Poll: How many believe cables can sound different? (1 Viewer)

[RicP]

I "believe" that audio interconnects sound the "SAME"! I am willing to take a blind test and put my ego on the line

Of course a blind test will do absolutely nothing to diminish that opinion. It is impossible for you to "prove" that you do not hear any differences. Taking a blind test to show that you "don't" hear any difference is an exercise in extreme futility.
Lee,
You know where I stand on this matter.
Here are some quotes that I find insightful...
"It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it."
-Jacob Chanowski
"No one has the right to destroy another person's belief by demanding empirical evidence."
-Ann Landers
"People only see what they are prepared to see."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination."
-John Dewey, The Quest for Certainty
"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
-Oscar Wilde
And my favorite...
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke

 

[Ted Lee]

in my informal and somewhat unscientific tests, decent cabling (rat-shack) made a difference from the skinny stuff, but buying the more expensive stuff (monster) yielded no further improvement.

so, in a word....yes.

 

[Tan_N]

Thanks RciP,

you've just supported my belief that only a Believer's can prove anything.. and if a test is to be taken, only a Believer can take it. The Burden of Proof lies with the Believer and it is in the best interest of the Believer to prove it.

 

[Phil A]

Hundreds of years ago people believed the world was flat, even after hundreds of years of the Vikings and even after Columbus. So if someone wants to believe one thing or the other that is fine with me. Perhaps in 20 years when we have artificial ears that can be made, meaningful measurements can be developed to settle this.

 

[Frank_S]

ROFLMAO at Chu's response. What in God's name has that got to do with the original thread. Although you said it in jest, it just proves that the skeptics have to get there licks in any way they can. Your contribution has inspired me to go back to 10th grade science class notes and re-read all Carl Sagan quotations. BTW, the world is round, is'nt it? or do we all need to take space shuttle rides to prove that(since none of us have actually seen the planet from outer space).

 

[Brian_C]

Lee, I didn't realize you were asking for non-believers as well, because your first post inferred only believers should post.

I don't believe audio interconnects of reasonable length (3') will make a difference.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I definitely believe they (both interconnects and speaker cables) can make a difference in the sound. If I didn't, I'd be running all the megacheap cables that came with my components and Recoton 18G speaker cables.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Brian_C,
Most curious post...
You said that my first post inferred that non-believers were excluded. Why? I was trying to conduct a poll to determine what the split was amongst all HTFers.
I would have thought the Thread title with the word "Poll" would have indicated there would be two or more choices...The yes/no question that follows was also expected to prompt both for and against.
By the way, where do you stand on speaker cable differences? I want to keep my vote totals up to date.

Lee

 

[Chu Gai]

they can sound different Lee as the test performed by Stereo Review in the early 90's indicated. Now the question is, if we take the perenniel favorite 12 gauge copper and compare it to something else, both of similar lengths, will they sound different.

And Frank_S, when you go back to reread those notes, take note that the early greeks were able to determine not only that the world was round but fairly accurately estimate its circumference using sticks and shadows. What can one say about the Church that used beliefs to foster a geocentric solar system? They were wrong.

Good quotes RicP...i may yet use them with the exception of Landers' one. I think she was talking about religion, no?

 

[Brian_C]

Just the tone of the question.

I believe cables of equal gauge and length will sound the same.

I hate to tell you this, but the results of your poll will be horribly skewed. You posted this in the Cables/Connections forum which is populated by mostly believers. For a more accurate response, it should be posted in a neutral section.

 

[DaleR]

It doesn't matter wether cables can make a difference or not. In a subjective experience such as listening what you perceive IS the reality.

 

[Frank Zimmerman]

Dale,
I agree with you as well.. Within my budget, and everyones is different, my cables sound great (They look good too Meooooooow).

 

[Jim A. Banville]

my cables sound great

Isn't that like saying the plumbing in your house tastes great? You listen to music, dialog and sound effects, not cables, right?

 

[ColinM]

Flame?

 

[RicP]

Isn't that like saying the plumbing in your house tastes great? You listen to music, dialog and sound effects, not cables, right?

When you drink the water from your tap, the plumbing affects the taste...yes or no? You're drinking the water, not the copper pipes, right? You may extrapolate from there.

 

[Mark Starratt]

I believe that, to a certain extent, that quality cables do make a difference. When I made the leap to DVD, the first upgrade I did to my sound system, was to replace my speaker wire runs with some flat wire. While it wasn't the top of the line, it sure made a difference. Considering the crap (and splicing)that was there before, it was one of the best things I could have done. I have since made many upgrades to my system, but that was one of the weakest links. If someone now came up to me with wire that was top quality and said it was free, I'd be hard pressed to spending the time it would take to route it all.

 

[Jeffrey_S]

I believe that cables can make a difference. I was using an Audioquest speaker cable for my center and mains. My center (Klipsch C7) wasn't sounding the way I thought it should. I laboriously made a diy Chris VH Cat5 braided cable to replace the cable I was currently using. I couldn't believe the difference in the sound. Now, I guess it could be argued that my connections were tarnished or not solid prior to the cable change. The change was so dramatic, however, that I since have made two 15 foot biwired braded Cat5 cables for my mains. Talk about a major effort and sore hands. The braiding was very labor intensive but I feel the result was worth it.

 

[Jim A. Banville]

When you drink the water from your tap, the plumbing affects the taste...yes or no?

This sounds like the high-end power cable debate After traveling for miles in copper pipes, the less-than-100-ft. of copper pipes in my homes plumbing supply couldn't add to much to the flavor of the water that wasn't already there, if anything at all. If it were adding anything, it would be gone once the supply of water setting in the house pipes had been flushed through by in-coming "fresh" water. Do high-end interconnects lose their characteristic "sound" after a minute or two?
Cletus: "Hey BillyBob! Check-out them thar new $100 power cords I dun added to my home theater. After miles and miles of travelin' in them thar power lines from the light company, this 6 ft. of waterhose sized power cord is supposed to make my 'lectricty better! What cha' think?"
BillyBob: "Galdarnit Cletus. Why didn't cha' just pull that 'lectricity cable out tha' wall and hook it straight to your stereo? You wouldn't even need ANY power cables then!"
Cletus: "Shut up man! You're a hurtin' my brain!"

 

[RicP]

Cletus: "Hey BillyBob! Check-out them thar new $100 power cords I dun added to my home theater. After miles and miles of travelin' in them thar power lines from the light company, this 6 ft. of waterhose sized power cord is supposed to make my 'lectricty better! What cha' think?"
BillyBob: "Galdarnit Cletus. Why didn't cha' just pull that 'lectricity cable out tha' wall and hook it straight to your stereo? You wouldn't even need ANY power cables then!"
Cletus: "Shut up man! You're a hurtin' my brain!"

Is this how people speak down there in Georgia? I'm not sure what point you were actually trying to make, but there wasn't one.
Incidentally, many people in fact do "direct wire" components from the house mains. This is a fairly common practice with high end amplifiers on their own dedicated circuit. But you'd be too busy attempting poor humor to realize that then wouldn't you?

 

[Jim A. Banville]

Incidentally, many people in fact do "direct wire" components from the house mains. This is a fairly common practice with high end amplifiers

Wow! People actually have the wiring in their walls extending out of the walls and attaching directly to the power supply inputs on the equipment? Barnum was RIGHT!