sockets with special analogue sound enriching woo spray costing £45,867 each please.

WANT.

 

[Beats & Pieces]

I recently purchased a pair of B&W 602 S3's really cheap from a bloke who had to get rid of all his hi-fi equipment (baby on the way) I like the yellow cones.

Those are nice speakers!

 

[bi0boy]

I like how they say

Hear your music exactly how the artist intended.

How would the artist have known these amazing 3D headphones were going to be invented when they were listening to their mix in the studio?

They all say that:

These $62,000+ speakers open "an entirely new window on your music collection revealing nuances only heard by the artists and artisans who made the original recording."

 

[existentialist]

They all say that:

These $62,000+ speakers open "an entirely new window on your music collection revealing nuances only heard by the artists and artisans who made the original recording."

And who are we to say otherwise?

 

[bi0boy]

Tell the difference in audio terms you mean?

Yes, we're talking about hifi here, a couple of speakers in your living room, not a Pink Floyd concert.

 

[bi0boy]

And who are we to say otherwise?

I'd like to read some testimonials, Phil Colins saying ah yes, that bit there on Easy Lover, that's the bit we put in that I think is so great, but which unfortunately no one has been able to hear until now...we thought about making it so normal people could hear it, but we reckoned we ought to save something for people like you in 30 years time.

 

[Saul Goodman]

This is worth a watch.

 

[Beats & Pieces]

This is worth a watch.

Thanks for posting this up, it was certainly interesting!

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Yes, we're talking about hifi here, a couple of speakers in your living room, not a Pink Floyd concert.

Well, assuming a decent room, with no sources of electrical interference, then there will be no difference. But it's surprising how susceptible cables can be in certain circumstances.

For anything with long cable runs or in an area prone to interference, balanced is essential. Live gigs as you know them utterly depend on balanced lines for example.

 

[alan_]

This is worth a watch.

That is an excellent interesting and well explained hour of my time spent

 

[Saul Goodman]

Well, assuming a decent room, with no sources of electrical interference, then there will be no difference. But it's surprising how susceptible cables can be in certain circumstances.

For anything with long cable runs or in an area prone to interference, balanced is essential. Live gigs as you know them utterly depend on balanced lines for example.

I have a set of active monitors that sound like muck without balanced leads. Granted, there are a lot of sources for interference, but they're all but unusable without balanced cables.

 

[alan_]

sorry I cannot link to appropriate pages so have edited

 

[moody]

I have a set of active monitors that sound like muck without balanced leads. Granted, there are a lot of sources for interference, but they're all but unusable without balanced cables.

when I first set up my gear, active monitors, soundcard, mac. I had this awful humming noise, I looked it up and found it was a "ground loop\" issue. Easily solved by having everything going through one power point.

 

[Saul Goodman]

when I first set up my gear, active monitors, soundcard, mac. I had this awful humming noise, I looked it up and found it was a "ground loop\" issue. Easily solved by having everything going through one power point.

Everything was running from the same wall outlet. I even tried matching all the power lead lengths but the only thing that cured the problem was replacing the 1/4" TS cables with balanced XLRs

 

[existentialist]

Everything was running from the same wall outlet. I even tried matching all the power lead lengths but the only thing that cured the problem was replacing the 1/4" TS cables with balanced XLRs

I suspect that the reason that worked is because introducing balanced cables into the equation also breaks earth loops.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I suspect that the reason that worked is because introducing balanced cables into the equation also breaks earth loops.

Errrrrrrr

 

[existentialist]

Errrrrrrr

I await a more technically adept explanation

I just know (because someone showed me) that putting a DI box in between a (mains powered) laptop and the (equally mains powered) PA stopped the horrible noises, and was given to understand that this was because I wasn't directly connecting signal earth from one to the other.

Was that not correct? *stands by to learn a bit more*

 

[Smangus]

Love it, audiofool cable arguments on urban, classic!

 

[bi0boy]

I wonder if expensive musical instruments fall into the category of "think I can tell the difference, but I'm fooling myself"