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Alright, back to audio again

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15 replies

by oz_media

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A while back we were dicsussing the marketing tactics of BOSE to move what is actually a low end, poorly designed system with really cheap off the shelf components in it. During that time we got on track about high end speakers and cables were mentioned a few times.

So what's with all the hype on Monster cables, "oxygen-free, triple-wrapped double-insulated Sonically Shielded AmpliSized Egyptian Llama cable?"

For such a test, only a blind test can possibly come close to offering the truth, an engineer A>B with identical lengths, sound pressure levels and frequency.
(If people know what they are listening to, they will make themsleves believe hearing all kinds of things to justify spending the money.)

So a consumer's test of cables was needed, a guy got together with some self proclaimed audiophle buddies and put the cables to the test.

Again, exact same lengths and same sound pressure levels at 1000Hz through the same speakers. All reviewers were blindfolded and the engineer worked the switches.

The reviewers, again self proclaimed audiophiles were all stumped and really could not tell a difference between cables used. Through 12 switches the replies were all inconsistent and no single cable sounded better all the time to the listeners.

heres' the lcincher though, the "engineer" conducting the tests had prefabbed a few coat hangers and soldered plugs on them. While swapping out a set of cables, he decided to try the coat hangers. Three people of five thought the coat hangers sounded better than the Monster cable, though that opinion switched also when randomly A>B'd.

Ultimately it does not prove that coat hangers sound better than several hundred dollars worth of Monster cable(I've seen companies try to charge $3000.00 for cables). On that same note it also shows that spending hundreds on Monster cable doesn't mean it will sound any better than a 50 cent coat hanger.

Perhaps the inability to sell expensive cables to most consumers is also the reason why Monster, also tries to sue anyone who uses tha name MONSTER in their product lines.

Got to make that money somewhere!

:D

Just thought it would be good for a chuckle.

15 replies

by charliespencer

Isn't the music being pushed in a digital format? If so, isn't it all 1s and 0s, and it either gets there or it doesn't? I could see this mattering more with analog sound or something being pushed that had a wavelength.

by jdclyde

when it is sent to the speaker?

I thought it was converted back to analog then sent to the speakers.

by jamesrl

So there is the possibility of issues with resistance, interference etc., with cheap speaker wire, but the truth is that they are more theoretical than real.

I've heard some damn fine speakers sound great when using wire stolen from a broken lamp.

It is even less an issue with digital interfaces - those $50 monster HDMI cables are no better than the $9.99 cheapos. Thats where Best buy and the like make bucks, they don't carry the cheap stuff.

James

by the scummy one

Action Computers for most cabling. It is a local shop, and they do have some more expensive stuff there, however the owner will talk you down to a cheaper one in some cases.

by oz_media

Digital audio is strictly a method of encoding.

The playback device reads the digital information and sends the signal to the Amp for preprocessing (adding bass treble etc.) and then it is sent in it's varying electrical voltages through the wires to the speakers, the speakers don't know how to decode digtal information, they simply take input from the amplifier and, depending on the frequency, will pass it through a crossover network which decides what signals (high to low0 get sent to which drivers (bass, midrange or tweeter) to reproduce the sound.

That's it very simplified anyway, hope it helps. Perhaps some of our more technical/exlectrical guys would like to elaborate for you but those are the basics.

by jdclyde

Funny how the gold are pushed as "better", when the only advantage gold has is it doesn't corrode like the copper will.

Copper is the better conductor, right?

by oz_media

correct, the copper is best because of its low resistance.
the key with speakers is resistance, a perfect cable would have no resistance at all, allowing the amplifier to proerly drive the 4, 6 or 8 ohm load.

A copper wire has the least resistance, especially very short lengths. The gold has higher resistance but does not oxidize like copper does, though....oxidation on copper offers realtively low resistance as it is a good conductor. For short runs, I never use banana plugs (shhhhh, I'm not supposed to say that) but for inwall runs with wall plate terminations, I use gold plated banana plugs.

by jdclyde

is there a chart or guide that breaks down the effects of different lengths of cable make?

What is considered "short"?

by seanferd

Did you hear that they were humbled a bit? Their claims are ridiculous from the get-go anyway.

Who the hell could confuse a salt-lick or miniature golf with speaker cable?

by rob mekel

Y'll learn some dutch ;\

Anyway the chart is understandable ... ok lenghts in meters and diameter is also maybe puzzling for you. The throughput in Ω (ohm)(in fact the resistance) is at least the same ;)

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