Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

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RE: Please describe

Posted by tomservo on June 19, 2010 at 06:58:17:
“your control process that supports your assumption that the switch box has zero crosstalk which would affect the results.”
Like I said one can measure what effect the switcher has / examine it via measurement. At low impedance's like speaker cables, cross talk is essentially non-existent (too small to hear / measure).

“Frank Van Alstine has already done that and determined that you are indeed comparing all cables to all cables. Once again, what is your control?”
Not sure how he would have gotten credit for such an old idea but the strength of it is you are comparing one item to another without knowing which is which.

When as happened often that people went from “hearing it clearly” to not at all when the only change was the indicators working or not, that strongly suggests they were all lying to begin with (golden ear confidence) or what they heard was not connected to the airborne / audible part of the experience.
Without having tried this, I am not sure how certain you can be that it isn’t a real effect, as it applies to all other areas of sensory input testing including hearing tests..

You ask several times what is your control? It sounds like you might be familiar with scientific testing yet in informal subjective listening cable proponent’s use, none whatsoever exists.

How did you accomplish “An entirely without using untested devices never used in normal listening which are merely presumed to have no effect.” and still be able to compare A vs B rapidly and without any prior knowledge as is required?
At the very crudest level of testing one can have a person switch back and forth but as in other testing, there is a strong possibility of the case being telegraphed, hence electronic switching with relays.
If you are concerned that the switch is audible, go back and forth having someone else manually switch the cables to bypass / remove it and see.

Remember the basis of a part of hifi marketing is the same as many other commercial products, they don't always have to work to have a devoted following.
If this wasn't the case, we wouldn't have magic knobs, magic stones and myriad of other subjective only products to separate a person from his coins. Testing without prior knowledge is one of the only ways to tell if the effect is internal or external to your eardrums, weather or not your its your ears or brain that "hears" something.
The first step is to acknowledge how your brain / ears work together.