Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Off Topic Can't get away from snake oil

And of course (some of) the journalism.... So many people these days believe literally everything they read on paper / in the interweb (!) & see on tv unfortunately, so if a "reputable" publication writes that a cable changes sound immeasurably, it must be right ! To butcher a quote quite unashamedly, we should of course keep an open mind about things - but not so open that our brains fall out !
In these cases the explanation is already relatively well understood - the "sound" that an instrument creates is related to it's resonant frequencies, which is directly related to it's construction & the material properties involved.
If you change the metals or coatings used on a sax (as mentioned at the beginning of this thread) then you change the resonant frequency by fractions of a % as the material density & stiffness is only marginally changed (relatively) - almost certainly inaudibly - but it could be calcluated & related to the sound produced if you wanted to do that.
With materials that are relatively low-density, such as wood, you have a different scenario as the material isn't necessarily homogenous and isn't "made" in controlled conditions (seemingly identical woods can be very different structurally) - but the % differences in density & stiffnesses between various woods can be tremendous - which would be the engineering reason behind Meridian selecting very dense & slow-growing wood - and possibly the "lucky find" of Stradivarius when he discovered he could construct violins of a specific & repeatable type by using a specific variety of wood.
All IMHO, but backed-up with some well-understood Engineering principals - feel free to tear my post apart !