www.aes.org/sections/pnw
Currently, the potential for confusion about wire in the audio realm is manifold. We see powerful advertising campaigns playing on mystery, according to some claiming that oxygen, that necessary element for life, somehow sucks all the life out of our audio. We will try to gauge the meaning intended by the conductors of this seemingly electric dialog, and help sort out the impedance that the layperson feels when confronted with this bipolar-seeming wave of information, and therefore conduct ourselves in a way to lessen the resistance to actual physics. We admit that sometimes we need to insulate ourselves in this regard by calling the coppers, and get the facts on the cable, in order to avoid short-circuiting via our own imaginations. A parallel to the series of claims from some wire manufacturers would seem similar to homeopathy.
•What is resistance, how does it relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•What is capacitance, how does it relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•What is inductance, how does it relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•What are articulation poles, how do they relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•How do the differences in wires and cables compare to the effects of moving speakers a foot in a room?
•How do the differences in wires and cables compare to the effects of acoustic treatments in a room?
One of those is a ringer. Do you know which one?
While there are differences in construction quality, distributed capacitance and shielding between bargain priced cables and those costing a bit more, at what point are diminishing returns on the investment reached? Depending on the application, there is probably a range.
Shielded star-quad cables are definitely appreciated by live sound recording engineers running microphone levels signals around megawatt lighting dimmer packs and worth the extra expense. The home theater enthusiast might not notice any significant difference between competently constructed unbalanced one meter interconnects and the extra effort necessary to deploy balanced shielded twisted pair interconnects or other, more exotic approaches.
Is there really a difference? Isn't cable just a special configuration of two or more wires? If there is a difference, can you actually hear it? Join us on Monday evening at 7:30pm and find out. Bring your questions.
The Letter
Besides making Really Good Cables, Kurt Denke earned his 15 minutes of Internet fame when the lawyers at a certain esoteric cable company tried to get him to roll over and play dead by accusing him of patent infringement. It seems they have a design patent on an RCA plug that they felt was infringed upon by a connector used by Blue Jeans Cables.
Error! What they didn't know is that Kurt is a recovering lawyer who as a part of the recovery process got into the business of making decent cables. You can read The Letter, and Kurt's reply to it, HERE. The other thing they didn't know was that rolling over for them is not part of Kurt's API.
Aside from pulling their chain, Kurt simply believes that good cables consist of decent cable attached to decent connectors. No pseudoscience, no smoke and mirrors, no vestal virgins, and no BS. These are sound enough business principles to build a company around.
Our Presenters
Steve Lampen has worked for Belden for twenty years and is currently Multimedia Technology Manager and also Product Line Manager for Entertainment Products. Prior to Belden, Steve had an extensive career in radio broadcast engineering and installation, film production, and electronic distribution. Steve holds an FCC Lifetime General License (formerly a First Class FCC License) and is an SBE Certified Broadcast Radio Engineer. On the data side he is a BICSI Registered Communication Distribution Designer. His latest book, "The Audio-Video Cable Installer’s Pocket Guide" is published by McGraw-Hill. His column "Wired for Sound" appears in Radio World Magazine.
Kurt Denke is a recovering lawyer who is now the owner of Blue Jeans Cable, an internet-based video and audio cable assembly company catering primarily to the consumer home theater market but also producing assemblies for commercial and industrial users. He earned his fifteen minutes of Internet fame by making the intellectual property lawyers at a certain esoteric cable company look like fools, which, he admits, is not very hard to do.
AES PNW Section
March Meeting Notice
Cables: Fact, Fiction and Fraud
The Horrible Truth About Wire & Cable
Presented by Steve Lampen
Multimedia Technology Manager, Belden
AND
Kurt Denke
Owner, Blue Jeans Cable
7:30pm, Monday, March 7, 2011
Shoreline Community College
Room 818
Shoreline, WA 98177
Wire we having this meeting? March Meeting Notice
Cables: Fact, Fiction and Fraud
The Horrible Truth About Wire & Cable
Presented by Steve Lampen
Multimedia Technology Manager, Belden
AND
Kurt Denke
Owner, Blue Jeans Cable
7:30pm, Monday, March 7, 2011
Shoreline Community College
Room 818
Shoreline, WA 98177
Currently, the potential for confusion about wire in the audio realm is manifold. We see powerful advertising campaigns playing on mystery, according to some claiming that oxygen, that necessary element for life, somehow sucks all the life out of our audio. We will try to gauge the meaning intended by the conductors of this seemingly electric dialog, and help sort out the impedance that the layperson feels when confronted with this bipolar-seeming wave of information, and therefore conduct ourselves in a way to lessen the resistance to actual physics. We admit that sometimes we need to insulate ourselves in this regard by calling the coppers, and get the facts on the cable, in order to avoid short-circuiting via our own imaginations. A parallel to the series of claims from some wire manufacturers would seem similar to homeopathy.
•What is resistance, how does it relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•What is capacitance, how does it relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•What is inductance, how does it relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•What are articulation poles, how do they relate to interconnects and speaker wire, and why should I care?
•How do the differences in wires and cables compare to the effects of moving speakers a foot in a room?
•How do the differences in wires and cables compare to the effects of acoustic treatments in a room?
One of those is a ringer. Do you know which one?
While there are differences in construction quality, distributed capacitance and shielding between bargain priced cables and those costing a bit more, at what point are diminishing returns on the investment reached? Depending on the application, there is probably a range.
Shielded star-quad cables are definitely appreciated by live sound recording engineers running microphone levels signals around megawatt lighting dimmer packs and worth the extra expense. The home theater enthusiast might not notice any significant difference between competently constructed unbalanced one meter interconnects and the extra effort necessary to deploy balanced shielded twisted pair interconnects or other, more exotic approaches.
Is there really a difference? Isn't cable just a special configuration of two or more wires? If there is a difference, can you actually hear it? Join us on Monday evening at 7:30pm and find out. Bring your questions.
The Letter
Besides making Really Good Cables, Kurt Denke earned his 15 minutes of Internet fame when the lawyers at a certain esoteric cable company tried to get him to roll over and play dead by accusing him of patent infringement. It seems they have a design patent on an RCA plug that they felt was infringed upon by a connector used by Blue Jeans Cables.
Error! What they didn't know is that Kurt is a recovering lawyer who as a part of the recovery process got into the business of making decent cables. You can read The Letter, and Kurt's reply to it, HERE. The other thing they didn't know was that rolling over for them is not part of Kurt's API.
Aside from pulling their chain, Kurt simply believes that good cables consist of decent cable attached to decent connectors. No pseudoscience, no smoke and mirrors, no vestal virgins, and no BS. These are sound enough business principles to build a company around.
Our Presenters
Steve Lampen has worked for Belden for twenty years and is currently Multimedia Technology Manager and also Product Line Manager for Entertainment Products. Prior to Belden, Steve had an extensive career in radio broadcast engineering and installation, film production, and electronic distribution. Steve holds an FCC Lifetime General License (formerly a First Class FCC License) and is an SBE Certified Broadcast Radio Engineer. On the data side he is a BICSI Registered Communication Distribution Designer. His latest book, "The Audio-Video Cable Installer’s Pocket Guide" is published by McGraw-Hill. His column "Wired for Sound" appears in Radio World Magazine.
Kurt Denke is a recovering lawyer who is now the owner of Blue Jeans Cable, an internet-based video and audio cable assembly company catering primarily to the consumer home theater market but also producing assemblies for commercial and industrial users. He earned his fifteen minutes of Internet fame by making the intellectual property lawyers at a certain esoteric cable company look like fools, which, he admits, is not very hard to do.
