Quality audio cables .... a myth ?

Can of worms. You should read some of the threads over at avscience.com. Yikes, it gets down right ugly.

Agreed... the problem with this is that there are essentially three classes of people:

1) Know and understand the data. We all already understand the realities of this issue.

2) Are completely ignorant of the issue... yes, there are tons of people who get ripped off at Best Buy because they don't know any better.

3) Don't care... there are audiophiles who will continue to insist they know the difference despite all evidence to the contrary, and there's no use in arguing with them.

So the only people you can really reach at this point are category two...

Although, I do have to say... a coat hanger... what kind of idiotic test is that? A coat hanger is a thick, rigid piece of metal. Of course it transmits audio extremely well. If I could run rigid cables between my equipment I could transmit audio extremely well for 50 cents, too....

Disagree, using a coat hanger is a great choice because they're CHEAP and free since we've all go them in our homes. All speaker wire is metal so thats the point. Can you tell the difference between a $15 cable and a $300 cable? What is the difference and does it really matter? Apparently not. I always thought those monster cables were a bit fishy, you can buy them for guitar amps as well....amps that use WWII technology. I wondered how much of a difference it really made? I never doubted the specs and science made them a superior manufactured product....BUT did it sound better, that was the important question.

MowingDevil said:

Disagree, using a coat hanger is a great choice because they're CHEAP and free since we've all go them in our homes.

Click to expand...

My point was just that they're not flexible. It would be a PITA to route rigid wires. But yes, they'd sound fabulous, and they'd be really cheap.

Courtesy of forum moderator, Wintermute, who spends a lot of time in the Digital Audio forum and is an experienced sound engineer... this article about speaker cables, which he is fond of signposting when questions like this come up.

'High quality audio cables' are a complete and total myth. You want a high-quality, thick speaker cable? Go down to your local dollar store, grab yourself a cheap hefty extension cable, and cut off the ends.

What you're paying for when you pay for 'quality' audio cables (I'm not talking Monster cables here--that is just plain stupidity) is the connectors. If you are working in an environment where you are constantly plugging in and unplugging your cables, say, live sound or in a studio, if your cables have shoddy connectors, you will either spend a lot of time fixing them or a lot of money buying new ones.

If you're getting cables for your stereo that are going to be plugged in once and never removed, you are only fooling yourself (and your wallet) by buying hundred-dollar audio cables. A copper cable is a copper cable is a copper cable. Copper on its own is already way more conductive than you will ever need for audio purposes, and audio cables--even cheap ones--are usually made with oxygen-free copper, which is even better.

Save your money for better speakers or something.