zetterstroem wrote on Mon, 16 January 2006 16:07 |
carlsaff wrote on Mon, 16 January 2006 15:22 | I hesitate to add to this discussion, but...
I once wired one speaker with expensive audiophile cable and the other regular, old (literally, very old and beat-up) Radio Shack speaker wire. I put on some great sounding, well-known mono material and listened for a long, long time.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't my ear be "pulled" to one side or the other were there any differences being caused by the speaker wire?
| no.... unless the cable would attenuate the signal by several dB'sQuote: | Wouldn't the mono material appear to take on a slightly stereo or a "phasey" aspect if the signals were different in any appreciable way?
| your ears are probably a bit different from eachother... and so are the speakers..... even if the crossover components are tightly matched they are placed differently and thereby measuring differently...
Quote: | I was told by a friend that this test is no good, and that you must use matched cables and stereo program material...
| sorry.... he's right Quote: | but I figured he suggested that because the test revealed there to be no discernable difference between the wires, when he assured me that it would be obvious.
| .... i can't say if there's any differences in your setup but.... you proved absolutely nothing...
|
1. Yes, if there were significant differences you would have heard them. Lack of dB's on one side is only one element, zetter, and he'd likely only hear a gain change from one side to the next, not necessarily a frequency degradation in one range. If the phase was inverted on one side, he'd hear more of a sonic degradation, than a broadband gain change. If the gauges of the wire relative to length of run were mismatched enough and one didn't mean specs, he'd hear differences. Although they weren't made of the same construction materials and would indeed measure different, he didn't hear any differences because they both met the specifications that are required of them, as I mentioned, once you meet the requirement, the rest is overkill.
2. The speaker cabs would have to be significantly off to hear differences in a blind test, if they were material to the result.
3. The test is good, your friend is not correct. You can test speaker cables using one wire on an L send and one wire on an R send. Any electronic differences that may occur between one speaker cab and the other or one side of a stereo amp over the other side, or one mono block amp that is same brand and matched with the other mono amp would be insignificant in most cases, "providing" they are all working properly and all gear is matched, except of course the cables. If there were differences in wire, you'd be able to hear them immediately, you would not have to wait for a cable to warm up, or break in.
4. Your test proved that the other guy was incorrect. Why? Because you didn't hear any differences. The burden of proof is on the person that makes the ear claim, to show scientifically why there is a difference.
Let's get something straight, the person that makes the claim when someone else doesn't hear it, is doing absolutely nothing. You've got that bassackwards zetter. The person that isn't hearing any differences is obviously not being fooled. Opinions don't win court cases, it takes corroborative evidence. ANYONE, can say ANYTHING, but saying it doesn't mean jack when you are dealing with sensisthesia and the idiosyncratic memory recall of the human mind. Savvy engineers know that the ear is not perfect, know it is influenced minute to minute by other sensory factors and compensate their views accordingly.