Wayne/Cranky,
Here is a quote from just one industry source of wires/interconnects I use, and technical - be it as it may.

"It is said, wire is just wire. In reality, a high-end audio cable must balance resistance, capacitance, inductance, conductance, velocity of propagation, RF radiation and absorption, mechanical resonance, strand interaction, hysteresis, high filtering, wavy serial impedance and reflections, electrical resonance, dissipation factors, envelope delay, phase distortion, harmonic distortion, piezoelectric effects, hall effect, field effect, voltage and current tracking, thermoelectric phenomenon effects, structural return loss, skin effect, corrosion, cross-talk, bridge-tap and the interaction of these and a hundred other things"

"The sound produced by any stereo system depends on the purity of the audio signal it produces. When the cable linking all components together imparts its own sound, the audio signal is corrupted."

In english, some wire and interconnects just sound better than others... To me, there is a difference in some, and you may not need to spend much to get 97% of what you might be looking for. The price goes waaaay up for the extra 3-5%. It has to do with the quality and type of wire, how it is put together, shielded, filtered, wrapped - etc. I would say matching your components and the room itself is key, then looking at good interconnects. The benefit seems to only reveal itself enough to make it worth it on the higher quality well-matched amps/sources, in my own personal experiences... :)

OK

I have yet to see a reputable report that says the high-dollar speaker cable makes a hill-of-beans worth of difference.

An interesting article on the web (with sources cited): http://home.earthlink.net/~rogerr7/wire.htm

Another interesting site on the web (suggesting all sorts of things including relating speaker cable to the Greeks and the great pyramids): http://www.fsaudioweb.com/listen/cardas.html

Thanks for pointing out Wayne that no one had responded to Cranky's post. I read it but I was to intimidated by others in here to respond!:LOL:

Rick

GEEEZZZ,

I ENVY YOU GUYS. I REALLY DO.

AT MY AGE - AND AFTER 23,000 + HOURS FLYING - MOSTLY JETS - AND WAAAY TO MUCH TIME AROUND LOUD ORDINANCE - - - ANYTHING BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE "CLOCK RADIO" IS WASTED ON ME.

I DEARLY LOVE GOOD MUSIC - BUT BY THE TIME I RAISE THE VOLUME TO WHERE I CAN HEAR IT THE NEIGHBORS WINDOWS ARE RATTLING.

Y'ALL HAVE A REALLY GREAT DAY.

BLACKJACK

PS: A LITTLE PIECE OF TRIVIA HERE: WHICH PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GREATEST HEARING LOSS AMONG IT'S PARTICIPANTS???


MEMBERS OF A CONCERT ORCHESTRA. NO KIDDING!!

PPS: NOW - WE'RE REALLY GETTING OFF OF THE TRACK.

Petek,
...and all wines are the same, including 2-Buck Chuck, right?

My good friend is a musician, and his father is a 40yr instructor of music, and he plays 10 different instruments. I fully trust their ears and both of them reconfirmed differences (good and bad) on four different quality reference systems we tested with 30 different cables we sampled alone five years ago. Some of the more expensive cables did not do as well on our test systems - and reports vary widely. Some ears can hear and distinguish a rewarding difference, many cannot. Just like how I can tell when my carb on my Cobra is tuned spot on for any given day, temperature, elevation, and humidity. Others may never see, feel, or be able to justify tweaks on their cars or home audio for that matter. To some its fact, and for others its hype. Understandable, and thats what makes for good horse races. :)

Hey, I don't want anyone to think I was complaining about the direction the Club is going, far from it.

Turk - I stayed with the post because I found it interesting, and my reply was just an observation. It's my opinion that members are better served if threads stay somewhat on topic. Some people might want to know more about audio and not know that it is being discussed on this thread because it is not in the title. Does that make sense? Also, there isn't much need for so many forums if members don't try to keep threads in the proper forum. After all, Brent went to a lot of trouble to seperate threads into topics, with the lounge for things other than Cobra subjects. I think it was a good idea, and if used for what it is intended, it makes it easier to find information, don't you think?

Bumpster

Even though I am not an engineer (rather a financier) I must admit I am a geek for the technical stuff. Having spent a couple of years in the Cobra open tracking I have been thinking a lot about bolts. I just picked up a copy of Carroll Smith's Nuts, Bolts, fasteners and plumbing handbook. Excellent reading that will help alleviate those nagging thoughts about parts breaking while going 140 + mph.

Ok, now ya done it, decooney!

And just what the he!!'s wrong with 2 Buck Chuck?

Happens that my clients, the Franzia Bros., produce that fine line through their Bronco Winery operation. Fred Franzia's pretty damn proud of his ability to bring a nice, drinkable-now table wine to the masses.

Course, my other clients, Kendall-Jackson and Mondavi, think he's an a$$hole, which suits Fred just fine.

Wine, like Cobra makes, audio cable and Club Cobra threads...there's something for everyone. :LOL:

OK FOLKS,

Now this thread has gone just to f**kin far.

When someone puts down "2 Buck Chuck" you know it will not be long before they start attacking Evan William's Sour Mash.

And then it going to be which sour mash is the original sour mash.

JD, Makers Mark, etc. etc.

The Horror, the Horror.

And I would like to know just what the hell is wrong with using 12 gauge house wiring for my speakers.

(Note:I only use copper, not aluminum for the purists out there.)

Jamo, you need to lock this before all sanity is lost and the club goes down the crapper.

Duane .....

chasing and defining subtle mechanical nuances once defined the character of a craftsman...........now there is a prescription for it :D

KK

Hehehehe. You guys are fun. BTW: T2 = (kTp + hAtTinf)/(hAt +k)?

Jamo,
What Fred is doing is just incredible, and I bet those other guys are steamin mad. Hilarious! :LOL:

(back on topic....for a mement....) I also agree with Turk. Conversation is what it's all about. It's fun to watch, read, and participate in everything on CC. It's a total learning experience as well. What I love about it most is, you can find yourself arguing back and forth with someone on one thread and then you pop over on a different topic and find yourself in total agreement with the same person that you were calling names a minute ago! I think we all have more in common than not.
(By the way, Turk.......you have mail)

(back to topic #2) Doug: If you're looking for a new phono stage, give the PASS LABS a listen. I had a KRELL, which I liked very much, but the PASS just blew it away. There is a place that advertises in Sterophile called Audio-Video Logic. They have some great deals on PASS equipment right now. Just replaced my tired, old Krell amps with some new PASS amps, and it was like buying new speakers. I may have lost just a tad in the bottom end, but the midrange and the soundstage on the PASS are increadible. If anyone is looking to get out of their seperates on the digital front end (I just traded in my Theta transport & dac), this place has some good prices on WADIA CD players as well. Puts most seperates to shame.....and no more big $$$ on digital interconnects (in fact I have some of the best sounding dig cables tested, if you die-hard seperate fans are interested!)

I am not going to adress Bumpster's legitemate concerns and hijack this thread away from the audionazis, and end up putting it back on track to where it started at.

I wouldn't want that on my resume.

Everytime there is a serious discussion on the merits of high quality of interconnects and speaker wires, Superformance owners come out en masse and start telling us about .....

WAIT! sorry.Wrong thread!!:3DSMILE:

Never mind.

TURK

Terry, I don't know where you sent the email, obviously NOT to me.

........Has Shelby started making speaker wire??? I MAY have something to say about THAT!;) :D

Something coherent?:3DSMILE:

TURK

Turk, Anyone,

After having read the whole thread twice, woulod one of you please in ENGLISH tell me what it is about? :3DSMILE:

Ron :LOL: **) %/

RON,

CERTAINLY. OF COURSE - I'LL BE HAPPY TO EXPLAIN THIS THREAD IN ENGLISH FOR YOU.

I TOO HAVE FOLLOWED THE COURSE OF THIS FASCINATING DISCUSSION FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW. AFTER CAREFUL ANALYSIS AND DUE CONSIDERATION - AND UPON WEIGHING ALL THE FACTS IN EVIDENCE AND EVEN DOING ADDITIONAL RESEARCH IN ORDER TO VALIDATE THE POSITIONS TAKEN HEREIN I HAVE REACHED THE SUPPORTABLE CONCLUSION THAT THE SUBSTANCE OF THE CORPUS OF THIS DIALOG AMOUNTS TO PRECISELY - - - - - - - - - - -

WAIT A MINUTE PLEASE - I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ticklepink any one?

Blackjack, get a GOOD set of headphones. Lots cheaper and you can crank them till your ears bleed.

Rick