High End Cables

[Johnny Wishbone]

[quote name='Drax' timestamp='1510070660' post='3403745']
That's really interesting. I use a PJB double 4 with Monster cable alot. What was the issue?
[/quote]

IIRC Monster cables use slightly oversized jack plugs. Over time this relaxes the spring in a jock socket so that eventually a "standard" jack plug won't stay securely plugged in. One of our guitarists used Monster for a while then reverted to a normal cable - predictably his new cable kept falling out of his guitar until I replaced the output jack!

Edited November 7, 2017 by Johnny Wishbone

[Paul S]

OBBM for me too. There was a brief period when I laboured under the mistaken belief that I could successfully solder my own but thankfully that soon passed. As did the mysterious buzzing noises

[xgsjx]

I buy the cable & jacks & make my own. If I couldn't solder, then I'd probably go with OBBM too.

I've got a Monster HDMI cable which VirginMedia paid £80 for me for it & I have a £3.99 no brand HDMI cable. I've A/B'd them several times & apart from the Monster cable looking cooler, there's no difference in sound or picture. As Monster sell such with false marketing guff, I'd never personally buy any of their products.

I've got a good quality kettle lead that the Mrs got of a PC at work that wasn't required (she works in IT) & she also got me a kettle lead extender, so it can be 4 miters long! The light on my amp has never looked so good so far away from a socket.

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1510072560' post='3403765']
I've got a Monster HDMI cable which VirginMedia paid £80 for me for it & I have a £3.99 no brand HDMI cable. I've A/B'd them several times & apart from the Monster cable looking cooler, there's no difference in sound or picture.
[/quote]

Well that to be expected from any digital interface cable, you've either got a signal or you havn't generally. Analogue bass/guitar cables have some amount of variation of signal quality but the variation will be amongst the sub-par ones, all of the decent quality ones will sound moorless the same.

[leftybassman392]

Just a thought: anybody seen the OP since the OP?

[tauzero]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1510072560' post='3403765']
I've got a Monster HDMI cable which VirginMedia paid £80 for me for it & I have a £3.99 no brand HDMI cable. I've A/B'd them several times & apart from the Monster cable looking cooler, there's no difference in sound or picture. As Monster sell such with false marketing guff, I'd never personally buy any of their products.
[/quote]

That'll be because it's a digital connection. Same as USB leads, if it works, it'll be just as good as anything costing ridiculous amounts of money. What I find faintly amusing is that there are audiophiles (and, indeed, audio magazine reviewers) who pretend that there is actually a difference in sound between different digital cable interconnects. I only find it faintly amusing because there's always the chance that this sort of delusional person has some important job somewhere that might affect me, and I don't want any facet of my life under the control of someone who doesn't grasp the fundamental difference between digital and analogue.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1510077267' post='3403822']
Well that to be expected from any digital interface cable, you've either got a signal or you havn't generally. Analogue bass/guitar cables have some amount of variation of signal quality but the variation will be amongst the sub-par ones, all of the decent quality ones will sound moorless the same.
[/quote]
Agreed. My point being that if a company will market such bull, then I won't believe what they say about their audio cables. The known jack plug issue with Monster being one such bit of crap that they do, so you buy another of their cables & it stays in the jack, but no one else's will.

[taunton-hobbit]

Can you buy virgins armpit hair on E Bay?

[pfretrock]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1510077267' post='3403822']
Well that to be expected from any digital interface cable, you've either got a signal or you havn't generally.
[/quote]

Not quite. Look out for the phase shift of the digital bits - unless you remove all the oxygen, then it's OK.

[discreet]

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1510079193' post='3403835']
Can you buy virgins armpit hair on E Bay?
[/quote]

You can have some of mine. I'm not a virgin, but the hair is MUCH cheaper.

[fretmeister]

It's getting as bad as hifi audiotards.

If the difference doesn't show up on a 'scope then your ears can't hear it.
And even if the 'scope shows a difference most of the time it is outside of the range of the Mark 1 Human Ear. Let alone the over 35 year old human ear that already has massively reduced performance compared to that of a child's ear.

The very best a passive cable can do is let the signal through with the minimum of degradation. It cannot improve the signal.

I buy my cables on construction strength so they last. Beyond that it's mostly bollocks.

[wateroftyne]

OBBM.

[Dan Dare]

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1510079193' post='3403835']
Can you buy virgins armpit hair on E Bay?


[/quote]

You're in luck. I have just one hank left. The last one in the country I'm told. Yours for a grand.

On a related topic and in response to Discreet's accurate observation that esoteric hi-fi cables get used on the end of a supply chain built with stuff from Wickes, I do find one of those mains power conditioners worth using. The one I use is a 6 way plugboard from Lindy - https://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters-c1/audio-video-c107/6-way-av-mains-conditioner-power-strip-p8835. Not expensive at a little over £50 and it does make a difference - less background noise. I bought it to use with my PA, but find it helps the hi-fi and my bass and guitar amps

[taunton-hobbit]

^ ^ ^ Great - I'll take it - money to the usual (Nigerian) post box?

[djc63]

I remember once reading a review of the Glockenklang Blue Sky in which the reviewer claimed to be able to hear a noticeable difference in quality between the supplied power cable and a 'regular' one!

[tauzero]

Unless the mains supply is exceptionally bad, those of us with class D gear should be fine without mains conditioners. Might sneak some noise in through the primitive power supplies of class A and AB amps though.

(A slight simplification, class D and SMPS power supplies aren't always twinned up).

[ricksterphil]

I use s/h monster cables bought of of fleabay. Didn't know about the slightly large jack thing tho....hmmn

On a separate but related note, there was an ampeg head and cab on fleabay about a yr ago. The seller had replaced all the internal speaker and main amp internal cable with heavier duty wire which he claimed improved the sound - his point being that it's all very well spending gadzillions on premium gear but the bits of wire inside the speaker and amp are typically cheapest thin bit of wire, so by replacing same with heavier duty stuff, vastly improved the sound. No idea if he was right as I din't buy the amp and cab he had for sale....but it seemed logical Captain!

[peteb]

[quote name='djc63' timestamp='1510092559' post='3404005']
I remember once reading a review of the Glockenklang Blue Sky in which the reviewer claimed to be able to hear a noticeable difference in quality between the supplied power cable and a 'regular' one!
[/quote]
I believe that Alan Holdsworth could famously tell the tonal difference between an angled 4x12 cab and a straight one!

I know that OBBM posts on this forum and makes excellent leads (I got all my speaker cables and the lead for my wireless pack from Dave).However, there are other perfectly good cable makers out there as well. I’ve got a couple of Monster Cables and yes, you can tell a small but noticeable difference. You might not even like that difference (apparently Paul Turner doesn’t) but there does seem be a bit more bottom end compared to the (perfectly decent) cables I was using before. They were a bit expensive but they are really well put together and just top quality all round. I’ve had them for more than ten years and they have seen me through hundreds of gigs, so they have been great for me…

Edited November 7, 2017 by peteb

[machinehead]

[quote name='ricksterphil' timestamp='1510094557' post='3404031']
I use s/h monster cables bought of of fleabay. Didn't know about the slightly large jack thing tho....hmmn

On a separate but related note, there was an ampeg head and cab on fleabay about a yr ago. The seller had replaced all the internal speaker and main amp internal cable with heavier duty wire which he claimed improved the sound - his point being that it's all very well spending gadzillions on premium gear but the bits of wire inside the speaker and amp are typically cheapest thin bit of wire, so by replacing same with heavier duty stuff, vastly improved the sound. No idea if he was right as I din't buy the amp and cab he had for sale....but it seemed logical Captain!
[/quote]

It's theoretically possible that he's right if the wires are so small in cross-sectional area as to cause impedance and/or resistance. But really, the currents involved aren't that high, so not a lot of cost reduction for the manufacturer by using smaller sized wires. So I think it's unlikely that they would do this? It would be a foolish money saving method anyway, especially if the reduced cable size caused heat.

Frank.

[only4]

I always used to make my own but have recently been buying all my leads from Designacable through Amazon, quality components and decent price.

[Leonard Smalls]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1510093431' post='3404018']
Unless the mains supply is exceptionally bad, those of us with class D gear should be fine without mains conditioners. Might sneak some noise in through the primitive power supplies of class A and AB amps though.

(A slight simplification, class D and SMPS power supplies aren't always twinned up).
[/quote]

Not just class D gear - any [i]properly designed[/i] amplifier - whether for hifi, PA, bass or guitar should have a power supply that filters out RF...
Problem is, some gear is lacking a decent power supply section!
In the instructions for my hifi amp (a Bryston), it says "do not use power conditioners or mains reshapers"; that's because its own supply filters RF and other nasties and removes d.c offset.

[thepurpleblob]

There's a lot of nonsense talked about cables. If you can actually *hear* a difference then one of the cables is broken.

The main thing for me is that the cable doesn't fail. There's nothing worse than all this "is it the cable?" nonsense when things go wrong. Cables with good quality cable and connectors last forever.

I can solder and I usually make my own.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1510131334' post='3404109']
The main thing for me is that the cable doesn't fail. There's nothing worse than all this "is it the cable?" nonsense when things go wrong. Cables with good quality cable and connectors last forever.
[/quote]
It depends how much handling the cable gets. If you're playing regularly, then any cables that get regular movement, such as plugged & unplugged, rolled up, etc are liable to suffer wear & tear, but they should last a good length of time.
My main instrument cable is about 12 years old & apart from being frayed at the ends on the cloth outer, it's still in perfect working order.

[steve-bbb]

fine if you spend your time sitting in a luxury acoustically marvellous studio environment making technically excellent recordings

in a venue
with the rest of the band all honking away
gradually cranking your master up to keep from being drowned out by the guitarist ....

can you really tell?

does it really matter?

[Yank]

Yes, I guess it was cheap-o cables I was using. A Vox coil cable and a short thin gauge from pedal to amp with my Tele. Haven't tried yet on my bass rig.