I've built a cable comparator. It's a bit basic but seems to be effective. I'd be interested in views of the concept.
I run the two speaker cables for comparison from each channel of a stereop amplifier. Both cables connect to a box at the speaker. In the box there is a two pole change over power relay. The output from that is fed by short cables to the speaker. One of these boxes exists at each speaker.
The relays are driven from a common control from a 12V battery and box at the listening seat. I placed an led in series with the 12V supply - serves handily as an indicator of when the relays are on, ..........and as a fuse ....
The relays are controlled by a 12 way rotary switch. Every second way turns the relays on. A round knob is used with no marker or indication.
Operation is simple - by the time I'd soldered the speaker boxes together I'd forgotten which plugs are nc and which no - but that doesn't matter - it's just another level of obfuscation. Connect the speaker leads being careful to make sure the same type go to the same connections on each side.
Don't look at the led, hide the box, close eyes, whatever.....- rotate the knob randomly a few times - by then you have no idea whehter the relay s are energised or not, let alone which cable is selected. Listen as long as you wish. Swap to the adjacent switch position (the relays change state - the other cable is selected). Listen again. Swap back and forth as much as wished. Try to identify which cable is which by whatever differences are detected. Make the decision and check the led. Record the state - on - or off. Rinse and repeat. Do this however many time is needed for a statistically valid test (which is how many? - gets a bit boring past about 12). Finally, if indeed anything better than random result is noted, with the switch in a known state determine which lead is which by unplugging one.
The amplifier is a high quality SS design with low output impedance. Speakers are B&W 800D3 so not an easy load. The user can choose any music via Roon.
There's nothing absolute about this except to demonstrate whether a user can tell the difference between the two compared speaker cables. in my set up
Does this make sense or have I missed some point that invalidates everything? Is there any value in doing so anyway?
I run the two speaker cables for comparison from each channel of a stereop amplifier. Both cables connect to a box at the speaker. In the box there is a two pole change over power relay. The output from that is fed by short cables to the speaker. One of these boxes exists at each speaker.
The relays are driven from a common control from a 12V battery and box at the listening seat. I placed an led in series with the 12V supply - serves handily as an indicator of when the relays are on, ..........and as a fuse ....
The relays are controlled by a 12 way rotary switch. Every second way turns the relays on. A round knob is used with no marker or indication.
Operation is simple - by the time I'd soldered the speaker boxes together I'd forgotten which plugs are nc and which no - but that doesn't matter - it's just another level of obfuscation. Connect the speaker leads being careful to make sure the same type go to the same connections on each side.
Don't look at the led, hide the box, close eyes, whatever.....- rotate the knob randomly a few times - by then you have no idea whehter the relay s are energised or not, let alone which cable is selected. Listen as long as you wish. Swap to the adjacent switch position (the relays change state - the other cable is selected). Listen again. Swap back and forth as much as wished. Try to identify which cable is which by whatever differences are detected. Make the decision and check the led. Record the state - on - or off. Rinse and repeat. Do this however many time is needed for a statistically valid test (which is how many? - gets a bit boring past about 12). Finally, if indeed anything better than random result is noted, with the switch in a known state determine which lead is which by unplugging one.
The amplifier is a high quality SS design with low output impedance. Speakers are B&W 800D3 so not an easy load. The user can choose any music via Roon.
There's nothing absolute about this except to demonstrate whether a user can tell the difference between the two compared speaker cables. in my set up
Does this make sense or have I missed some point that invalidates everything? Is there any value in doing so anyway?