Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Better Meridian Cables/than factory

Firstly all the things you mention can be measured.
When measurements are taken nothing is measured it is just snake oil.
But if you are happy that is fine.

Firstly all the things you mention can be measured.
When measurements are taken nothing is measured it is just snake oil.
But if you are happy that is fine. [/QUOTE]


Soundstage depth/height/width/macro & micro dynamics, timing and pace can be measured??? Even the room acoustics affects that!

You can believe what you want if it makes you happy.

Look I know some people just don't hear as well as others. That's the only explanation. I know a lot of people that can hear the differences. Everyone hears different things or listens for different things when they listen. I'm sorry if that makes you unhappy.

Your lucky you don't hear a difference. Saves you the time and money tinkering.

Ron

Soundstage depth/height/width/macro & micro dynamics, timing and pace can be measured??? Even the room acoustics affects that!

You can believe what you want if it makes you happy.

Look I know some people just don't hear as well as others. That's the only explanation. I know a lot of people that can hear the differences. Everyone hears different things or listens for different things when they listen. I'm sorry if that makes you unhappy.

Your lucky you don't hear a difference. Saves you the time and money tinkering.

Ron [/b][/QUOTE]
Ron
I was actually referring to the engineering items you mentioned like litz wire.
The problem with the soundstage stuff is no one can agree on what it is anyway so how could you measure it.

If you are happy then I am not going to worry about it.

OK! I know this topic causes a lot of flames. There are two camps...you either believe it cause you have heard the differences or you don't cause you never heard any differences. In the beginning before I got into the high end kit I could never hear the differences cause my system wasn't resolved enough to hear the changes. I had a hard time hearing anything with my setup at home until I changed my last amplifier. However, at my local Audiophile store where they have equipment like Levinson or Wadia electronics with very high end equipment, making changes to the wire is a revelation. Until you witness that you will not believe. I keep saying that until you turn your room into an audio friendly room, things like cables and upgrading to multi-thousand dollar/pound equipment is a waste of money. The long decay time in the room will fog most of the changes from cable design differences. The same goes for speaker placement in the room. Stick them in the corners or up against the wall and most of what your electronics can resolve is lost. The whole soundstage becomes flatter lacking depth and space.

Cheers,

Ron

Ron
No flames from me here. Just debate.

Same here Stebbo! Its all IMHO!

Cheers,

Ron

To me, this is part of the point in reverse. Things like room treatment can make a huge difference that you don't have to listen for -- that is where the focus should be before cables. Otherwise is cart before the horse.

I've heard subtle differences among properly designed cables, but I think this is the manufacturer voicing them. I've come around to wanting cables that do nothing so they're not in the equation, and then I'll work w/things like room treatment, speaker choice, etc. I buy pro cables now; canare/belden, stuff like blue jeans cables sells. Such cable is designed for recording studios where thousands of feet of cable, power cords and so on are run so you can be sure that shielding will be good and they'll be neutral as demanded.

This is the route I'm taking too. No marketing crud to wade through and no "experimentation". Buy a guaranteed 75ohm cable and terminators and then plug'n'play.

Of course, this is my opinion and my choice. YMMV.

Well here's an interesting thought....given that studios need miles of cable, and that they exist largely to turn out a commercially viable product, do they choose because of best possible sound quality, or do they choose because of "good enough" sound quality and physical/mechanical reliability to prevent costly down time?

As I said, just a thought....

Cheers

George

Well I can hear a big difference between recordings made by Chesky or AudioQuest and the standard mass market stuff.

So I would say just good enough.

Believe me I have long runs in my new room for digital and video and I purchased through Blue Jeans Cable. Otherwise it would have cost me more than my addition...and for what...slightly better sound??? I feel my 518 will dejitter enough to make me happy. Plus I'm using ballanced digital between two 518's.

I look for the best sound in my system that doesn't cost too much. Although I did spend a lot on my analog interconnects since I use mono block amps I have them right next to my speakers. Kimber 8TC worked well for the short run between amp and speaker. Even that's expensive for some people.

I believe you don't have to spend a fortune...just find a cable design that sounds well in your system. Cable swapping is to get that last bit of resolution out of your system. Keeping audio and video in the digital domain as close as you can before the analog conversion to the speakers saves a lot of time with tweeking cables. The Meridian speakers is the way to go....as long as you like there sound. Some people don't. If I were stating over, I would buy them. But I'm happy for now. I have my system sounding the way I want it too.

Ron

Don't know how serious you're being, but I can hear a big difference too and I'd put miking and mastering techniques, lack of compression and a million other things before cables.

Having spent a ton of time in film mixing studios (some of which double as music recording studios) and knowing those guys, I don't think they'd compromise on cables if they thought it was an issue.

I totally agree about the above point on marketing.

Again, my point wasn't that there isn't an audible difference between analog cables.

Double negatives are handy sometimes.

I agree there are a lot of other factors but they do use higher quality cables than the mass market production studios. They pay closer attention to details in the recording and mastering setup as well. Most of the main stream recordings are compressed and over dubbed with so much processing its a wonder they sound any good at all. I've heard they run the final cuts through an analog tape machine just to try and get an analog sound.

Audioquest for one uses there high end cables by the way. But your right they use tube preamp stages and mixers if they use mixers in some cases. They use dejitter boxes as well. No compression in a lot of cases. There are a whole slew of different reasons but George asked if we think the studios use higher quality cables and I just stated that the better studios do. That's all. Some use the standard cables you find from Belden and others. Built to last and sound OK. Hell kids are listening to compressed music these days why spend a lot on the recording? I can't stand MP3. I walk into a wedding with a DJ that uses MP3 recordings and I can hear the differences right away. Terrible!

Ron