|   Sensitivity practice | new member
Jul 12, 2002 4:31 AM | | I believe that with a little practice each day one could get better at noticing the differences between cables.
BTW, where has Eyespy been?
new member |
| re: Sensitivity practice | FLZapped
Jul 12, 2002 4:41 AM | | Hey yeah, whaddya know, my old ones were brown and my current ones are black....wow.....thanks...
Good question about eyespy, it's been quite a while.
-Bruce |
| re: Sensitivity practice | wanderingbob
Jul 12, 2002 8:23 AM | | It's interesting to me how interconnects and speaker cables seem to bear the brunt of skepticism about costly system tweaks.
Audio fidelity, like most technologically based endeavors, is a situation with diminishing returns. When you have a terrible audio system (say a $50 Wal-Mart "boom-box") you don't have to spend much to improve your sound. When you have a $500 mid-fi system (say a Sony receiver and speakers from Best Buy...no offense, my daughter has a system exactly like this), you have to spend a little more to improve your sound. When you have a high-quality audio system, say Krell electronics and Magnepan speakers, you might have to spend thousands of dollars to achieve an audible improvement in the accuracy of reproducing music.
Interconnects and speaker cables are no exception to this rule. Yes, cables that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars are unreasonably expensive to the average person, and the difference is likely to be audible only on high-end systems that are equally expensive, and then only on well-recorded material in an optimum listening room. But there are entire lines of pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, CD players, etc. that are equally expensive in proportion.
Maybe it's because most audio enthusiasts think of pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, and CD players as "major components" of an audio system and cables as "minor components." A thousand dollar interconnect is no more unreasonable than, say, a twenty thousand dollar ampifier [and yes, if I had enough disposable income, I would buy a twenty thousand dollar amplifier ;-) ].
Bob Gardner
wanderingbob@yahoo.com |
| A point I try to make... | MonstrousMike
Jul 12, 2002 12:09 PM | | Having been an electronics engineer in the navy for 21 years, I have come across all sorts of exotic military cabling. The most expensive I have seen is one for US$250 for a 1 meter length. This was a custom made cable connecting two fairly significant computers on board a destroyer. It had very large mil-standard connectors, excessive shielding and carried about 35 twisted pair wires inside. Yes, they were control signals and not audio signals.
Nonetheless, if somepays more that this for a digital audio cable or a speaker wire set of equal length, well you get the gist. |
| A point I try to make... | sam9
Jul 12, 2002 3:19 PM | | I used to work for a defence contractor that made electronics for the Aegis cuisers. The vibration and shock (mechanical not electrical) specs were pretty extreme and had a lot to do with the overall cost. We were shown a video of one of the early sea tests where a raft of explosives was set off as close to ship as possible without running the risk of structural damage. The lights went out totally but our equipment was amoung the few electronic things that still worked when they got the power back on. Needless to say most of the gear went back to the contractors to further hardening.
A few years later during the Gulf War, the Princeton hit a mine which nearly broke the keel. After we heard there were no fatalities, the first thing we wanted to know from our Navy contacts was if the electronic sysytems continued to function. They did. Then DoD spends $250/meter for cable at least they get something for the money. |
| re: Sensitivity practice | mtrycrafts
Jul 12, 2002 9:16 PM | | b and the difference is likely to be audible only on high-end systems that are equally expensive,
Likely? I'd like to be sure backed up by credible evidence, not speculations.
b But there are entire lines of pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, CD players, etc. that are equally expensive in proportion.
Yes, and the evidence is not there for them either. |
| re: Sensitivity practice | sam9
Jul 13, 2002 11:53 AM | | " ' But there are entire lines of pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, CD players, etc. that are equally expensive in proportion. ' "
'Yes, and the evidence is not there for them either.'
At least with some of the monster amps you get something you can see and lift for the extra money. Transformers, heatsinks and elaborately machined enclosures are the big ticket items in these. Especially in the case of monoblocks or multichannel units with one transformer per channel. Some of the look quite nice - you are almost paying for sculpture. Anyone with any sense of decor hides cables no matter how much they cost.
How much of the cost relates to the sound is another mater, of course. |
| re: Sensitivity practice | mtrycrafts
Jul 13, 2002 9:59 PM | | b At least with some of the monster amps you get something you can see and lift for the extra money.
Yes, that is an excellent reason to buy one :)
b How much of the cost relates to the sound is another mater, of course.
Of course :) |
| re: Sensitivity practice | MonstrousMike
Jul 12, 2002 12:18 PM | | How do you test your hearing sensitivity? |
| re: Sensitivity practice | A
Jul 12, 2002 12:25 PM | | As with all learning experiences, to see if one has been successful, it is good to be tested. In this case, a double blind test is in order. Until someone passes the exam, no one will have any reason to believe that someone can hear a difference.
See:
<a href="/crforum?14@@.ef875dd">A "Explanation of Double Blind Test" 3/30/02 2:46pm</a>
A "Wire links." 7/10/02 9:30am |
| re: Sensitivity practice | mtrycrafts
Jul 12, 2002 9:18 PM | | b I believe that with a little practice each day one could get better at noticing the differences between cables.
Yes, one can believe this, or any number of other things, real or not. |
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