The most detailed speaker cable??


Hello All,
I would like some help in chosing a new set of very detailed speaker cables. I want something that is I guess on the bright side. I have used so far... AZ satoris,AZ holograms, Nordost red dawns, AQ bedrocks, kimber 4tc just to name a few. So please help in my search based on your experience with speaker cables.
Thanks
harnellt
>>but, you sould look at the case as a network.<<

Exactly what I am saying. Look at the entire chain. A speaker cable cannot
deliver more detail than what it is given -- it cannot CREATE detail, so I
recommend looking at upstream components. To think otherwise is magical
thinking. A Speaker is far more likely to LOSE detail, fail to resolve it, or
introduce distortion than a speaker cable and most listening rooms have
similar problems. So, I recommend looking at the entire chain. That this
should be controversial only shows me that people get riled up awfully easily
when discussing cables -- which is part of the cable phneomenon.

>Are we all fools?

Maybe. REG would say you (we) are, though he probably wouldn't use that term. If you blindly trust only what you hear and you don't also THINK and QUESTION, then I would have to agree.

Rsbeck, please don't go away.
Rsbeck's last post was spot-on: cables cannot add detail or, for that matter, character to what flows through them. Yes, you need to be aware of impedence, etc., but that's it. By all means, use nice and appropriate cables. However, more careful attention to other components -- primarily the amp and speakers -- will have a far greater impact.

And, yes, having said that, please re-read "bryanhod"'s comments -- aside from the juvenlie invective, it is based on absolutely nothing factual. He claims to have listened to hundreds and hundreds of cables. That's fine. This is a hobby for some people, and some people really get into it, there's a pride of ownership factor, and, of course, a significant placebo effect.

I know quite a EE's, have a graduate degree in physics, and know several amp designers, sound systems designers, producers, etc., quite well. I don't know of one who buys into 99% of this stuff or, for that matter, who spends good money on "high-end" cables. Unfortunately, the "trust your ears" dictum is very misleading, precisely due to issues of suggestion, pride, enthusiasm, etc. Psych 101.

I highly applaud manufacturers who stand up for what's right in this matter -- and this means some of the biggest guns in the business, such as ARC, Mac, etc.
"A speaker cable cannot deliver more detail than what it is given -- it cannot CREATE detail / to think otherwise is magical thinking. "

This is EXACTLY why i want Rsbeck to listen and compare some Nordost to his reference i.e. heavy gauge zip cord within the relaxed confines of his own system, that he's highly familiar with. If he can hear more detail with the Nordost than with the zip cord, that would mean that the zip cord was LOSING detail by his own definition. If it was losing detail, that would mean that the measurements that he keeps referencing either weren't accurate to begin with and / or weren't telling the whole story.

Then again, and as Yoda would say, "talking to a brick wall, i am". He'll talk the talk but he refuses to walk the walk. Sean
>
>>If he can hear more detail with the Nordost<<

This assumes *you* can hear more *detail.*

That's a logical leap worthy of its own Olympic event.

You haven't proven that.

You've just claimed you can --- on the internet.

Your claim, like your claim that you can hear inaudible amounts of
attenuation, is worth the ether it is printed on.

This is a classic "Emperor's New Clothes" test.

Before you can test to see if someone can hear something, you've got to have
proof there is something to hear.

You don't have that.

You want to "blow my mind" with an Analyzer? Then, why don't
you measure the Nordost cables so you have some idea about what you are
comparing?

Do some investigation for Pete's sake.

You don't know if you are *really* hearing any difference because you've
rigged your own tests, insisting on sighted tests. If you are hearing a
difference, you don't know if you are imagining it because you've done
nothing to eliminate the possibility of the "placebo effect." Do I
believe you are above such influences? Nope. You are human. And, let's not
forget you've already been caught making bogus claims about your hearing
ability.

It gets worse, even if you could prove to reliably hear a difference in a
double-blind test, you wouldn't know if you are *really* getting more *detail,*
or whether you are just getting a slight bump in the high frequencies, which
you are interpreting as more detail. Then making a Herculean jump to the
wrong conclusion -- that the audibly flat cables are losing detail.

So, even if you could pass the first threshold, proving you can really hear a
difference, you cannot pass the second, proving that it isn't just "
different" -- it is actually more "detailed."

Anyone with a graphic equalizer can bump the high end and make a system
sound more detailed. Does that mean it is losing signal when the high end
isn't bumped? Come on, use some logic.

You cannot quantify detail.

Don't you realize this?

It is just amazing to me how you can talk about Network Analyzers and such,
and then exhibit such scientific naivete.

I also find it rather ironic that some folks here have railed against trying to
"recruit" -- yet you are the one who keeps trying to get my
address so you can send me stuff.

Finally, by your comments, you don't even believe the Nordost cables CREATE
detail, so it seems to me you should concede that cables cannot create detail
and correct the cable enthusiasts.

Just like you should have conceded from the start that you cannot possibly
hear the difference between flat and .1db down at 20Khz.

That one blew up like a joke shop cigar.

But, you're right about one thing -- this isn't the way to get through to me.