A physicist explains why we need cable lifters...

[Cars-N-Cans]

Don't know. Haven't tried it myself. As I don't play country music I wouldn't be able to tell anyway. Then again, what kind of music is best for coat and clothes hangers?

Jazz, I would say since that is what you traditionally hang your pressed suit on. I was thinking of switching to barbed wire, instead. Hear its better for thrash metal, and even does a good job of emulating how one looks after spending some time down in the "pit."

 

[julian_hughes]

For reasons of personal comfort and hygiene I use a cable lifter in my underpants. It's great. But for my audio systems it's overkill and I don't bother.

 

[Bernard23]

So looking forward to the future, a world of quantum amplification. I prefer the sound of blue electrons......

 

[BR52]

I like cable lifters because my vacuum cleaner can go under the cables.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

I like cable lifters because my vacuum cleaner can go under the cables.

I'm not sure how long any of those doodads would remain unmolested by our cat.

 

[MarkS]

I'm not sure how long any of those doodads would remind unmolested by our cat.

What you need are quantum cat repellers. I can sell you some for the low low price of just $695 each. You'll need one for each lifter.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

What you need are quantum cat repellers. I can sell you some for the low low price of just $695 each. You'll need one for each lifter.

Oddly, none of our cats ever went after 40 years of Magnepans and Acoustats.

 

[MarkS]

Well of course! Panel speakers have inherent quantum cat repulsion. Just google "Schrodinger's cat" for an explanation.

 

[Bernard23]

What you need are quantum cat repellers. I can sell you some for the low low price of just $695 each. You'll need one for each lifter.

The problem with them though is they're never there when you need them...

 

[Holmz]

Wow! this is a tough crowd.
Most of what he was saying it accurate… even if it is unlikely to make an audible difference.

With all the other quantum derived stuff that is rooted in magic, it seems odd to pick out this video as a problem… IME.

 

[audiofooled]

Most of what he was saying it accurate… even if it is unlikely to make an audible difference.

Exactly. And he says our hearing is very very sensitive so we may hear a difference if we have a... high end system. I find this particularly annoying because inevitably it gets quantified such as for a 10k worth of speaker you then need 2k worth of cable. So your speaker is magically transformed to a 20k speaker. And people actually end up paying this kind of fool's tax, supporting companies of this kind. No wonder they convince themselves they actually heard a big difference.

 

[Holmz]

Exactly. And he says our hearing is very very sensitive so we may hear a difference if we have a... high end system. I find this particularly annoying because inevitably it gets quantified such as for a 10k worth of speaker you then need 2k worth of cable.

where was that at?

So your speaker is magically transformed to a 20k speaker. And people actually end up paying this kind of fool's tax, supporting companies of this kind. No wonder they convince themselves they actually heard a big difference.

He actually gave equation with capacitance and inductance.
it would be nice if cable manufactures hgave the inducatance and capacitance values.

He seemed like one of the few that was honest and had some knowledge in the subject.

Hence... A tough crowd.

 

[audiofooled]

where was that at?

19:54 "But as you all know, our ears and our hearing are very very sensitive" all the way to 20:20 he says that in our system if we change a cable we will hear a difference.

There's nothing wrong with what he says about capacitance and inductance and of course energy flows in the fields around the wires. But there's still no proof of audibility of any of the cable tweaks. As we all know, there are ways to prove it and he says nothing about that. If one is here to enlighten then one should not obscure either.

If manufacturers gave the inductance and capacitance values it would possibly be too technical and somewhat diminish all the "virgin copper" marketing gimmicks. I wouldn't say we are a tough crowd. If audibility is proven, I would be thankful. It would be nice to know.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Imagine the speed this guy could have achieved if he only lifted his cables!

That is what I call using an engineering degree! That was interesting, very cool and fun to watch. Amazing!

 

[teashea]

In this two-part video series, Roland Gauder, co-founder of German loudspeaker manufacturer Gauder Acoustics, explains the influence of speaker cables on sound.

At the beginning of the first and towards the end of the second video, he claims that the electromagnetic field surrounding cables is disturbed when they lie on the ground. For that reason he recommends to use cable lifters. Unfortunately he does not show any data...

I have always found that snakes produce more oil when they are lifted off the ground a few inches.

 

[teashea]

19:54 "But as you all know, our ears and our hearing are very very sensitive" all the way to 20:20 he says that in our system if we change a cable we will hear a difference.

There's nothing wrong with what he says about capacitance and inductance and of course energy flows in the fields around the wires. But there's still no proof of audibility of any of the cable tweaks. As we all know, there are ways to prove it and he says nothing about that. If one is here to enlighten then one should not obscure either.

If manufacturers gave the inductance and capacitance values it would possibly be too technical and somewhat diminish all the "virgin copper" marketing gimmicks. I wouldn't say we are a tough crowd. If audibility is proven, I would be thankful. It would be nice to know.

and that is the issue ------ no valid double blind test to dispell the snake oil.

 

[teashea]

Exactly. And he says our hearing is very very sensitive so we may hear a difference if we have a... high end system. I find this particularly annoying because inevitably it gets quantified such as for a 10k worth of speaker you then need 2k worth of cable. So your speaker is magically transformed to a 20k speaker. And people actually end up paying this kind of fool's tax, supporting companies of this kind. No wonder they convince themselves they actually heard a big difference.

Psychologically it is important to justify to one's self the expenditure of excessive quantities of money. It is pretyy rare for a person to spend $10K on cable and then actually admit it was a waste of money.

 

[teashea]

I cannot thank the OP enough for starting this thread.
It has had a catalytic effect on me.
In fact, I am starting a new audiophile tweak company later this afternoon.

Take audio system performance to a new level!
Forget cable lifters!!
Try Dr. Hardy's* floor lowerers!
Lower your physical floor and your noise floor at the same time!
30 day complete money back guarantee**.

___________________
* I'm a biochemist, but, hey, a doctorate's a doctorate, right?
** 45 day burn in required for best performance. Warranty void if product not broken in.

So, that is why they call it noise floor...........

 

[mhardy6647]

So, that is why they call it noise floor...........

rimshot!

 

[MarkS]

Wow! this is a tough crowd.
Most of what he was saying it accurate… even if it is unlikely to make an audible difference.

With all the other quantum derived stuff that is rooted in magic, it seems odd to pick out this video as a problem… IME.

OK, I am not actually going to waste my time by watching this, but as a physicist myself (PhD Stanford 1980), I'm going to guess that he did not bother to point out that cable resistance and inductance are typically several orders of magnitude smaller than speaker resistance and inductance, and hence almost always negligible, with no audible effect. And any changes caused by cable lifters would be many more orders of magnitude smaller still. (Well, unless your floor is solid steel, or some other good conductor; then the changes might be as large as the original inductance, but still audibly irrelevant.)

I first did calculations of this type in grad school. I'd bought some Polk Model 10s, and Polk was pushing one of the first specialty speaker cables in the audio world, with low inductance. I wanted to know if that could possibly matter. The answer I came to then is still the same today: no.