KLUDGE@AGCB1.LARC.NASA.GOV (03/06/91)
Theory of the week: It's not difficult to make cables that are neutral and have no real effect on the sound. RG-58 is an excellent example; it has a fairly flat response from DC well into the VHF range, good shielding, and no excessive resistance. But it's possible (and maybe even desirable) to make cables which are anything but neutral, cables which are designed to cause phase shifts or to have slightly uneven response. Even 1/2 dB peaks or dips can cause audible changes, and these changes may compensate for those of equipment or exaggerate them. Most of the fancy cables on the market seem to be designed to be anything but neutral; many of them sound better in some installations than neutral cables and many of them sound worse. So what's the solution? Get yourself a nice dull cable. RG-58. Canare. DL-5532. Even the Canare and Mogami star-quad cables seem to have odd effects when wired for unbalanced lines, but they seem to be as neutral as possible on balanced wiring. At least as balanced as good twinax. --scott By the way, for the fellow who asked about Tice Pulse Technology, those people are completely off their nut. They don't seem to know anything at all about transmission line theory at all, or really anything about electrical engineering. TPT is to audio what Rajneesh is to religion it seems.