Top Ten Signs of Cable Vendor Snake Oil

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>In order to help all fellow audioholics identify if a particular cable vendor is selling legitimately truthful product or snake oil, I have prepared a top ten list of common shams exotic cable vendors often use to lure unsuspecting audioholics into buying their products. &nbsp;Feel free to expand upon this list if I missed any &nbsp;

Top Ten Signs an Audio Cable Vendor is Selling You Snake Oil</font>

 

[2x6spds]

<font color='#000000'>I have a pair of Mapleshade Double Golden Helix Plus speaker wires in my tube amp system. They're weirdly thin. I didn't get the cable lifts. But I did run my wire through wooden thread spindles to keep them off the synthetic fiber carpet. (Bad vibes, evil dielectric interaction.)  I like the speaker cables. Altogether my sweetest sounding system.

Just a small swig of snake oil never killed anyone ... probably ... maybe not though, snakes and all ...</font>

 

[Audioholics]

<font color='#000080'>Haha, I voted for cable elevators before reading the second post! That's definitely my favorite one...

I think everyone has a right to use whatever cables they want, and experiment with the vendors' claims - but to tout the voodoo &quot;science&quot; behind them (in order to make an expensive sale) is what's dishonest and incorrect... Not to mention charging an arm and a leg for some of the ones that are basically long capacitors.</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Back in my college days, I had enough EM classes and Trans Lines and Waveguides classes to not fall for these rediculous claims. If one even dares to question a person at an &quot;audio&quot; shop, their attitude suddenly changes towards you.

I use Monster but that's because it's easy to get and from what I've seen, it's cheaper than most other cable yet everyone complains how expensive it is.

I'd say the cryogenically freezing process is the most obvious cable sham...

Doug</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Sorry, delete one of those previous posts... My bad...

Doug</font>

 

[PaulF]

<font color='#000000'>I would vote for bonus #2, but it's not an option. I've even seen articles supporting this.</font>

 

[Dan Banquer]

<font color='#000000'>Well I'm certainly grateful that you had the foresight not to name kosher chicken fat as a cable scam.  

My grandmother knows more about cable treatment than any of those idiots who treat their cables with snake oil.
             Go Red Sox!
                                d.b.</font>

 

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Dan;

Kosher chicken fat works wonders on my cables. &nbsp;Thanks for the tip. &nbsp;Now they are so slippery that I don't have to worry about my daughter pulling my speaker cables off from my speakers &nbsp;

Clint;

I am in full agreement. &nbsp;I don't have a problem with a cable vendor selling very expensive and cosmetically pleasing cables providing the cables measure well and the vendor doesn't use psuedo based Star Trek physics to rationalize their prices.

If they would just come out and say &quot;Our cables perform at least as well as $.50/ft 12AWG Zip Cord, but are much prettier, and built better (IE. better terminations, nicer looking dielectric), we can stop debunking cable snake oil and move on to far more important topics like room treatments, system calibration, and speaker design.</font>

 

[heebz6020]

<font color='#000000'>I too have to agree with the &quot;Monster is sooo expensive&quot; claims out there. While I will agree that there are some good priced cable's &nbsp;out there, Monsters are priced pretty competitively to others, and far less than some. &nbsp; IMHO Monsters are built decently enough, and provide good performance. and thats not a knock on other cable makers in that price range. I think Monster gets a bad rap, and is one of those &quot;love to hate&quot; companies.

BTW, I love the &quot;break in&quot; claims that cable dealers make. I think it makes the electrons flow better....or something like that.

Matt</font>

 

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Matt;

I suspect that the snake oil vendors tout &quot;break-in&quot; so that the consumer will keep the product for longer than the return policy. &nbsp;Also, statistically if a consumer doesn't return a product within a weeks time, they are less likely to do so thereafter.

As for Monster products, they are well built and usually measure well. &nbsp;The only problem I have had with many of their RCA type cables is the barrel is to narrow causing me to almost break the RCA plugs off of my electronics when putting them on or off. &nbsp;And yes, I do twist while doing this procedure, but it still can be too challenging. &nbsp;I really love the WBT locking RCA plugs that Kimber uses on his cables, but they are very expensive &nbsp;

</font>

 

[2x6spds]

hawke : <font color='#000000'>Haha, I voted for cable elevators before reading the second post! That's definitely my favorite one...

I think everyone has a right to use whatever cables they want, and experiment with the vendors' claims - but to tout the voodoo &quot;science&quot; behind them (in order to make an expensive sale) is what's dishonest and incorrect... Not to mention charging an arm and a leg for some of the ones that are basically long capacitors.</font>

<font color='#000000'>Hello Hawke

I have an idea for a shoot-out.

I'd love to see you do a comparison between a bunch of cables whose manufacturers tout lifts, elevators, dilithium regenerators, skin cream, and other varieties of snake oil vs. the top performers from some of your previous cable tests.

If you do this test, please include one of my favorite varieties of speaker wire, the Mapleshade Clearview Double Golden Helix wires with the mysterious &quot;plus&quot; treatment, or if you do an interconnect test, then their micro-omega, excalibur ribbon, etc.

Hope you have the time!!

Thanks</font>

 

[heebz6020]

<font color='#000000'>Gene,
<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The only problem I have had with many of their RCA type cables is the barrel is to narrow causing me to almost break the RCA plugs off of my electronics when putting them on or off.</td></tr></table>

I will agree with you there! I tried moving some wires around a few days ago, and pulled the Monster Video 3's &nbsp;from the back of my Mits...I was very worried that the component inputs were going to come right off with them, even with twisting.

Matt</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>My favorite is hooking a battery to the speaker cable...ingenious!

</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>I have a comment about &quot;bonus #2&quot; on the top 10. Many interconnect cable ARE directional, The shielding is grounded only at the source end, if it were grounded at both endes there would be no point to the shielding, although I will admit I'm not sure if grounding it at the &quot;destination&quot; end would affect anything.

</font>

 

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Brendon;

Yes we are aware of those types of cables and if you notice, I said &quot;...vendors claim wire is directional&quot; not the actual shielded end product cable. &nbsp;Anyone claiming physical wire has directional properties should easily be able to prove it with a repeatable peer reviewed measurement technique. &nbsp;To date, I haven't seen any.</font>

 

[goodman]

<font color='#000000'>Thanks for the snake oil tip sheet.  This is what I suspected all along.  
   My Monster biwire is all together in one sheath.  I read somewhere that the wires should be in two separate sheaths and kept a couple of inches apart to keep the &quot;fields&quot; along the wires from interfering with each other.  Is this for real or is it just another snake oil or grandma's chicken fat story?
   Do you have any snake oil wisdom to impart about line conditioners?</font>

 

[Guest]

Guest : If one even dares to question a person at an &quot;audio&quot; shop, their attitude suddenly changes towards you.

Doug,

If you think the guys in the &quot;audio&quot; shops are bad, try questioning the people that frequent the cable-cult forums like AA. They will leave no doubt that you have offended their faith.

The reaction you see is the best substitute they have for a rational response.

RADAR O'Riley</font>

 

[Guest]

Dan Banquer : Well I'm certainly grateful that you had the foresight not to name kosher chicken fat as a cable scam.

My grandmother knows more about cable treatment than any of those idiots who treat their cables with snake oil.

Dan, would that be fat from a cosher chicken, or cosher fat from any old chicken we might find laying around. If we're going to verify your findings we have to be sure we get the details right.

R.O.</font>

 

[Guest]

Guest : <font color='#000000'>Many interconnect cable ARE directional, The shielding is grounded only at the source end</font>

<font color='#000000'>Hi Drendon,

I'm familiar with the construction of a few varieties of interconnect and speaker wire that is sold with the little arrows. &nbsp;In every instance I've seen, the cables are totally non-directional, totally symmetrical, and there is absolutely no justification for the little arrows. &nbsp;In fact, I know of one company that sells cables they make from coax they buy from a company that puts the little arrows on to increase audiophile appeal. &nbsp;They don't want to sell the snake oil, so they use a solvent to remove the arrows after they make up the cable. &nbsp;Interestingly, they had to put an additional bit of documentation in with their cables, because they were getting too many calls from concerned customers who were not sure how to use the cables without the arrows. &nbsp;!!! &nbsp;The myth is extremely popular, and some even believe that changing the direction of the cable produces a situation under which that dreaded break-in has to be done all over again.

BTW, at least one golden eared reviewer has reported that the wire with the arrows is directional, while the wire with the arrows removed isn't. &nbsp;He still doesn't know that the only difference was the arrows. &nbsp;You gotta love the way some of the guys make themselves look so silly.

There are times with it is necessary to float the ground at one end of an interconnect, to eliminate ground loops. &nbsp;I have not seen any situation where it made any difference which end was disconnected, but then there are many things I've never seen.

Arrows on speaker wires? &nbsp;No ground to float, so what is the justification in that case?

If a company is selling speaker wire with arrows on it, they are selling myths, and I personally don't do any business with such companies. &nbsp;I try to avoid doing business with crooks whenever possible.


R.O.</font>

 

[Dan Banquer]

<font color='#000000'>Hi Radar;
 First of all Kosher is spelled with a K not a C. It's not Kosher when you spell it with a C.

Any old chicken will do as long as it's kosher. If you want documentation on that you can contact my grandmother if and when you get to Heaven. I warn you that she will give you an earful.
 

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