Synergistic Research cables. bit of a test

You still need to understand the basic electronics here.
A medium/high capacitance cable may sound absolutely fine driven by the <50 ohm output impedance of a CD player but will ruin the sound if connected between a TT with moving magnet cartridge and phono stage. The same cable can also cause issues to line level tube equipment.

Shielding is another issue. Unshielded cable will hum and pick up RFI when used in certain situations.

The argument can be extended to speaker cables. A thin guage cable may work perfectly well with a 15 ohm BBC monitor on the end but will be far less suited if you attempt to drive <2 ohm Apogee ribbons through it.

 

How cables work is physics,that I do know but I'm not interested nor know anything about it. its all fine talking about numbers but how many cable makers publish them and how many punters care or know any difference. I just use the good old ears to evaluate my findings and choice of cables I use. For someone like yourself in the know then you can be selective.

Cheers

 

Nail hit firmly on the head.

People need to understand the numbers if they are going to make recommendations as to how people spend their money when selecting cables. There isn't much to learn and it would save an awful lot of pointless argument.

 

I Have No More Comments On This Post As It's A Very Sensitive Topic.

 

Class A, Is It So Sensitive That Every Word Should Start With A Capital Letter Or Is There A Hidden Meaning?

Actually I do have something to add, having used the ‘Active Shielding’ cables I don’t see how the active shielding can be plugged in the wrong way round – there are short flying leads for the transformer to connect to – If the directionality of the cable (as a whole) is what is meant then this is clearly marked on the cable (which is more than be said for the ‘cheaper’ cables). If, on the other hand, it is important which of the two leads from the transformer plugs into which of the two cables (L&R) specifically, then there are no markings of any kind (that I saw) on the cables to say what should plug where.

 

You misunderstand (I’m Not Sure How) the Meaning of my post I think.

However, your statement that "S/R cables are very reasonable and value for money compared to the really stupidly priced ones out there", has to raise a few eyebrows though - £2000 for an interconnect cable is 'stupidly priced'. Admittedly there are a few even more 'stupidly priced' cables marketed but that hardly changes the 'reality' of the situation.

P.S. you have to put [/quote] at the end (of the quoted text) for text to show as a quote in your post.

 

oh look, another cable debate thread, thats new

 

I quite agree Simon, get on with writing part two 'The Reprise' in which my role is played by Mr. J. Depp - you know you want to, we even paid homage to cable directionality and everything. :bookworm:

 

well my two penneth worth, i have a zanash cable here, a coherent connoisseur and a VDH D102 mkIII.... and i can safely say, without any hesitation, that they all conduct electricity admirably.

 

Just to say that in _my system_ I tried with and without the active shielding as well as plugging it in the wrong way. The active shielding wallmart has two pins. I have a 3 pin adapter that I put into my 8 way extention block. Then I plug the 2 pin active shielding in the adapter.

http://www.thecableco.com/prodImg/large/0000001258-20060812.jpg (picture of active shielding wallmart with pyramid logo).

Without the shielding the sound is kind of less 3d and flat and less subtle details. With it plugged in (i,e the pyramid logo is pointing up in the same direction as the top pin on a British 3 pin socket) the sound stage is wider and deeper, more quiet background and for me shows up as more subtle details. Also I notice more air with focals and around instruments. At first, and on some tracks, there seems no difference or very little but after a while you do hear differences although if you're like me I can't really put into words what the difference are although I've tried above. I can also guess now what the overall effect perhaps would be like if one has S/R cables with active shading in the entire chain.

I concur with others that the shielding is not a night and day difference for me.

Plugging the shielding wallmart the wrong way (i.e upside down, the pyramid logo pointing towards to the bottom two pins of a British 3 pin socket) results in, to my surprise, a muddled sound as though the soundstage shrinks and the sound is coming out of the speakers as before when connected the right way had the effect of the speakers disappearing. In fact I thought plugging in the wrong it sounded worse than with no shielding. I expected little or no difference when plugging in active shielding in either of the two ways. Weird if you ask me.

My experiment was only done on the S/R bi-wire speaker cables (the cheapest of Telsa series, Accelerator).

I personally think S/R speaker and IC cables are expensive for my pocket but as luck would have it I got them both used for a good price ... right place at the right time, I guess. I'm not sure I would pay full price though. The power cord and digital IC do though seem okay priced although still a tad high for my wallet. As usual, YMMV... and I don't intend saying much more on this subject.

Thanks.

jaspal

 

it's an AC transformer, you are on drugs.

 

That's not what 'our' transformer and leads looked like - also sq225917 had to stick on the Pyramid Logo sticker as it had not been done. For over £2000 I would rather expect them to come with a proper 3 pin plug - the 2 pin Euro plug is not a 'feature'.

 

No doubt thats a jazzier cable for a higher spec interconnect.

 

'Higher spec' - You Mean Even More Expensive - Thank god I'm Sitting Down.