Do 'boutique' cables make a difference?

**Marco** · 13-02-2008, 19:24

It's very hard to get people interested in the proper engineering side of hi fi these days, instead too much energy is expended blathering on about ancillaries like mains cables that cannot possibly make a difference.

Ash,

If you ever find yourself in the North Wales/Chester area let me know and I may be able to provide you with an experience that changes your mind on this somewhat thorny subject!

If not, we'll just forget all about it and go to the pub next door

Marco.

**Ashley James** · 13-02-2008, 20:08

If you do I'll be contacting Exit!!!! EEEEERRRRGGGGGGHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

**Steve Toy** · 13-02-2008, 20:49

Ashley,

Please tell me your mind is open and you have no hidden agenda. Folks who swear blind that cables make no difference usually do have an agenda. You may of course be the exception.

**Ashley James** · 13-02-2008, 21:13

I'd have thought the opposite!

I certainly don't, our policy is to refer our customers to our suppliers if they want any cables at nearer trade than retail to www.actionhardware.co.uk They are a major company and the quality is superb.

And if any of our customers wants a mains cable, we'll give it to him. therefore this advice is costing me money that I consider worth spending if it does anything to help rid hi fi of the endless bullshit that has been throttling it for over thirty years now.

AVI is a engineering company and we believe that if something cannot be proved in a properly conducted scientific test, it's bullshit.

**Marco** · 13-02-2008, 21:13

Ash,

LOL.

I do agree that things like the effect of loudspeaker crossovers, and the room itself where the system is being used, have a much more significant impact on the performance of a hi-fi system than mains cables. 'Audiophiles' do tend to worry too much about them (and all cables) I feel - particularly on forums!

However, experience also tells me that the effect of using mains leads in a system which have been designed by someone with an understanding of how a hi-fi system works, outside of simply in an electrical sense, is significant in an altogether different way.

Apart from seeking to reduce the impedance on the mains supply, which will always improve sound quality, it's to do with interconnects or associated cables/wires maintaining the integrity of the 'delicate' music signal as it leaves the source and passes through the system to the speakers, and reducing various types of noise and interference along the way, all of which I'm sure are measurable.

The fact is, where a hi-fi system is concerned, and how it reproduces a given music signal, there are some mains leads, interconnects and speaker cable which through design do a better job of the above than others

Marco.

**Ashley James** · 13-02-2008, 21:33

People differ in their skills, often academics can't even switch on the lights without electrocuting themselves where engineers may have trouble stringing words together.

It seems to me that people like to believe magical properties of things they don't understand and that this exasperates those that do. You're no Scientist so may like to believe some effect exists that they don't understand and obviously that's true but it's not of hi fi cables.

You may not be aware that Mart,the other half of AVI is a clever Scientist and engineer with a very successful career in Defence Avionics before he left to form Kelvin Labs and then AVI. One of the research projects he carried out was signal transmission of highly accurate signals in a very noisy electrical environment, namely a modern Jet fighter. He really is a cable expert and if he tells me cables don't make a difference unless something totally unsuitable is used when the effect will be negative, I believe him.

I'm sorry and if this starts a war I'm off!

**sastusbulbas** · 13-02-2008, 21:46

I believe in cables, iv'e seen em, and you get different colours too, with shiny things on the end, they do exist....honest...

**Filterlab** · 13-02-2008, 21:47

Originally Posted by Ashley James

....if he tells me cables don't make a difference unless something totally unsuitable is used when the effect will be negative, I believe him.

Well, a cable can ONLY influence a system by detracting from the signal, it can never add anything, simply reveal more. A completely unsuitable cable will detract but a suitable one won't, it's as simple as that.

**Ashley James** · 13-02-2008, 21:53

I'd agree with that.

**sastusbulbas** · 13-02-2008, 21:55

Cables eh.

I myself have buckets of them, (actualy its a bag and a big green skip).

Ashley,

Without wishing for any argument,
(I may use Chord cables, but do think there is some overpriced guff and plenty of internet hype on both sides of many a cable "debate")

What is your own opinion of interconnects and speaker cables? Do you have any sort of preferences?

Regards,
Steve

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