simple wire question

Sonny ReVerb · Post by **Sonny ReVerb** » Sun May 30, 2010 2:50 pm

billyz wrote:To call someone a Fool because their opinion/experience is different than yours is well, in my opinion PHOOLISH.

Please don't take offense, I was trying to be funny. I wasn't questioning your opinion/experience. I just meant you have to take those vendor provided offers of proof with a grain of salt.

billyz wrote:And finally, KF believed insulators made a difference.

Didn't KF believe he could hear differences in wire with different 'color' insulation? I can't seem to find the reference. I've heard about 'black wire disease', so maybe that was a factor.

billyz · Post by **billyz** » Sun May 30, 2010 3:15 pm

Sonny ReVerb wrote:
billyz wrote:To call someone a Fool because their opinion/experience is different than yours is well, in my opinion PHOOLISH.
Please don't take offense, I was trying to be funny. I wasn't questioning your opinion/experience. I just meant you have to take those vendor provided offers of proof with a grain of salt.

billyz wrote:And finally, KF believed insulators made a difference.
Didn't KF believe he could hear differences in wire with different 'color' insulation? I can't seem to find the reference. I've heard about 'black wire disease', so maybe that was a factor.

Sonny, no offense taken at all. It's all good.

This is after all a forum, or is it a soapbox.

jammybstard · Post by **jammybstard** » Sun May 30, 2010 5:36 pm

I was also not calling anyone present a Phool, I was just refering to the culture/religion of the HIFI where all sorts of daft amounts of money are spent on such things as Silver plated power plugs and gold capped (audio tuning) Fuses. Some people will belive anything what HiFi tell them.

[img:292:204]http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue3 ... s/fuse.jpg[/img] = $30

Structo · Post by **Structo** » Sun May 30, 2010 5:42 pm

I think we all have seen the $350 wooden control knobs.....

Remember a while back someone was pushing the $350 power cords?

I think the response was, how does the last six feet of power cable change the 50ft of power cable to your house, not to mention the house wiring.

I believe the audiophiles are just into their hobby such as we are.
There have been pretty hot debates about caps before and metal verses carbon resistors, etc.
The Hi Fi gang get off on expensive gear which is fine to me.
I'd bet they cringe at the stuff we do to amps.

Just don't try to make my guitar amp too hi fi.

Sonny ReVerb · Post by **Sonny ReVerb** » Sun May 30, 2010 6:28 pm

I found the KF comment I referred to in my earlier post. It's from the Dave Hunter book.

KF wrote:<Q> You put a lot of thought even into wire selection?

<A> Yeah, a lot of thought, and a lot of experimenting. Will the solid core sound better than stranded wire? And if it does, is there a difference between thick-stranded and fine-stranded? Does it sound better with polyvinyl-chloride [PVC] insulation? Does it sound better with irradiated polyvinyl-chloride insulation? Teflon insulation? What brand of potentiometer, carbon-comp resistors, carbon film, metal film – what are their benefits, what are their pitfalls. And a resistor that’s used in a power supply circuit will sound different than when it’s used in a preamp circuit. Stuff like that. And especially, neatness in wiring counts. And wire has a polarity, which most people don’t know. If you take a guitar cable and plug it into the amp one way, then you take it out and plug it in the other way, your guitar will sound different. Putting tube shields on and off will change the sound of the amp. The color of the insulation on the wire, the pigment they add to the covering material of the wire, can change the dielectric absorption of the wire. So these are like the microscopic points that I get into.

Here's the whole segment. He makes some further comments on PVC vs. Teflon, as well. Interesting read...

He must have those 'dog ears', know what I mean, Verne?

billyz · Post by **billyz** » Sun May 30, 2010 7:00 pm

I agree , there is a culture/religion in the Hifi community. There is here too.

It is hard to separate the fact from the fiction , hype from truth. And some people can hear the difference and they can measure it, sometimes they cannot measure it , but accept it, even if they don't understand it.

I don't buy into everything the hifier's sell. Nor do I buy everything the guitar amp makers sell. But, I do prefer to keep an open mind in case I might learn something. I am not going to let the sham artist and promoters keep me from continuing the journey.

I don't think it is productive to use derisive terms to put down another group of music lovers. After all, we are pretty closely related.

While they use their equipment to reproduce sound , we use ours to produce sound. They understand and appreciate the difference and we can too.

BTW, there is some sound science behind the power cord effect and I have experienced it too. But , I better leave well enough alone or I might get banned from this little forum of believers.

peace