Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Mains Cable Alternatives?

It’s great that your DSP5200SEs sound so dramatically different after using these power cables. Such differences clearly can’t be misheard and will be easily measurable. And those measurements can then be sent to Meridian so they can understand that their advice and understanding of how the power supply stuff works in their equipment is just wrong.

On that basis every other audio manufacturer on the planet has also got it wrong.

If Shunyata has got it wrong they would have gone out of business a long time ago.

If you’re so keen on taking up the cause with Meridian, then Audio Therapy will loan your chosen pair of Shunyata mains cables to audition with your own DSP7200SEs for the cost of return postage.

I, for one, am eager to read about your own objective findings.

Shunyata don't have it wrong, there are plenty of people willing to spend good money on something than cannot be explained/proven scientifically.

Indeed so. Shunyata are laughing all the way to the bank.

I’ve done enough tests and specifically null tests with cables to enable me to look at the screen results. Others have done the same and noticed that there are not significant differences with mains cables. spinaltap you are noticing huge differences, the kind of differences that are equivalent to having a completely different pair of speakers. That is clearly worth doing some testing on, and looking at those huge differences on the waveforms and so on. If you are not keen to do the tests, then so be it.

AndrewPG; given that you have the necessary equipment you could become an anti-Shunyata product champion by objectively testing many of their products.

You would be hailed as someone finally revealing what a complete sham it all is, equally proving it to all those audio journalists who have been falsely beguiled in their positive reviews of their products in the past - and those of us foolish enough to have been taken in by all the unfounded hype.

Well there are others who have done that and it’s not my style to do that. The only thing I am keen on is discovering what the tests reveal when such huge differences in sound are heard, as you have heard them. It’s just good to know what is going on. That’s all.

“ I can't provide any objective evidence for my findings gained from any attached electronic measurement devices.”

Just show us some room EQ Wizard sweeps before after the application of your snake oil power cables and maybe we can have a discussion. Up until then it is just you playing with your toys.

Over the decades, there have also been number of technologies and approaches in audio that have proven to not had a sonic effect. There have also been a number that have had claims of sonic effect without objective evidence, but years later the mechanism and measurements have been discovered to explain the effect.

I've been away from the Hitchhiker's board for a few years, and was surprised at how ungentlemanly and insulting this thread has become. Very unlike my memory of how respectful even heated discussions on this board were conducted.

Could be my sometimes faulty memory, but do the insults and condescension really help move the conversation along?

“ There have also been a number that have had claims of sonic effect without objective evidence, but years later the mechanism and measurements have been discovered to explain the effect.”

Would you be so king as to present these things?

I'm not sure it helps with a questionable upgrade that the believers champion it religiously. If you've bought in, you're bound to defend it. There's no scientific basis behind Shunyata cables. This is a Meridian forum, Bob Stuart answered the question during a factory visit for Hitchhikers, it's not significant. Their products don't use it.

I'm not sure manners have changed on the forum, the mods used to be quite "strict" but the've gone now.

Stebbo,

The first few that come to mind are:
- the importance of power supply design
- the sonic impact of simple circuit topologies when more complex ones showed much better measurements (given what we knew to measure at that time)
- the incredible debates about jitter in digital audio earlier in the digital age

In this era, the technologies that seem to have this kind of debate around them are:
- Signal cable differences
- Vibration management
- Power source management

To self identify my experience (which might identify my biases as well):
- I have perceived differences in signal cables since the beginning of my audio journey (early 1980’s), but have never heard the kinds of huge differences I’ve read that others have described. I use relatively inexpensive cables.
- At least with my turntable, I was blown away by the sonic improvement of adding a platform.
- I have my front speakers on Shunyata power conditioners, and was very impressed with their impact. Since then, I’ve put part of my backend system on another Shunyata conditioner, and have not perceived much change.

As a side note, my ears are getting older, and I don’t think I ever had particularly acute hearing .

It is well understood that good power supply makes a difference to the way our equipment performs. AC mains is variable in quality, and filtering is clearly important to smooth things out. Our audio equipment is supplied with DC, and the job of a properly designed power supply is to filter out the ‘noise’ from the mains supply and provide a stable supply to the amplifier or whatever.

I think the AC in the States is noisier and less stable than AC in the UK. It may need more filtering. Shunyata cables provide filtering and that may work well. spinaltap may have an issue with AC supply to their house - we don’t know. But if adding a cable can transform a DSP5200SE such that it sounds like a different speaker, then it’s worth discovering what is going on, surely? And as this is a Meridian users site, then the results of that discovery could usefully be shared widely with users, and of course with the manufacturers who must have an interest in such results.

My own position is that where filtering or power conditioning is needed, there are better ways of achieving that. Plus there are British companies who will have more experience of our AC supply which is markedly different from that in the USA. (I am also wary of supporting a US company just at present, but that is a personal preference, albeit one that many share right now)

I hope this help!