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In Reply to: How often does an equipment change lead to "dramatic, night and day" sound changes for you? posted by jsm on September 12, 2006 at 18:25:02:
Everything in your system makes a difference. I didn't believ it at first iether. The first big improvement in my system was upgrading to Axiom speakers. Then I made some DIY CAT5 speaker cables. That was as big an improvent as the speakers were. In some ways better because the cables got rid of alot of harshness that was in my stranded copper wire cable. Then I went to tube pre amp and amp. Then better interconnects. Even power cables etc make a difference. The better your equipment gets, the more you hear how everything can influence the sound. If you have a major week link in you system it can cover up alot of the atributes of a system. I think thats why alot of people like the conical stylus of the 103. It glosses over alot of problems they may have in thier system. Just my theory.
Follow Ups:
There must have been something very wrong with your stranded copper wires if you got rid of harshness and a big improvement by going to the CAT5 cables. Stranded copper in itself cannot cause harshness, because hashness is a distortion and requires a significant non-linear effect; copper wire by itself can't do that.I have often wondered how many major upgrades have happened because the previous piece of equipment was faulty.
Do a search in the DIY section on CAT-5. I don't remember where I read the article (I think it was on the TNT audio site) but stranded copper is not good for audio. They think it's because the signal jumps from strand to strand millions of times creating distortion. Also most stranded speaker wire has no protection from EMF. CAT-5 is acually designed for phone lines. It is also used in Data Centers etc. The wires are twisted together which (I don't want to get into an electronics class but) does something to the magnetic field which blocks out EMF. The result is a much much lower noise floor, a sweeter and less harsh sound. It is true. Make a set yourself. You will be amazed and they are cheap to make.
Signal jumping from strand to strand causing distortion? Complete nonsense I'm afraid, one of the great myths of cables. Twisted wires doing something to the magnetic fields blocking EMF. Come on! Do you know how much effect EMF can have on the signals in speaker cables in the vast majority of homes. Forget about it. I have used twisted copper, solid copper in straight form, solid copper in slowly twisted form, and several other types and I have yet to hear any difference. I have used insulated cable, magnet wire, and high-end cable that I once bought because a friend swore it would have a dramatic effect on my system. No effect.I recently considered making some CAT-5 cables, but I found some independent tests that showed that they measured more poorly than what I am using and, it was claimed, did not sound as good as what I was using. However, I enjoy trying new things, I try to keep an open mind (though I won't believe claims that violate the laws of physics), so I will give the CAT-5 cables a try. Maybe they will sound better, but it won't be because they prevent signals from "jumping," simply because signals don't "jump" from strand to strand and become distorted in doing so.
Your response of "I'm afraid not" must be trying to elicit an argument from me. It's a bit rude like you don't value my opinion and think I'm full of it. But I have made the same mistakes myself so I will try no to take it the wrong way. Also I made a mistake in saying EMF. I meat RFI. If you don't believe there a difference than thats on you. Theres a reason twisted pairs are used in phone line and comunication. It's because these low level sognals a very suseptable to interference from radio frequencies and electro magnatism from other electrnic siglals. Like the 60 cycle hum from AC power lines for example. The twisted pairs cancel out the interference. I don't know what cable you are using. But if it is stranded non litz wire and you can't hear the difference between it and CAT-5 then there is something wrong.
The frequencies involved with phone lines and communication are vastly higher than audio frequencies. Everything is different at those frequencies. Also, the signal strengths and cable lengths can be quite different.I am not trying to elicit an argument from you. I am trying to elicit some proof of your claims about strand jumping causing distortion. You made the claim. It's up to you to show me it's true. You made the claim that RFI (I knew what you were talking about) affects signals in speaker cables, audio signals at their powers and low fequencies. Please refer me to some demonstrations of this effect. I's like to learn about it. If it is true, then the vast majority of speaker cable manufacturers, even very high-end ones, don't know what they are doing because nearly all speaker cables have no shielding against RFI. If the self-generated magnetic field in the wire provided the shielding, then that magnetic field must interact with the RFI and respond, which will in turn affect the signal that generated the field to begin with.
Every now and then I make a bad mistake on this subject, and I made one yesterday and am perpetrating it today. I have been teaching university courses in physics for nearly 40 years, and from time to time I reach the "i've had it" stage with what I perceive to be physically indefensible things I read posted here, things that are not consistent with the laws of physics. Normally I shake my head and forget about it. I've found that invariably here's no point in discussing the issue in these circumstances. My mistake was saying anything in response to your post. You feel I've been rude to you, and for that I apologize. I certainly meant no offense.
The underlying physics of wires have been completely understood for more than a century. They are simple. My high-energy physics colleagues down the hall actually design cables from first principles to have performance requirements far more stringent than audio ones. Then they build the cables and they work as designed. It can be a fair amount of work, as differential equations must be solved numerically at some point, but it's not hard.
Having said all of the above, I am not saying that different wires and cables cannot sound different. Of course they can and for very good reasons: they have different measureable parameters. I have found differences in sound between interconnects with high capacitance and low capacitance. So far I have never heard any differences in speaker cables except once: a highly oxidized, stranded copper wire (it was green!) rolled off the highs a bit (about a dB). I have experimented with changing both the inductance and capacitance of (DIY) speaker cables, but so far none of these changes resulted in a sound change. I am presently using DIY solid copper magnet wire for my speaker cables, as I read some superb reviews of a commercial version of these. I can't say I hear any difference between them and the stranded copper hardware store wire I used before, which disappointed me.
We've beat this to death. I will endeavor to keep my mouth shut on this and related topics from now on. I will continue to keep an open mind for learning new things, believe it or not, as my experiments with cables demonstrates. CAT-5s next!
Stranded cable is basically less prone to breaking. It has air between the filiments of wire. Surface area of the tiny wires compared to the core area is extremely high.Audioquest has the same copper material in their type 4 and type 6 solid core wires as the copper in their stranded speaker cable. So the source and purity of the copper are equal.
The solid core stuff just sound much tighter and more powerful in the bass and has much less smearing and softening of inner details. It is cleaner and clearer. It has significantly more core area and much reduced surface area.
So don't worry about how Cat 5 measures. It is dirt cheap. Give it a try and see how it plays!
I love my biwired type 6 Audioquest wire. Simply awesome sound across the sound spectrum.
if I find it sounds better, then I'll worry about why. Undertanding why might lead to an even better cable! Incidentally, I am using solid core wire of very high copper purity (it came with mil-specs), and I hear no difference between it and my previous stranded wire. They both sound superbly clean and detailed. But on to CAT 5! I can't resist an experiment, especially if it's cheap to do.
It is a great spare cartridge at 250 dollars retail but gets none of the detail or dynamics of my Grado Ref Master. This Grado is one superb sounding cartridge when you carefully match it to the appropriate tonearm.Perhaps the conical might soften an overly bright or etchy solid state system.... Your point is well considered.
You like the grado that much? I tried a Sonata briefly and thought it sounded a bit slow and a bit noisy. The ref mast is the top of the line but it's still a moving iron right? How much did it cost you?
The guys child had ripped out the stylus, he sent it back as a retip. Sold it to me for what he paid Grado.Sure did take a long time to break in the bastard.
Shoot me your address to jim_howard_pdx@yahoo.com and I will mail you a comparison CD of the Grado vs the DL103R so you can hear them first hand.
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