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Opening a can of worms

Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
gillatgh
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
I agree with the OP. His observations match my own and fall in line with what measurements might lead you to expect. Anybody interested in a well reasoned and measurement-backed analysis of cables and their potential contributions or detractions should read the article Nelson Pass wrote on the subject at passdiy.com.

And by all means, laugh at Geoff. This guy tapes rocks to his cables. 
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
Correct, with some speakers (cones) there are audible differences in cables, because they change the complex impedance that the driver "sees."

One could call the difference minute - it is certainly not as large as using a different speaker.

And, there is no reason whatsoever to waste a lot of $$ on expensive cables - just keep swapping them at a cable rental place until happy (or until worn out, if you are the type of audiophool who is never happy).

The use the $$ you saved to build a new listening room, constructed for the very best SQ.

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
Looks like the transparent ultra cables have a black box which probably houses a filter.

If you add a filter then it likely will sound different and audibly so in many cases.

This is normal. This is what filters do. Of course at no cost you could use a tone control too but whatever floats your boat. 
roberjerman
2,086 posts
 
It would be great to live in a world where changing a piece of wire brought about an improvement in sound quality! Alas...
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
Go check out the nutjobs who think they can hear a fuse that's separated from the signal by a transformer, a pile of caps and resistors, and a couple feet of wire and circuit board traces! Those guys swear they hear stark differences. One guy said a fuse is almost impossible to listen to at a certain point of burning in! 
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