After my speaker wire test I did a week or so ago and reading the thread about preamp hookups, I got to thinking if there'd be any difference in sound quality with different interconnects.
My current setup is my Pioneer Elite 94 hooked up preamp out to my trusty Sunfire Cinema Grand. Currently I'm using my old Monster M1000 interconnects. I got these years ago, so don't hassle me. I have a box full of cables and found some generic albeit sturdy RCA cables. I figured I'd give into some more testing and got my neighbor to help me once again to make it a bit more scientific though I'm sure it's not completely so.
Anyway, I once again listened to my 3 discs that I know very very well. I listened to my current setup first, then had John swap cables or maybe not swap cables and relistened, then swapped again and again. I quit after 6 rounds, because I could hear zero difference... either both casually in the grand scheme of things nor in any focused specific way. I could not detect any tangible or intangible difference.
For the helluva it, we did attach these cheap red/white cables he had and tried those. It was funny, but John immediately said it sounded different. I thought so too, but then thought because I knew they were crappy cables, that my mind made me believe I was hearing something. So with this new theory, I had John sit and listen and I swapped cables. The first time, I told him I was swapping, but didn't. He said it sounded the same. The next time, I still pretended to swap but didn't, he said it sounded the same. The next time, I did hook the M1000's back up and he right away noticed the difference.
Interesting....
Well this is what I've come up with... my opinions only... is that good solid quality cables bring things to even levels or at least so much so that I cannot discern any difference whatsoever. The cheap cables affected the quality in this way - detail. On Barcelona Nights from SPIES, there was noticably absent nuance of the inhaling of the singer just before he belted out a big note... the horns sounded ... well different. The only way I can describe it is that music sounded thin and lacked texture. On Dire Straights, Every Street, the song You and Your friend, which is the very first song I ever heard on Def Techs when they origiinally came out with the BP2000 while I was in colleges years back, is one of those songs where you "feel" the music. You can feel the actual hard plucking of the steel guitar and on a good system, if you close your eyes, you can almost convince yourself they're right there. That feeling was diminished if not gone. You just didn't feel the pluck. It sounded fine, but music was missing that intangible quality.. the thing you just can't put your finger on, but you know is there.
Granted, that listening was subjective because I knew we had those cables hooked up and it could be said that my mind was playing tricks on me, but I don't think I was reaching... not this time.
So my conclusion for preamp/amp interconnects: Quality cables do make a difference... but you don't need $150/pair cables, just good solid cables. It's nice to just confirm what I already know and what we preach around here all the time.
