Are High-End Cables a Scam?

[Orb]

thread...
this evening...
in one sitting...
while listening to Queen...
I'm glad I bought this CD

Petshop Boys - PopArt works great as well
If Queen fan might like the PopArt hits collection, IMO best Petshop Boys hits collection album.

Cheers
Orb

 

[c1ferrari]

Thanks, Orb...

Petshop Boys - PopArt works great as well
If Queen fan might like the PopArt hits collection, IMO best Petshop Boys hits collection album.

Cheers
Orb

I'll check it out. My spouse and I had some unused Border's gift cards, so we thought to use them before they were no longer negotiable

Just received Bonnie Raitt, Best of...Capitol, '89-'03; Blood, Sweat & Tears, You've Made Me So Very Happy; and Queen, Greatest Hits I & II. I'm only now appreciating these great artists

 

[rsbeck]

I'll give you guys just 22 more pages of posts -- then -- I want a definite answer.

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

As is often the case, the test conditions are not described in detail. Were the rooms treated to prevent comb filtering? Were 'dentist chairs' used to ensure exact repeat of head positions of listeners? If not, all subjective listening data is suspect.

 

[MylesBAstor]

As is often the case, the test conditions are not described in detail. Were the rooms treated to prevent comb filtering? Were 'dentist chairs' used to ensure exact repeat of head positions of listeners? If not, all subjective listening data is suspect.

Yes their heads were fixed in a halo brace with the spikes driven 1/2 inch into their skulls.

Oh and having something behind the head in a dentist chair doesn't work either.

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

Yes their heads were fixed in a halo brace with the spikes driven 1/2 inch into their skulls.

Oh and having something behind the head in a dentist chair doesn't work either.

The purpose of using a dentist's chair is repeatability. If the listener's head isn't in the exact same spot for each test pass, the frequency response ripples will be in a different place, affecting drastically, the tonal balance.

 

[MylesBAstor]

The purpose of using a dentist's chair is repeatability. If the listener's head isn't in the exact same spot for each test pass, the frequency response ripples will be in a different place, affecting drastically, the tonal balance.

Yeah I know about that. John Crabbe wrote about that years ago and anyone owning an estat has experienced that sweet spot. Still doesn't answer the question about the headrest affecting the sound. Better off with a halo!

 

[Gregadd]

This should make cable skeptics apoplectic. (I don't know what that word means.)

The Synergistic Research room fascinated on several levels. The front-end consisted of Esoteric's P-03 transport ($16,500), D-03 digital-to-analog converter ($16,500), G-0Rb rubidium (atomic) master clock ($18,500), C-03 line stage ($12,000) and A-03 stereo amplifier ($14,000). As at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, everything was hooked up with Synergistic's bogglingly costly, actively shielded Galileo interconnects ($25,000/pair) and speaker cables ($40,000/pair), and the room was sprinkled with Acoustic Arts resonator room treatments. YG Acoustics Anat Reference II Studio loudspeakers ($70,000/pair) completed what Synergistic's Ted Denny stated was "basically my home system." YG Acoustics speakers did nothing for me at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, but here there was a sweetly refined delicacy, tremendous focus, and spacious and seductive bloom and expansiveness. Simply put, this was a marvelous-sounding system that spoke very well not only for the YG speakers but for everything in front of them.

emphasis supplied. Note the fancy cable lifters. Reminds me of my childhood train set.

 

[fas42]

This should make cable skeptics apoplectic. (I don't know what that word means.) emphasis supplied. Note the fancy cable lifters. Reminds me of my childhood train set.

Actually, there are a couple of smarts in there: actively shielded makes a lot of sense, far more than myriads of the other wanker-like claims for various techniques, and the cable lifters seem to really do what they should do: keep the cable insulators from touching anything but space.

The proof's in the pudding: YG gets plenty of bad raps, but "sweetly refined delicacy, tremendous focus, and spacious and seductive bloom and expansiveness" says to me that they're on the right track ...

Frank

 

[RogerD]

This should make cable skeptics apoplectic. (I don't know what that word means.) emphasis supplied. Note the fancy cable lifters. Reminds me of my childhood train set.

I think that picture needs a toy "Godzilla" in the middle.

 

[Gregadd]

The obligatory pass through. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.

 

[Gregadd]

I do not know if the cable lifters are available separately.

 

[c1ferrari]

Evidently, Godzilla

I think that picture needs a toy "Godzilla" in the middle.

prefers electrostats

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

Yeah I know about that. John Crabbe wrote about that years ago and anyone owning an estat has experienced that sweet spot. Still doesn't answer the question about the headrest affecting the sound. Better off with a halo!

The effect of the headrest is irrelevant; I'm talking about CONSISTENCY in the test setup. If the goal is to hear the subtle differences between two setups, you must eliminate all other variables. Short of an anechoic chamber, this is going to be very difficult to achieve.

 

[MylesBAstor]

The effect of the headrest is irrelevant; I'm talking about CONSISTENCY in the test setup. If the goal is to hear the subtle differences between two setups, you must eliminate all other variables. Short of an anechoic chamber, this is going to be very difficult to achieve.

Great, the headrest will eliminate all the subleties and music so everything will sound the same. Just like communism: reduce everything to the LCD.

 

[DonH50]

Uh, that seems quite a leap...

 

[MylesBAstor]

Uh, that seems quite a leap...

Don have your ever heard what a high vs. low backed listening chair does to the sound?

 

[DonH50]

Yes, as a matter of fact, but a small headrest to my ears does not disrupt the sound as much as you implied. That is, my ears, admittedly made of clay... We have a fairly high-backed couch in our media room now and I hate it for sound though it is comfy. Comfy except I have to sit up straight to get my ears above it! I prefer the old director's chair myself.

If the headrest does not extend significantly beyond your head, or supports the neck region without coming up to ear level, then it should work. For listening tests in my primordial past the prime chair had a fairly narrow seat, a narrow back that extended up just maybe a foot or so, then a pole (support) topped by a small headrest "spot" comprised of a small round pillow about 6" in diameter. It provided a nice fixed spot to center your head during trials to minimize variation without coloring the sound. That is Mark's point; to provide a fixed reference point. Frankly, it would take a heck of a headrest to make my old D79 sound like my Emotiva...

Wait, maybe there's a market for that!

 

[audioguy]

I'm tall so a high back chair still allows my ears to be above (barely) the back of the chair. And since I'm the only one who listens to 2 channel, it works well.

For movies, my rear surrounds are high enough that they are fine for those who care.

My wife, (who I love dearly but is NOT one of those who cares) slouches down in the chairs (they recline) when she watches a movie and is incredibly happy in that position. She doesn't give a rip about "maybe" missing a bit of what goes on in the surrounds.

So everyone wins in my case.

I'm also not convinced that even if the back of the chair covered my (no longer young) ears that it would be all that bad. The chairs are incredibly absorptive.

A friend has solved the problem differently. His reclining theater chairs have adjustable and removable head rests. He removes his when listening to music.

 

[LL21]

This should make cable skeptics apoplectic. (I don't know what that word means.) emphasis supplied. Note the fancy cable lifters. Reminds me of my childhood train set.

Sounds like the Synergistic room was aptly named. I have heard Esoteric digital (not pre/amps) and also the YGs...this combination does make sense to me, based on what i have heard about their amplification. The YGs did strike me as very transparent speakers (ie, passing through the signal from the front-end). I am starting to really like some of these more super-transparent items in audio. Before, i think they tended to come with some more strident aberrations...but now there are some superbly transparent audio pieces which do not show this. The Magicos, the super-big Wilsons, the CJ GAT (which is still a CJ in DNA, but is way more transparent than any other CJ i've ever heard...and most any other pre i have heard too).

It clearly requires thought in systems because such a component wont color the sound no matter what comes before or after...but once you get the combination right...boy can you get magic (which is realism, musicality...and detail, detail).