Speaker cables

[Andrew]

Well some would want to commit suicide from the money they wasted.

Too right. Maybe no-one told them you can get a USB lead from Poundland: Shame

[Daniel Quinn]

somebody should explain to TQ that patent pending is not the bloody same as patent never fuckin coming as we aint applied for one :D

p,s - Mr braindead , if your reading this , I accept this comment is defamation if not true and i accept full and sole publication responsibility , i would be happy to offer a full apology on all hifi fora pursuant of the defamation protocol if I'm wrong but i refer you to my earlier less accusatory comment on this issue , which illicited nothing but silence.

[terrybooth]

I even had Rob Holt (Robert at PFM) who owned LS1 and twisted it, entered into a long argument with me because some hi-fi magazine years ago said to do it, so he twisted them together. He claims to be an expert, another knowledgeless twat!!!!

I think this is received 'wisdom'. I remember twisting Radio Spares (RS1) cable using an electric drill to make up speaker cables back before people started talking about the effect cables had on sound and people were generally using bell cable to wire up speakers. Presumably born of 'monkey see monkey do' from someone who'd seen twisted cables somewhere else.

[terrybooth]

What you mean the ones that are pending that don't have an application number attached, which is actually illegal and considered by trading standards to be fraud - is that the one you mean

'Zat Pat Pending, as in Whacky Races?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

On his advertising and bullshit and the box they are packed in he claims Patents Pending, which is now illegal unless you give the applications number as for years it was abused. In this case it is still being abused.

[r100]

anyways.. The last couple of months I've persistently had the subjective impression that I was hearing "more" from the right channel. I put it down to my hearing. But it was basically screaming "over capacitance" on the left side... the other undeniable telltale sign was the smearing of the piano notes, clearly audible when I stuck my ear close to the tweeter and on both channels.

subjectiveness can drive you crazy if not treated within a reasonable timeframe...

[r100]

I'm currently using my modded quad 306 until my NVA kit arrives .. on the Quad the over capacitance was harder to detect as it was only slightly muted on the left channel whereas the NVA was much more sensitive to the problem in the circuit which is a good thing FMPOV because it makes the fault easier to detect

[howardc1951]

As someone whose electronic knowledge on a scale of 1 to 10 is probably 1 (or less) I'd be interested in knowing if the increase in capacitance only occurs when 2 different cables - eg the + and - speaker cables - each of which is carrying an electrical signal are lying in close proximity or do you get the same effect if you were to take a single cable and coil it?

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

As someone whose electronic knowledge on a scale of 1 to 10 is probably 1 (or less) I'd be interested in knowing if the increase in capacitance only occurs when 2 different cables - eg the + and - speaker cables - each of which is carrying an electrical signal are lying in close proximity or do you get the same effect if you were to take a single cable and coil it?

Opposite problem, by coiling the cable you make an inductor / coil. To help understand I recommend you all learn just a little about electronics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductor

And for capacitance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor

These two in conjunction with resistance create filters. ALL FILTERS ARE BAD!!!!! it is just some are unadvoidable like in power supplies to filter out residual ripple.

All forms of filter both electrical and mechanical (decoupling) are musically destructive, they also create phase or timing anomalies which means some frequencies are time delayed relative to others - which is why the TQ cable claims are all just so much bullshit and crap. All you can do with cable is make it as clean and filterless as possible and that is what NVA cable is. NVA cable has deliberately separated polarities by using single cables (and cores by being separately insulated) to minimise capacitance, yet TQ is standard dumbbell co-joined construction so must have capacitance

99% of what you read in hi-fi (apart from me) is marketing bullshit!!! I must be getting old because I am getting about as pissed off with this industry as I was in 2000, it really hasn't changed much. The only people who can change it are YOU!!!!!

EDIT - wrong link, changed.

[howardc1951]

Thanks Richard. The problem for people like me - and probably most of your customers - is that we can follow instructions, in this case buy low capacitance speaker cables, but don't realise there's more to it than that. I've heard about not bundling cables together before but I always thought it was for sound quality reasons rather than anything else and as there's quite often a situation where you can't use a hifi system in the ideal position for ultimate sound quality sometimes people are prepared to compromise sound quality for some reason or other.