• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Cable

jj said:
And room treatment is cheaper than many of these fertilizer products, and unquestionably worth more in terms of the results.
Click to expand...
This. Spent more than ten years in the biz and the fancier cables weren't worth a tinker's dam. Good equipment, decent (as in "14ga stranded electrical cables from Ace Hardware") cables, and a well-designed room (by ME!)? Audio Nirvana, if I do say so myself. ;)

ETA: You cannot achieve stereo separation using coat hangers; they are too short. Unless you have created a surround-sound environment in your bed, where no speaker is more than a foot from your ears.

Audiophiles don't normally need to keep their ears within 1/4" of their optimal placement, but it can be worth the trouble. Or, at least, noticable.
 
Last edited:
dropzone said:
ETA: You cannot achieve stereo separation using coat hangers; they are too short. Unless you have created a surround-sound environment in your bed, where no speaker is more than a foot from your ears.

Audiophiles don't normally need to keep their ears within 1/4" of their optimal placement, but it can be worth the trouble. Or, at least, noticable.
Click to expand...

If I recall the original article, the tester connected two coat hangers together for each side. Hang on while I try Googling again. Here's a better link:
http://consumerist.com/2008/03/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables.html
 
Get, what you might perceive as rude comments in this thread, are mostly helping hands of well-meaning folks.
Some of those hands tend to get gnarly and callous over time as a self-protecting measure.

"A believer needs his belief to be true."

A former teacher of mine had a similar claim as yours. His sound system was the only expensive thing he ever bought in his whole life. He used cables as thick as a child's arm.
I use cables as thick as a child's finger.

Long story short: I set up a simple blinded test, using both cables.

Results:

1. He could not hear a difference between the two on his system, with his CDs, in his living-room in a comfortable setting.

2. He still uses the same cables.

3. We do not talk anymore.
 
Last edited:
Gr8wight said:
This is unfortunately all too common.
Click to expand...

It was a good outcome, this guy didn't write letters to the board of directors of your employer, stalk you all over the internet, call your neighbors to ask if you were "seeing someone" during the day, and then all you at 3am to threaten you...

Some of the audiophiles out there are NUTS.
 
Just wondering if there is going to be any test here...
 
jj said:
Just wondering if there is going to be any test here...
Click to expand...

Really? I was never in any doubt from the first post. There is never a test when it comes to these audiophile guys. Remember the GSIC fiasco?
 
Audiophiles exhibit many characteristics of a believer. Their belief system is working for them. It fits into and enhances their perceived reality and they do not experience a significant - if any - downside.

Simpler put: They are happy with it.

Logic suggests there is no upside for them - nothing to gain, according to their belief system - in a controlled test.
 
Gr8wight said:
...I was never in any doubt from the first post. There is never a test when it comes to these audiophile guys. Remember the GSIC fiasco?
Click to expand...

Just picking the nits here, playfully: Being never in any doubt is a sign of a believer.
 
William Smith said:
Just picking the nits here, playfully: Being never in any doubt is a sign of a believer.
Click to expand...

The difference being, of course, that it is possible to inject doubt into my belief. Show me an audiophile who has gone through with an official test of their "ability" at any of the skeptical groups who offer a challenge, and I will change my tune.
 
Hey everyone,

I'm a professional recording engineer in Nashville (not that it means anything). Last year a friend of mine bought a pair of stupidly expensive RCA cables for his stereo and I jokingly remarked he couldn't distinguish them from a pair of coat hangers. He challenged me so I soldered some RCA connectors to a couple hangers and did some listening tests.

In a video I posted on YouTube I recorded the same song through three different cables and attached a link to the clips so people could hear them blindly and vote on what they heard. Before YouTube deleted the video (and temporarily banned me) I collected several hundred votes (and 2,600 views).

The results surprised me. Of the three wires I used (Coat Hanger, Mogami Studio Wire and an expensive Silver Cable) the majority (somewhere around 60%) preferred the $1/foot Mogami studio wire. The other 40% were split among the coat hanger and the expensive silver wire. The comments on the expensive silver cable all mentioned how much brighter it sounded.

I can't post a link to YouTube yet as I'm still under 15 posts. Just search for "Audiophile Death Match" to see my video. I had to remove the audio clips but the rest of the video is hopefully somewhat entertaining.
 
As a follow up to that story, a good friend of mine who is also an engineer in town listened to three clips and was spot on with his assessment. He guessed all three correctly and gave reasonable explanations why he decided which was which.

I'm still a skeptic but I'd also love to see my friend try for the million dollars. Over the years he's proven to have pretty amazing listening skills. Wouldn't it be a nice break from all these audiophile blowhards if someone at least stepped up to at least take the test no matter what the result? He's done it once already. What would it take, eight out of ten, perhaps? Nine out of ten? What would be a reasonable expectation?
 
Please note that I do not speak for the JREF, I'm just surmising based on what I know of the history of such tests.

There would probably have to be a larger sample size than just 10 tests. The preliminary test for the MDC usually requires odds of at least one out of a thousand by pure chance.

I'm no math wiz, but I'm sure that those who are will chime in soon enough with workable test protocols (if such protocols have not already been established given the long history of such claims).

In any case, such testing is available and could be set up.

Good Luck,

Ward

P.S. Some paranormal challenges also offer a finder's fee, so if you apply to those and win them before winning the MDC, you will be in for a little cash yourself. The two that offer the finders fee are in California (www.iigwest.org) and Australia(www.skeptics.com.au). The Australian test offers a bigger finder's fee, but the California one is closer and because they have franchises around the country (one's in Atlanta, I think), that might be easier.
 
Jamie Tate said:
Hey everyone,

I'm a professional recording engineer in Nashville<snip>

I can't post a link to YouTube yet as I'm still under 15 posts. Just search for "Audiophile Death Match" to see my video. I had to remove the audio clips but the rest of the video is hopefully somewhat entertaining.
Click to expand...

Here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6sHvaN5T4I

Take your pick, both links go to the same place, which is where Jamie said.

And welcome.
 
Because of other much more important things in my life (yes, there are some!) I hardly ever think about the cablething again. I'm not really interested for now and maybe for a long time to do a test. I will of course post the result. My first test gives me the idea that hearing the difference blindfolded is a hard thing to do, but if that was because of the not optimal conditions or because of the difference being small (not existant?) or both I don't/can't know. I like to add that I'm the opposite of a believer. (no, not bailing out, just nog interested for the time being). Later.
 
Last edited:
Get said:
Because of other much more important things in my life (yes, there are some!) I hardly ever think about the cablething again. I'm not really interested for now and maybe for a long time to do a test. I will of course post the result. My first test gives me the idea that hearing the difference blindfolded is a hard thing to do, but if that was because of the not optimal conditions or because of the difference being small (not existant?) or both I don't/can't know. I like to add that I'm the opposite of a believer. (no, not bailing out, just nog interested for the time being). Later.
Click to expand...

Get, your comments here echo those (almost word for word) of many other audiophiles who have posted here. You must be very rich for the lure of a one million dollar payout for a couple hours of only moderately difficult work to be uninteresting to you. Just like all the others, coincidentally...
 
And when the comments are the same the reasons for the comments must be the same? Not really evidence-based :). There are things much more important than money and apart from that I'm really not all that interested in money. Not because I'm rich, but because I have enough and am in no hurry whatsoever to expand it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom