Cables and the Peter Principle
- Thread starter Lefisc
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Tim,
I was sure you would write something pompous and definitive like that. Congratulations, it sounds nice, perhaps Shakespeare would be proud of it.
Don,
You can replace "this cable" for any audio equipment and your comment will still be true. IMHO the technical details given in white papers are seldom connected with audio specifications or sound quality in high price devices. Most manufacturers do not want to disclose the really important information and as buyers are not prepared to understand it, in the end it could be a marketing error.
Thanks for the support, micro. By the way, in English, it would be difficult for something to be both pompus and definitive.
Here, let me edit ou tthe part that was my opinion and stick with the ugly facts of the original post:
In a thread called "cables and the Peter principle," in which, once again, the failure to hear the immeasurable and unverifiable is blamed on the inadequacy of their listener's experience and/or equipment? No. You won't be left alone with that. It was a shot across the bow.
Any better?
Tim
Hmmm... I'm with Mark on this one. I have been lectured by professors and teens that readily and easily manage both at the same time. 
I don't understand the attraction of comparing cars to audio equipment. It's hard to imagine two more dissimilar manufactured products, or with more different engineering.
Simple enough: Things guys like. We might be better off comparing our systems to women. Would make more interesting analogies.
Tim
As I have been pointing this aspect several times I feel happy you refer to it. Audio reproduction is a psychoacoustical subject, and analogies with most other engineering subjects are usually highly misleading. They can be fun, but normally nothing else.
If I could just reprise a point I made in another thread:
Electronic engineering involves studying the literature and obtaining qualifications. In the world of audio cables, we have unqualified people telling qualified people that they are ignorant about a certain aspect of electronics. But here's the amazing thing: there is no literature that the apparently-ignorant engineer can turn to in order to fix his deficient knowledge. There is no text book that can tell him how to make a cable sound "rhythmical". There is no university that can teach him the theory. Because there is no theory! It is actually impossible for a keen and enthusiastic person to become qualified or proficient in audio cable design!
Electronic engineering involves studying the literature and obtaining qualifications. In the world of audio cables, we have unqualified people telling qualified people that they are ignorant about a certain aspect of electronics. But here's the amazing thing: there is no literature that the apparently-ignorant engineer can turn to in order to fix his deficient knowledge. There is no text book that can tell him how to make a cable sound "rhythmical". There is no university that can teach him the theory. Because there is no theory! It is actually impossible for a keen and enthusiastic person to become qualified or proficient in audio cable design!
Tell that to the engineers at Belden who have been designing high performance audio cables for many years.
I fail to see any mystery or why you seem so amazed.
You will find all the theory related to cable design and electrical, mechanical and electro-mechanical properties of materials used in cables in text books. What you will not find is data on its effect in sound quality and on the the fine interaction between cables and equipment. Remember that except for marketing purposes, no reasonable person will tell you his cables are the best for all systems and everyone.
An important issue in high-end cable is manufacturing expertise - the relevant effects are so small that manufacturing cables that have consistent sound qualities and longevity needs a lot of knowledge.
Anybody checked out the prices for cables used in network analyzers? The cables look really cool and they are very expensive. They look more like jewelry than lots of high-end cables and I'm pretty sure that these cables aren't designed and built by some guy in his basement.
Until I read about audiophile cables, I thought the price for mW and mmW cables was crazy... Now a few thousand dollars for just the connector sans cable seems cheap.
Tom,
Are you deliberately ignoring the electro-mechanical characteristics such as triboelelectric and piezoelectric properties, and the properties of real, non ideal dielectrics? Do you also consider that the material of the conductors has no effect on the cable? Should we assume that the variations due to the resistivity difference between copper, silver, aluminium or even iron are too little to have any effect on typical cables?
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
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