What do you make of this??

[Todd Anderson]

 

[Tony V.]

LOL, opening a can of worms here Todd ??

Besides the obvious cable risers that in my opinion is just more snake oil improvements that setup is eating up alot of floor space.
I sometimes wonder how people think this makes any difference given that the 14awg power wire within the wall isn't shielded nor is it isolated in any way shape or form.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Me?

Looks a ride a Six Flags!

 

[ddude003]

That looks like a well sorted pair of McIntosh Tubed Mono-blocks... It is probably a good idea to get those up of the carpet because of heat dissipation and ventilation issues... Cables, yea, you got to love them... Many modern homes in the West use 12awg Romex... And wave a live voltage/circuit testers around back there and watch it light up like a Christmas tree... Watch out for Maxwell, Tesla and Faraday...

 

[Grayson Dere]

I love it, Todd!!! ....you're totally right it looks like Six Flags!

On a serious note, does anyone here actually hear audible differences with cable elevators?

 

[Todd Anderson]

I've never heard any sort of comparison. So, I can't really say.

My ears have heard differences (at audio shows) with some of the gear isolation pucks and products. I really don't know what to make of it. Definitely have had some question my sanity...

It's really hard to accurately run A/B comparisons... who knows.

I will say this: if you hear a difference, go for it. That's all that really matters. But, I know there's a large camp out there that will say that notion is total non-sense.

 

[Grayson Dere]

It's crazy how just mere suggestion can make it seem like there are audible changes...I once read a group of listeners thought the volume was being increased and decreased minutely because the engineer was saying so, when in fact he didn't even once touch the controls just to see how the audience would react : P

 

[Todd Anderson]

Psycho-sensory... it's real! The hard part is knowing when the psycho part is ruling the sensory part... or vice-versa.

 

[ddude003]

I love it, Todd!!! ....you're totally right it looks like Six Flags!

On a serious note, does anyone here actually hear audible differences with cable elevators?

I think it would depend on what you are doing and expecting from cable elevators... Just lifting from the floor would not make much difference... Lifting a signal cable to cross over another signal cable or power cable maybe a touch... Lifting a signal cable from lying parallel to a power cable a touch more... Does anyone here believe in electro magnetism or induction? How about broadcast and antenna technology? Anyone here ever have 60-Hz noise? And Marantz and others don't put copper shielding in their reference gear... Think Faraday cage...

Upon taking another look at that photo and getting a feel for the equipment and cable routing and that double wall outlet, I would imagine the owner of that system has custom power back to the breaker box 20 amps with custom in wall power cable and custom outlet receptacles...

Its all about lowering the noise floor... Some folks go the extra mile and some not so much...

 

[JStewart]

Me?

Looks a ride a Six Flags!

Had me looking for the hot wheels!

 

[NBPK402]

Looks neat, but I doubt very much if the cables risers make any difference in anything but your wallet being lighter.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I think it would depend on what you are doing and expecting from cable elevators... Just lifting from the floor would not make much difference... Lifting a signal cable to cross over another signal cable or power cable maybe a touch... Lifting a signal cable from lying parallel to a power cable a touch more... Does anyone here believe in electro magnetism or induction? How about broadcast and antenna technology? Anyone here ever have 60-Hz noise? And Marantz and others don't put copper shielding in their reference gear... Think Faraday cage...

Upon taking another look at that photo and getting a feel for the equipment and cable routing and that double wall outlet, I would imagine the owner of that system has custom power back to the breaker box 20 amps with custom in wall power cable and custom outlet receptacles...

Its all about lowering the noise floor... Some folks go the extra mile and some not so much...

I appreciate this viewpoint!

 

[JStewart]

Ethan Winer's invention to prove/disprove audio cable signal/sonic differences:

 

[Tony V.]

The reasoning is sound, the Null test make sense.
The last 12 min is where he does some actual testing of some cables. It was interesting to note that even the $700 cable picked up 60Hz hum from interference if it was placed too close to other devices like the PC

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ethan is polarizing, for sure.

 

[Asere]

Wow, what should we call this roller coaster ride?

 

[ddude003]

Its interesting to me that Ethan Winer gets noise from placing cables across that 8 channel mixer... He only tests a few, 3 feet or shorter, RCA cables and has to make constant adjustments to match signals to get them to null... What about chaining a few cables together like in a real world system... Source to pre and pre to amp and amp to speakers? There is gain structure to deal with here... There is lots of real world EM and RF going on... Try running one cable near an active Sub or past that power supply on that tube amp... Maybe that cable from your source parallel to that speaker cable... Noise, no matter its source (EM or RF), it all adds up...

 

[JBrax]

I thought someone had a rat infestation issue and was getting cables up due to chewing.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

lol... I love it! I am all about cool looking stuff and this has some cool factor to it.

I made all my power cords with colored techflex that looks cool to me... and of course the sound stage got fifty-eleven inches wider... depth went into the walls and I was immersed in the sound... it was all nirvana like. And when I unplugged them... it was horrible... I could not hear one thing then. No doubt there was a difference with the plugged in or not, so they worked perfectly when plugged in.

Seriously though... I can see where it could prevent potential interference issues. I have threatened purchasing some cable risers on more than one occasion, if nothing else because I think they look cool.

 

[mechman]

My first impression was that it was a model train setup. That was after a half second look though.

 

[1_sufferin_mind]

It's crazy how just mere suggestion can make it seem like there are audible changes...I once read a group of listeners thought the volume was being increased and decreased minutely because the engineer was saying so, when in fact he didn't even once touch the controls just to see how the audience would react : P

Expectation Bias

 

[1_sufferin_mind]

...I sometimes wonder how people think this makes any difference given that the 14awg power wire within the wall isn't shielded nor is it isolated in any way shape or form.

They surmise that power cables are the FIRST few feet between equipment and power station, and that THEIR snake-oil embedded versions reject line-accumulated noise in that distance better than others.

 

[Todd Anderson]

You know, this hobby of ours – whether you're talking home theater or 2-channel – can certainly get the "gotta have" upgradeitits bug burning. Sometimes, I don't think people know when to stop. Especially when they have cash to burn.

My other hobby (collecting pinball machines) is similar. There's always an upgrade... a product to tweak... or a modification to add. And if you're not careful, you end up spending hundreds for practically no reason.

If I had $50K 2-channel rig, I wonder if I'd start down the path of the original post... just in the hope that I'd get a little extra? I'd like to think not... but it's REALLY easy to see how it could happen.

 

[JStewart]

You know, this hobby of ours – whether you're talking home theater or 2-channel – can certainly get the "gotta have" upgradeitits bug burning. Sometimes, I don't think people know when to stop. Especially when they have cash to burn.

but it's REALLY easy to see how it could happen.

Guilty. Bet I'm not the only one here too. Anyway, bye for now. Off to a support group. Hi-Fi Hoarders Anonymous. Hey, maybe someone there will be selling something I could use tonight....

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Off to a support group. Hi-Fi Hoarders Anonymous.

What's that address?