Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems My journey with Meridian (and Shunyata, AQVOX etc)

I agree. And pipe lagging can be applied in places where ordinary cable lifters like the Russ Andrews couldn't be applied. The objective is to eliminate direct contact between cables and everything else such as other cables, racks and walls.

They're cheap enough to give them a listen and find out.

Russ has a slightly different philosophy about system supports than most. However, in my experience, his approach works very well in practice, regardless of whichever theory one wishes to subscribe to.

I believe the normal 60-day money back guarantee applies, so you're not taking much of a risk in trying.

All interesting stuff. Any suggestions about the science involved here?

My science lessons were a long time ago, however I think the physics is likely that electricity flowing through a conductor creates a magnetic and electromagnetic field.

Conversely, a changing magnetic or electromagnetic field (even if it’s the conductor that is vibrating) generates electricity which is superimposed on the original signal and becomes noise.

The speakerlink cables :
Are shielded to reduce EMF / RFI noise
Use twisted pair and balanced topology to reject noise
Are a digital channel, so any noise that gets through is non analogous and rejected

I often wonder what percentage of audiophiles who obsess on the minuscule, bother with things like room treatment?

For a view of the science see here and here .

Both links are sound engineering, albeit both based in the analogue domain.

I'm not doubting these things exist and can be shown to affect the signal, it's just the differences would be so minimal in the digital channel and it's carrier (speakerlink cable) to make it insignificant in the larger picture.

If we were talking a valve based moving coil phono cartridge amplifier, microphonics and EMF/RFI noise are extremely relevant, in a digital cable, not really an issue.

I have no doubt that you know considerably more about this than I do. Please forgive me if I write something stupid! I think the points are:

1. Many components that make up our equipment vibrate when an electrical charge is passed through them. This degrades performance in itself. Some of those components that are linked together (eg part of a circuit or wired together) will be microphonic, thereby increasing the degradation. This gets passed around the complete system by our cables causing further damage and microphonic effects.
2. Vibration can be picked up from floors, walls, racks etc and transmitted by all our cables and cords. This may not necessarily have a direct impact on the signals or charges passing through those cables and cords but will be transmitted to our electrical equipment where it will cause similar damage to that outlined above.

I have obviously over-simplified but I hope it gives some idea as to why treating cords and cables with lagging might prove beneficial. I certainly found it so and for an expenditure of less than £10.

Obsess implies a negative connotation which may not represent the reality of audiophiles who simply incline towards open-minded experimentation.

Minuscule assigns a value to the relative importance of room treatment implying it outweighs other changes, but this might depend on the system, room, furnishing, and many other factors, including (perhaps most importantly) which change the listener finds more satisfying.

Over 25 years of experimentation with such things has aligned my personal view with Bob Stuart - that above a certain level of performance [i]everything[/i] makes a difference, including cabling (even digital, as his post suggests), supports, room treatment, etc., etc.

Funny you should say that as when I asked him about quality/purity of power supply (factory tour) he said that all that was done inside the speaker.

I’m really open to tweaks and am often pleasantly surprised. However there ARE explanations for these things. John Swenson explains everything he does in the open and debates with EEs on the topic. That I hear and understand.

Microphony, EMI and RFI are not new ideas. You’d hope Bob Stuart was aware of them when deciding what power cable to use.

Re Science, the question was really a scientific explanation of how a power lead can reduce these effects, and if these effects are actually audible in the first place. Shielded cable - JSSG? That’s a two bob fix.

There’s plenty of science going on, clocking, purity of power on the DC side (what the AC becomes...) but it’s more about grounding, ripple, isolation etc rather than a conductor wire.

Always interested in the science especially if it’s post Bob science, having developed a £40k pair of speakers and forgotten all about the cable!

The FUD associated with aftermarket cables plays on audiophiles sensibilities, that said, taken as a hobby, it gives them something to do.

The effect of analogue noise on a digital interconnect in a well designed system is minuscule to the point of irrelevance.

I infer that he means the analogue side, where noise that gets onto the signal will become part of the signal's waveform and is either in the audible range (easily heard) or can effect the circuits in a deleterious way (intermodulation distortion for example).

Correct, once noise is in there, it will always be there; in the analogue world, this is why gain structure is so important, maximum gain on the first stage so any further noise isn't amplified and ideally attenuated down the line.

Even in the analogue world, these effects should be irrelevant with good engineering, but noise due to vibration on a digital interconnect is so far away from the signal it should be completely rejected. If the cable is broken, has a dry joint etc. this would make difference.

If anyone likes to experiment, make (or buy) a long digital SPDIF cable and insert it into your system looped out to your listening position, whilst listening to music, grab the cable and give it a good shake. Let me know the results.