Engineer from AudioQuest cables on differences in speaker cable construction

B

Bluesmoke

Audioholic Chief
Hi guys,
It's been a while. I've been on hiatus for the better part of the past decade. Now I'm off work due to COVID19, so have some time to put my system together.
Pretty much all of my cables are DIY. So while researching current connectors and tech, I came across this with one of their engineers describing how cables have progressed in the last 40 years.


I don't know how good of an engineer he is, but he's a fantastic snake oi.....I mean fantastic salesman for the AudioQuest brand of cables.

Any truth to some of the venom he's spitting my way?
 
Speedskater

Speedskater

Audioholic General
Engineering 'Truth' and YouTubes don't go together. There is no way to analyze quote or discuss a YouTube. Is there a white paper?
 
S

sterling shoote

Audioholic Field Marshall
Here's what I know for sure from personal experience: First, the only problem I've ever had with cable was when I used the interconnect cable which came with my purchase of a Roxio Easy LP to MP3 kit that also included an analog to digital converter. The converter, as well as the cable produced hum. Second, all of my other interconnect cables, RCA, IEC 958, and Toslink are from Sony. They were advertised as being premium. No problem with these except Toslink sometimes does not lock into position causing loss of signal. Now, my speaker wire is 14 gauge from Monster, which is attached to speakers and amps via banana plugs. No problem with this arrangement as long as I don't trip over the cable to unplug it. At any rate, the 14 gauge speaker wire was what JBL recommended to get the best performance; and, so far, going back to 1986, it seems to be working, that's to say, I sense my audio/video system is presenting all there is in the groove/disc/stream to get. Thing is, I could be wrong about that, not having heard high cost AudioQuest interconnect or speaker cable. I do know there was an AudioQuest demonstration a few years back where the demonstrator manipulated the gain controls to favor more expensive cables. The divergence I hear in the YouTube piece when cables are changed suggests another track which was somewhat clipped was substituted too. No one would think to ask that question. Also, the raw material expense of copper wire extruded and spun to any notion just does not at all correlate with the consumer price for it. This makes me suspicious and totally uninterested in entertaining AudioQuest products.
 
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T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
A very nice commercial Oscilloscope costs around $15,000, a high end Adioquest speaker cable costs just a little less... the oscilloscopes replacement test leads are about $150.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Hi guys,
It's been a while. I've been on hiatus for the better part of the past decade. Now I'm off work due to COVID19, so have some time to put my system together.
Pretty much all of my cables are DIY. So while researching current connectors and tech, I came across this with one of their engineers describing how cables have progressed in the last 40 years.


I don't know how good of an engineer he is, but he's a fantastic snake oi.....I mean fantastic salesman for the AudioQuest brand of cables.

Any truth to some of the venom he's spitting my way?
How do you know he is an engineer? How do we know the cable design team at Audioquest include any competent, real engineers? I am not so sure.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Any truth to some of the venom he's spitting my way?
The simplest direct answer to your question is:
No, ignore what he says.​

If any of it were true, physics and electronics text books would have to be re-written.

To use more cautious language, one might say:
It is highly unlikely that there is any truth in what he says.​

The message is still the same.
 
NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
The simplest direct answer to your question is:
No, ignore what he says.​
If any of it were true, physics and electronics text books would have to be re-written.

To use more cautious language, one might say:
It is highly unlikely that there is any truth in what he says.​

The message is still the same.
I work in a high energy physics particle accelerator lab. We use straight up copper or fiber interconnects for our signal transfers, sometimes heavily shielded. ALL of them, including detectors, timing modules, radiation detectors, safety systems, amplifiers, power transfer, etc. Sometimes the differences between no signal and a signal that we're looking at are on the order of micro amps or micro volts. If there were any truth at all to any of this audiophool snake oil you can bet we'd be using it for improved signal transfer.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
When I saw the title I thought this was gonna be a pro-Audioquest thread. Now that would have provided some great entertainment for the day, lol.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I work in a high energy physics particle accelerator lab. We use straight up copper or fiber interconnects for our signal transfers, sometimes heavily shielded. ALL of them, including detectors, timing modules, radiation detectors, safety systems, amplifiers, power transfer, etc. Sometimes the differences between no signal and a signal that we're looking at are on the order of micro amps or micro volts. If there were any truth at all to any of this audiophool snake oil you can bet we'd be using it for improved signal transfer.
What?!?!? You mean you guys don't use silver core cable? What about all the missing information?
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
When I saw the title I thought this was gonna be a pro-Audioquest thread. Now that would have provided some great entertainment for the day, lol.
Right?! I'm under Shelter In Place restriction... I might just have to stir some sh!t up if nobody else does. This thread here, and this:
...were my early favorites for entertainment. :p
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Well I suppose Audioquest might be able to pay a real engineer to say what they want....or he's like an audio "engineer". Thanks for the chuckle, but I think I made the mistake of watching a few minutes of that idiocy before.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
When I saw the title I thought this was gonna be a pro-Audioquest thread. Now that would have provided some great entertainment for the day, lol.
It's getting better! ;)
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
I am feeling some pent up snake oil ranting rage and not getting any satisfaction here. The thread wasn't a claim for super cables. Nobody made golden ear claims. There weren't any $15,000 wonder toys to give me chocolately bass and smooth and "blue" high notes. Dang. Was looking forward to venting a bit. Somebody save us with some idiocy !
 
CajunLB

CajunLB

Senior Audioholic
I am feeling some pent up snake oil ranting rage and not getting any satisfaction here. The thread wasn't a claim for super cables. Nobody made golden ear claims. There weren't any $15,000 wonder toys to give me chocolately bass and smooth and "blue" high notes. Dang. Was looking forward to venting a bit. Somebody save us with some idiocy !
I thought Monster cable had the chocolately bass and Audioquest had chocolately midrange.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
It's getting better! ;)
I don't think I've poked in on that one yet...
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Hmm...maybe that's why we don't detect many neutrinos? ;)
Are you guys using an underground tank of water also? I read neutrinos can pass through solid lead a light year thick and not interact with any of it. Detecting them is a monstrous effort. Are they considered W.I.M.P. particles?
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I also read that when a star explodes the neutrinos will be imparted with way more energy than normal and the sheer volume and energies involved would make them tear everything apart before the radiation would get you.
 
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