audioengr
Responses from audioengr
| Are silver coated cables a bunch of hype? I use silver-plated copper in my speaker wires because they are uninsulated and I dont want copper oxides on the surface of the conductors. Does not seem to impart any undesirable sounds. | |
| Why do digital cables sound different? Actually the SPDIF signal is digital, not dual-phase sinewaves. It appears more like a "trapezoidal" wave, which is a square-wave with controlled slew-rate rising and falling edges. This is to minimize radiated emissions for FCC regulations. The s... | |
| Interconnect length Capacitance is what you want to minimize in IC's. Going to .5m lengths will cut this approx. in half (connectors cause quite a lot of cap). Definitely recommended if you can do it. I have done a lot of simulations and listening tests and cap is th... | |
| XLR vs RCA Balanced connections have two signals, a positive and a negative signal, which are inverted versions of each other. They carry the signal currents. At the destination, these are subtracted from each other to create the signal. Any noise that is th... | |
| Power Conditioning done by IC's & Speaker Cables Stehno - I do believe that more organized, relaxed crystal structure can reduce sibilance. I actually just started offering a cable I call the "Perfect Crystal" (marketing talk), which eliminates most of the smll sibilance that my "standard" cable... | |
| Biwire Cables: Two Seperate Runs or Single Run I performed some simulations of this and have the results posted on my website at the Audio FAQ page of:http://www.empiricalaudio.com | |
| Power Conditioning done by IC's & Speaker Cables TWL - I believe that the reason that you like the Bybee filters is because they eliminate some of the sibilants caused by wire in your IC's and speaker cables that has jumbled crystal lattice. If you replaced this with wire that has organized crys... | |
| Power Block/Custom power cord-Any difference? After-market power cords have two primary advantages IME:1) lower inductance than the stock cord2) filtering on the ground and possibly the current-carrying conductors (not as desirable)Here is a detailed explanation as to why a low-inductance cor... | |
| Power Conditioning done by IC's & Speaker Cables Sean wrote:As such, i would rather have a power cord do as much filtering as possible than to have to go through current limiting devices that eat up more rack or floor space.If I understand you right, I think we may differ on this one. I relegate... | |
| Power Conditioning done by IC's & Speaker Cables Any filtering that you are getting in a power cord or conditioner will have an effect on the dynamics or the noise (common-mode). Filtering in IC's or speaker cables directly filter (roll-off) the signal high-frequencies. This is not the same type... | |
| Why is my composite so bad? Pixelation sounds like higher resolution to me. If you can see the individual pixels, then the new cable is probably higher-bandwidth. If the pixels are getting smeared together, this is a low-bandwidth cable. | |
| Cable directionality Stehno wrote:would I need a ground? I know I should always have a ground but I am not using one right now. But all's I need for 230 volts is two 115v lines from opposing phases?No, the ground is strictly for safety. It is not needed in the circuit... | |
| Power Conditioning, Regeneration and Cords Plug your amps directly into the wall with a low-inductance cord. This will make a big difference in most cases. I have rescued many a customer system by simply doing this. If your area has lightning problems, get a lightning arrestor. Dont use th... | |
| Regarding a review in the Aug '02 Stereophile... Phild - like all components in electronics, if you want to get the last 5% of performance out of cables, you have to resort to exotic materials and constructions. This is expensive no matter how you spin it. Low volume, high-cost = expensive. The ... | |
| Sheilded/Unsheilded Power Cords Sean - do you want to be in the cable business??Here are the requirements:1) be independently wealthy, because you will not make any money2) be neurotic about audio and audio components3) some engineering background4) really good ears.... |