Why!? Please Tell Me Why!

[Speedskater]

3 hours ago, marce said:

As I have said though many times cables do have an effect on signals travelling down them, it is measurable... the debate is whether it is audible, if it is something is wrong.

Well not all cables are good cables (especially at both ends of the cost scale) and not all output or input stages are of good design.  So it's more than possible that there are audible differences, but all good cables will sound the same.

[Speedskater]

1 hour ago, gmgraves said:

You bet! And I note here that you used the word "most", because there are clearly instances where speaker cables can make a difference between a speaker sounding it's best and not quite making the grade. I have always had this opinion, going back at least 30 years. Read my review, in Stereophile, of the Apogee Duetta II ribbon Speaker.

The Apogee's may place the greatest demands on speaker cables and power amplifiers of all the good speakers ever made.

[Speedskater]

1 hour ago, fas42 said:

Why cables are important is that: they are not perfect as a means of connecting electrical nodes, at some level; and they can act as a filter to some degree. I aim to make any piece of connecting wire as benign as possible, mimic the nominally required attributes as well as I can, for as low a cost as I can.

Yet we see little interest in audiophiles choosing the best engineered and manufactured cables.

[Speedskater]

During the Christmas holiday season, hardware stores has people come in looking for male to male AC adapters. The people install outdoor decorative lights on their homes a start at the wrong end.

[Speedskater]

1 hour ago, mozes said:

if it can’t be explained, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

A better question:

How do you plan to demonstrate that it does exist?

[Speedskater]

17 hours ago, marce said:

I had a few questions on cable burn in, but all have been answered with a little internet search...

http://nordost.com/blog/what-is-cable-burn-in/

Well that covers our science fiction reading for the day.

[Speedskater]

Any interconnect cable that has the shield connected differently at each end can be considered directional.

 

Any interconnect that has the conductors connected differently at each endcan be considered an adapter.

 

Some balanced XLR interconnects are wired with a hybrid shield. That is the shield is connected at the send end and goes thru a small capacitor at the receive end. This won't work with phantom powered microphones.

[Speedskater]

At high radio frequencies, any interconnect becomes a transmission line system. So when tested with high frequency pulses, if:

the output stage impedance >> cable impedance >> input stage impedance are not all equal,  reflections or ringing will be observed.

[Speedskater]

2 hours ago, marce said:

I disagree somewhat the, cable is not directional as such, the shield is connected at one end only, this will only work with a return wire so not much good for co-ax cables. A shield connected at one end only at RF frequencies is actually called an antenna (usually forms a dipole).

By 'shield' I meant. In an unbalanced or balanced interconnect a 2 conductor plus shield. (so the shield is only a shield)

Yes a shield needs to be attached to a chassis at the connector or it becomes an antenna.

[Speedskater]

5 hours ago, GUTB said:

This thread is a good example of “truth by popularity”. Everyone knows that audio signals are directional. The source generates the signals and something receives them. Speakers are a load on the amp. It’s easily understood and no one seriously debates any of that....................................

From a flow diagram this is completely correct. DC power, AC power and signals all flow from source to load.  However this description won't fit into Maxwell's Field/Network Theory or Ohm's/Kirchhoff's Circuit Theory's. So if we are going to discuss how an interconnect system works rather than what it accomplishes, we need to use one of those two theories and Circuit Theory is a lot more convent to this type of discussion.

[Speedskater]

15 hours ago, GUTB said:

I'm willing to discuss theory, its just that conspiracy theories about manufacturers and press fooling audiophiles are hard to tackle.

Why do you think that there is a conspiracy theory involved?  Each has their own vested interest reasons for supporting audiophile myths.

[Speedskater]

From the 1979 "Dictionary of Electronics"

 

audio

Pertaining to frequencies corresponding to a normally audible sound wave.  Those frequencies range roughly from 15 to 20,000 hertz.

 

audio signal

An electrical signal the frequency of which is within the audio range.

[Speedskater]

20 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

no optical in '79 eh?

While there were a few optically coupled mic pre-amps back in about 1979,  most optical links are digital and not in the15 to 20,000 Hz range so it doesn't meet the definition.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

And now there are a very few hi-fi optically coupled pre-amps. (they have over-come dome of the 1979 challenges.

[Speedskater]

5 hours ago, mansr said:

Are you seriously trying to say that a Toslink cable doesn't carry audio signals?

Nope, I'm saying that the digital signal needs to be converted and de-coded, to fit the 1979 dictionary definition.