Cables Part 3
03-28-2004, 10:19 AM
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
Wow, those are some huge cables, you'd have to run some conduit under the car if you ever wanted to use them permanently... [img]tongue.gif[/img]
What exactly is the Bag End processor? I'm not up on my home audio gear unfortunately.
What company did your dad build speakers for?
Cool stuff. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]
What exactly is the Bag End processor? I'm not up on my home audio gear unfortunately.
What company did your dad build speakers for?
Cool stuff. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]
03-28-2004, 07:34 PM
#14
This is taken from the Absolute Sound's latest issue. They added the Home Depot wire for humour sake but it did rather well. This is just for point of interest, I think wire is very important (especially interconnects as they have to transmit "low level" signals from source to amplifier).
Home Depot HD-14G
est. $30 per 50-foot pair with terminations
Okay, the model designation is my own invention, standing for H (Home) D (Depot) 14G(auge) outdoor extension cord. Otherwise, this entry is no joke. Like several other cables, it comes in a decorative jacket, here of striking orange and black, evocative of Halloween; unlike the others, you must snip off its AC connectors and attach terminations of choice (I used Pomona bananas). The HD-14G rendered Murray Perahia’s piano in a big bold manner, lacking just a little in finesse and ultimate transparency. It threw an image on Jacintha’s “Something’s Gotta Give” with the best—one note reads, “some of the best depth of any cable”—with tuneful bass, notably good height, and a quite lifelike projection. On the Rachmaninoff, it didn’t sound as “fast,” transparent, controlled, or defined in the bass as the better cables, but it wasn’t far behind them either, and it was always highly listenable and involving, with a big-boned, robust presentation that flattered the Appalachian Spring sonics. As for detail, well, it allowed me to hear every piano chord that bleeds through Jacintha’s headphones at the beginning of “Danny Boy” (Autumn Leaves); more detail than that you don’t need.
I’ll leave the last observation to the most technically knowledgeable, musically literate, and experienced of my listening group: “You know what’s really good about this cable? It sounds totally unscrewed around with.” If its half-inch thickness isn’t macho enough, Home Depot also sells a 12-gauge for half again that sum, and a 10-gauge for about twice the price, both in less attractive yellow-and-black jackets. If you still think I’m kidding, know that Tony Faulkner—engineer of about a third of the best-sounding orchestral recordings of the last twenty years—used the Black-and-Decker equivalent to hook up his Quad 989s at the recent Heathrow Show in England—“They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me”—and that the designer of what is by provable standards one of the half dozen or so most accurate loudspeakers ever made uses and recommends it all the time.
Home Depot HD-14G
est. $30 per 50-foot pair with terminations
Okay, the model designation is my own invention, standing for H (Home) D (Depot) 14G(auge) outdoor extension cord. Otherwise, this entry is no joke. Like several other cables, it comes in a decorative jacket, here of striking orange and black, evocative of Halloween; unlike the others, you must snip off its AC connectors and attach terminations of choice (I used Pomona bananas). The HD-14G rendered Murray Perahia’s piano in a big bold manner, lacking just a little in finesse and ultimate transparency. It threw an image on Jacintha’s “Something’s Gotta Give” with the best—one note reads, “some of the best depth of any cable”—with tuneful bass, notably good height, and a quite lifelike projection. On the Rachmaninoff, it didn’t sound as “fast,” transparent, controlled, or defined in the bass as the better cables, but it wasn’t far behind them either, and it was always highly listenable and involving, with a big-boned, robust presentation that flattered the Appalachian Spring sonics. As for detail, well, it allowed me to hear every piano chord that bleeds through Jacintha’s headphones at the beginning of “Danny Boy” (Autumn Leaves); more detail than that you don’t need.
I’ll leave the last observation to the most technically knowledgeable, musically literate, and experienced of my listening group: “You know what’s really good about this cable? It sounds totally unscrewed around with.” If its half-inch thickness isn’t macho enough, Home Depot also sells a 12-gauge for half again that sum, and a 10-gauge for about twice the price, both in less attractive yellow-and-black jackets. If you still think I’m kidding, know that Tony Faulkner—engineer of about a third of the best-sounding orchestral recordings of the last twenty years—used the Black-and-Decker equivalent to hook up his Quad 989s at the recent Heathrow Show in England—“They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me”—and that the designer of what is by provable standards one of the half dozen or so most accurate loudspeakers ever made uses and recommends it all the time.
03-30-2004, 05:24 PM
#16
0 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 23
Just for the record when I was evaluating high end cables (several years ago) costing zillions (like some Adam was using) I threw a 2 m chunk of standard 14 ga house wire in the test and was amazed at how good it was.
Try it Adam.
dad
Try it Adam.
dad
03-30-2004, 08:45 PM
#19
Originally posted by frank hale:
Just for the record when I was evaluating high end cables (several years ago) costing zillions (like some Adam was using) I threw a 2 m chunk of standard 14 ga house wire in the test and was amazed at how good it was.
Try it Adam.
dad
Just for the record when I was evaluating high end cables (several years ago) costing zillions (like some Adam was using) I threw a 2 m chunk of standard 14 ga house wire in the test and was amazed at how good it was.
Try it Adam.
dad
03-30-2004, 09:12 PM
#20
0 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 23
When I was building speakers I use to invite the guys in my woodworking shop up to to my lab to listen to the difference between cables and even they could. We could hear differences in 4 ft samples. These guys were definately not audiophiles. Techincally I never did understand why there were differences but there was a general agreement amongst all that there was. The secret is to have top quality equipment through the signal chain. Then the differences are much easier to hear.
If you want to hear something freekier take a bulk tape demagnatizer and waive it over 5 old music CDs. I guarantee you will hear an improvement in at least 3 of them when played back on a good system. Go figure??
If you want to hear something freekier take a bulk tape demagnatizer and waive it over 5 old music CDs. I guarantee you will hear an improvement in at least 3 of them when played back on a good system. Go figure??
