Expensive Snake Oil!

[BeenDown139]

you sound like an electrician, sir! 😶‍🌫️

[JimmyJ]

a slight thread hijack to say:

Sonicus, I love learning about the AMPEX list, that is true high-end audio there.  And wasn't our chief wizard Ron W involved with that company early in his career?  Very cool.

"Audiophool", that's perfect. 

Jimmy J

[sonicus]

Jimmy J,
Thanks for chiming in ! I believe that you are correct.
Sonicus

[dannobasso]

I use phil jones speaker cables for my phil jones rigs and I believe I can hear a difference.
From their site: It’s not uncommon for today’s bass player to use amplifier power up to 1000 watts and beyond. These high-power amps develop high currents feeding low impedance speakers sometimes peaking to 30 amps or more.

Speakers at this power level need great control by the amp’s damping ability. That’s the ratio of amp impedance to speaker impedance. Kind of like putting on the speaker’s brakes so your speakers stop and start on a dime – giving your bass sound tighter punch and better dynamics.

Using cables with the slightest of loss can be disastrous on low-ohm loads. Even a fraction of an ohm in cable resistance can result in wasting some of those precious watts.

PJPS speaker cables use four conductors instead of two found in normal speaker cables and with the high-purity copper multi-strand conductors (9 AWG equivalent), resistance is ultra-low so your speakers get virtually 100% of the power delivered by your amp.

I remember hearing of Anthony Jackson's extremely expensive cables and special cones that he placed his speaker cabs on.

Reminds me of the digital vs vinyl debates. Personally, any noise, pop, sizzle or crackle drives me around the bend, but to each his own.

Also studio cans, IEM makes and ear buds.

[cozmik_cowboy]

As a young man I came under the wing of a paving contractor/electronics whiz named Ken Dean (who drilled into me "If it's not absolutely and completely perfect, it's 100% wrong").  He came out to a gig one night to find me soldering a broken speaker cable.  A soon as I was done he grabbed it, plugged it into the cab, whipped out his multimeter (yeah, he was the kind of guy who'd show up to see a band with a multimeter in his shirt pocket.....), and hit the other plug; it nailed 4Ω exactly.  He gave me a satisfied nod and walked away.

It was generic bulk cable and a standard Switchcraft plug.  0Ω from the cable.  That's all I'm sayin'.

Peter (who has actually seen claims that a coiled guitar cord sounds different than a straight one)

[lbpesq]

Again, it’s one thing to claim an instrument cable, or speaker cable, that is carrying a signal can affect the sound of the instrument.  It's quite another to contend that the power cord, which NEVER carries the signal, can improve the sound of the instrument.  Gee, I wonder if imported beer improves the sound of the instrument compared to domestic beer?     And if you live in England, does imported Budweiser make your instrument sound better than domestic Guinness?

 Bill, tgo

[sonicus]

Depending on the current draw of an amplifier and the circuit design of the amplifying circuit, a lack of a difference of potential AKA voltage can affect the tonality or timbre of the audio signal. There was an early studio technique to change the timbre as well as inducing distortion by the use of a Variac aka variable voltage output transformer. There is searchable documentation of this technique of changing the “sound” of an amplifier by starving it of supply voltage  "power ".

[lbpesq]

Of course choking the power source will affect the sound.  Heck, unplugging the cord will REALLY affect the sound.   Not paying your electric bill will affect the sound.  That doesn’t improve the sound of the instrument.   

Bill, tgo

[JimmyJ]

I am all for heavy duty speaker cables.  Large and short cables make a lot of sense for that application.  Not so sure about "oxygen free" and other such esoteric material claims.  I believe automobile jumper cables would work nicely!  I admit to using a set of older monster speaker cables (4-conductors twisted) which terminate with banana plugs that have expanding center posts.  You literally lock them into the banana socket so they make great electrical contact and have no chance to vibrate out.  Count me in on having heavy amp to speaker wires.

Yes, the Variac trick to make an amp sound different is definitely a thing for tube amps.  But I'll add that the voltage supplied by the utility can also vary in different locations and even at different times of the day.  Michael Landau now carries a regulator so he can select the exact voltage powering his amps.  I think the reason it makes such a difference is because plate voltages of tubes is stepped way UP from the input voltage.  So the difference between 115V and 120V could mean quite a swing in the higher voltage - and that could indeed affect the sound.

I like the imported beer analogy Bill!

Jimmy J

[edwardofhuncote]

My ignorance of wiring, and electronics in general is well-documented here. I am however, quite educated in amateur herpetology. No oil is associated with snakes. They are smooth and dry. Some are friendly, like Hercules and a Hognose snake. This one wasn't down on Copperline; he was just passing through Mason's Cove a couple seasons ago.

(interesting thread... I get smarter just hanging out here.)

[fclef6]

A heavier gauge zip cord from the hardware store can be used to make your own speaker cables. The most important thing, as everyone knows, is to only use “stranded” wire for speaker connections. And gold-plated high-priced connector cords are nonsense. As P.T. Barnum said, “…there’s a sucker born every minute.”

[lbpesq]

Hey Greg, I always knew you were cool!  I also have had a lifetime affinity for reptiles (my Dad wouldn’t let us have dogs or cats).   Alas, I had to sell my Ball Pythons when I hooked up with Senior Management.   I even attained the “Reptile Study “ merit badge in Boy Scouts!

Bill, tgo

[JimmyJ]

Now I've learned about snakes!  The education never ends in here.

FYI, Hercules was a dog but I don't know the full story or how that worked out.

Jimmy J

[pauldo]

We have quite a few Northern Redbelly Snakes in The Northwoods.  They don’t get very large, not sure what their Ohm rating is either.





I like Guinness.

[adriaan]

Let's be fair, nothing English about Guinness.