Since Arthur's questions have been throughly answered and
he has chosen a cord that fits his needs I don't feel that
the paragraphs I am about to type are thread farting but
more so, a calm discussion and that is what these forums are
about.
Brian,
I completely agree with your post. It's not my place to
dictate to you or anyone what amount to spend on cabling.
If you are comfortable with purchasing a $300.00 or even
a $900.00 power cord then that is your decision to make.
But what I do take a stance against is when someone else
recommends a cable to someone else because it will "make
your system sound better" that's a bet that most person's
wallet's can not back up.
How do we know that the cable said person recommends will
have an audible impact on another listeners system? In my
opinion this is very misleading if not bordering on very
bad advice. Now if you say to that person to buy said cable
purely for it's superior construction qualities then I do
not take offence to such a recommendation at all.
The human brain is an interesting piece of tissue. It can
be convinced by 2nd parties to hear things that may not
exist. And likewise it can also be convinced to not hear
something that does exist. What we percieve and what is
measureable are two completely different things in most
cases.
I take the side of science when it comes to cabling not due
to cost but due to performance and value. Here is my example
of why I take the stance that I do. There are people among
us that have gone to school for years to learn the art of
Electrical Engineering and what impact every single device
has on a circuit or on the flow of electrons through that
circuit. Who am I to stand in the fact of all that we know
as proven fact and say "Nope sorry that's not right, I can
hear something even though proof says otherwise."
Example:
Take 2 power cords one from company X and one from company
Y. Both cables are made out of the same spec 10 guage oxygen
free copper with the same 325 strand count and both are made
with a 12 twist per inch CNMR setup. Both cables are the
same length and both terminate in the same connections.
If both cables have the same measured amount of Capacitance,
Inductance and Skin Effect and the same amount of CNMR then
how can there be any difference between the two cables? What
inside the cable would cause such a change? Now say one of
those cables is a JPS Captivator and the other is just a
piece of 10/3 from Home Depot, both terminated in WattGate
Connectors of the same series then what is the difference?
With the JPS Labs cable you are paying for very nice build
quality, professional termination and very exotic packaging.
With the H-D cable you are paying for raw materials and
your own labor is supplied and instead of packaging you get
savings.
Could you bring me, a complete stranger into your own audio
room and with all levels the same, on the same media switch
those power cables and have me hear the difference under a
blindfold condition? And even then, maybe I have convinced
myself so much that there is no difference that I would not
hear one even if there was? (Makes ya think, doesn't it?)
Like I said above I do agree with you. Spending whatever you
are comfortable with on good cables is fine. If you want to
buy the most esoteric of audio cables I have no issues with
that at all. What I am getting at is to do it for the right
reasons.
Cable companies spend lots of time making thier cables very
high quality and there is no doubt that a $300.00 cable is
better constructed than the 14awg zip cord provided with
most equipment. Notice I said better constructed but I did
not say better performing. Because without a spectrometer
checking both cables, I am not so sure there would be a
measureable difference.
Cheers!
(Now wasn't that a nice refreshing debate?)
