Cheap cable raisers, do they make a difference ?

[617]

Please generate the data and share your results.

What would that experiment even look like? I'd buy several identical cable risers at different prices? Or are we assuming the differently priced cable risers are different in construction? If so, they aren't a valid control.

Scientistic speculation is just as tiresome as superstitious speculation, that's all I'm saying.

 

[Leporello]

It was a suggestion for anybody who wanted to hear for themselves whether cable risers make a difference, using something they may already have available instead of spending money just to try.

I figured what the heck and gave it a try. It made absolutely no audible difference whatsoever. Zilch, nada, rien.

I wonder if your system is resolving enough.

 

[terryforsythe]

What would that experiment even look like? I'd buy several identical cable risers at different prices? Or are we assuming the differently priced cable risers are different in construction? If so, they aren't a valid control.

As Amir's testing has repeatedly shown, in audio price often bares little to no correlation with performance. There is no need to buy cable risers. Save yourself the money, and just use wood blocks, toilet paper tubes or plastic Solo cups for your experiment. By far, the most significant factor for the experiment will be the distance between the cables and the floor. Just avoid using metal in your risers.

Side note, plastic does have a dielectric constant higher than air, but given the thickness of the walls of a Solo cup and the height of a Solo cup, the impact of Solo cups being plastic is negligible.

 

[terryforsythe]

I wonder if your system is resolving enough.

All solid state, so probably not in the minds of some people.

 

[terryforsythe]

Here are measurements I just made using a 2m speaker cable. The speaker cable is a 12 AWG, stranded, oxygen free copper 2-conductor cable. The conductors are NOT twisted. The cable width and height, with insulation, are 10 mm x 4.5 mm.

For capacitance measurements the far end of the cable was open. For Inductance measurements the far end of the cable was shorted. All measurements were made at the near end.

For the floor measurements I laid the cable as flat as I could, but it was not perfect. For the in air measurements I stood on a chair and let the cable hang down from the LCR meter's measurement leads. Measurements were made with a Hantek1833C Handheld LCR Meter, calibrated according to the instruction manual. All flooring surfaces are laid over a concrete slab with Rebar therein.

Capacitance
Frequency | In Air | On Wood Floor | On Porcelain Tile | On Carpet over Tile
1 kHz | 123 pF | 133 pF | 133 pF | 124 pF
10 kHz | 115 pF | 123 pF | 123 pF | 115 pF

Inductance
Frequency | In Air | On Wood Floor | On Porcelain Tile | On Carpet over Tile
1 kHz | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH
10 kHz | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH

The floor had no measurable impact on the inductance measurements. The floor had, at worst, a 10 pF impact on capacitance measurements. The impact of this at audio frequencies is not audible.

 

[mhardy6647]

What would that experiment even look like? I'd buy several identical cable risers at different prices? Or are we assuming the differently priced cable risers are different in construction? If so, they aren't a valid control.

Scientistic speculation is just as tiresome as superstitious speculation, that's all I'm saying.

The salient variable, I think, is (i.e., would be) distance... i.e., height.

 

[617]

Here are measurements I just made using a 2m speaker cable. The speaker cable is a 12 AWG, stranded, oxygen free copper 2-conductor cable. The conductors are NOT twisted. The cable width and height, with insulation, are 10 mm x 4.5 mm.

For capacitance measurements the far end of the cable was open. For Inductance measurements the far end of the cable was shorted. All measurements were made at the near end.

For the floor measurements I laid the cable as flat as I could, but it was not perfect. For the in air measurements I stood on a chair and let the cable hang down from the LCR meter's measurement leads. Measurements were made with a Hantek1833C Handheld LCR Meter, calibrated according to the instruction manual. All flooring surfaces are laid over a concrete slab with Rebar therein.

Capacitance
Frequency | In Air | On Wood Floor | On Porcelain Tile | On Carpet over Tile
1 kHz | 123 pF | 133 pF | 133 pF | 124 pF
10 kHz | 115 pF | 123 pF | 123 pF | 115 pF

Inductance
Frequency | In Air | On Wood Floor | On Porcelain Tile | On Carpet over Tile
1 kHz | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH
10 kHz | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH

The floor had no measurable impact on the inductance measurements. The floor had, at worst, a 10 pF impact on capacitance measurements. The impact of this at audio frequencies is not audible.

I respect your diligence, but audio is a sensory phenomena - you need to approach these tests psychoacoustically.

Here's my suggested experiment design - create a panel of listeners and have them sit in front of the stereo listening to their choice of music blindfolded. Make sure the cable risers are installed correctly. Have the listeners assess sound quality every 40 seconds. In another room, hold an auction for cable risers, and have a variety of buyers purchase identical cable risers for a variety of prices. Conduct a sale every 40 seconds, and record the sale price each time.

 

[cong314159]

First, no they don’t make any difference. Second, when people ask if something makes a difference, why not just listen for themselves? Why do they ask?

 

[terryforsythe]

Here's my suggested experiment design - create a panel of listeners and have them sit in front of the stereo listening to their choice of music blindfolded. Make sure the cable risers are installed correctly. Have the listeners assess sound quality every 40 seconds. In another room, hold an auction for cable risers, and have a variety of buyers purchase identical cable risers for a variety of prices. Conduct a sale every 40 seconds, and record the sale price each time.

Please perform the experiment as you suggest and let us know the results. I think I know what the results will be, but nonetheless it will be beneficial to the community to have a scientific study that confirms results, whatever they happen to be.

 

[rank]

They make a huge difference when listening with an extremely resolving Naim statement.

 

[terryforsythe]

In another room, hold an auction for cable risers, and have a variety of buyers purchase identical cable risers for a variety of prices. Conduct a sale every 40 seconds, and record the sale price each time.

You need to try out my new speaker cable line. The background is that an audiophile friend of mine got food poisoning and had an unfortunate accident on his speaker cables. After that, though, he realized that the his system sounded much better than ever before, more clear, airy and detailed, and much tighter bass response. So, I run burn-in on my cables in a septic tank, using Baby Shark Do Doo Do Doo running on continuous loop through a tube amplifier. I don't charge for the cables themselves for lengths up to two meters, but only charge for the burn-in time, which is $1,000/hr. per cable. Cables are only sold in pairs, and the minimum burn in time is 100 hours, but I recommend a minimum of 500 hours. With coupon code "Doo Doo" I will add an additional 20% to the price, which makes the cables sound even better because, as we all know, the more money you spend, the better it sounds, right?

EDIT: And, for an extra $50,000, I also will provide cable risers that have been burned in using the same technique. Too good of a deal to pass up, really.

EDIT 2: Proof of concept that use of the septic tank will make them better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak
If I get enough cable pre-order deposits, I will try to get some Asian palm civets or monkeys to contribute to the septic tank.

 

[terryforsythe]

They make a =ce when listening with a Naim statement.

???

 

[sealman]

Everyone knows the Cinnamon ones give better bass response

I bet the maple ones give you that warm tubelike sound!

 

[Platypus20]

Are the risers evenly spaced or is the spacing random ??

 

[terryforsythe]

Are the risers evenly spaced or is the spacing random ??

It doesn't matter.

Here are measurements I just made using a 2m speaker cable. The speaker cable is a 12 AWG, stranded, oxygen free copper 2-conductor cable. The conductors are NOT twisted. The cable width and height, with insulation, are 10 mm x 4.5 mm.

For capacitance measurements the far end of the cable was open. For Inductance measurements the far end of the cable was shorted. All measurements were made at the near end.

For the floor measurements I laid the cable as flat as I could, but it was not perfect. For the in air measurements I stood on a chair and let the cable hang down from the LCR meter's measurement leads. Measurements were made with a Hantek1833C Handheld LCR Meter, calibrated according to the instruction manual. All flooring surfaces are laid over a concrete slab with Rebar therein.

Capacitance
Frequency | In Air | On Wood Floor | On Porcelain Tile | On Carpet over Tile
1 kHz | 123 pF | 133 pF | 133 pF | 124 pF
10 kHz | 115 pF | 123 pF | 123 pF | 115 pF

Inductance
Frequency | In Air | On Wood Floor | On Porcelain Tile | On Carpet over Tile
1 kHz | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH | 1.4 uH
10 kHz | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH | 1.7 uH

The floor had no measurable impact on the inductance measurements. The floor had, at worst, a 10 pF impact on capacitance measurements. The impact of this at audio frequencies is not audible.

 

[mhardy6647]

Are the risers evenly spaced or is the spacing random ??

Spacing via Fibonacci sequence FTW.

 

[Leporello]

Are the risers evenly spaced or is the spacing random ??

The spacing must be random in order to prevent the correlation with the Schumann resonance. A bit like cosmic dither, that is.

 

[Salt]

But don't forget to place them in random heights to avoid resonance....

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Possibly already mentioned, but tall ones must make for a potentially fatal trip hazard. So there is that.

 

[gasolin75]

I mean those products you posted are cable organizers, not risers. So if having your cables look neater is of value for you then those can work just fine.

If you mean me, they are a cheap way of raise,lifting the cable + move the cables a little away from power cables

Have some of you if we have to be critical thought about if the hight of cable raiser matter ?

They raise speaker,lift cables but does it matter by how much ?