How important are power cables and power filters?

[AltecLansingFan]

Rant hat on

Like every other cable thread on every other forum in existence, it turns out like this. Good people with a difference of opinion acting out of character for the sake of argument. I wish I were a moderator here. I would have nipped this puppy in the bud before it ever got started.

Cable threads are one of the evils of our hobby and should be exorcised.

Rant hat off.

A cable thread should not be a problem at all.
The problem is the negative reactions from people who never tried, but think that the cable story is bullshit.
Before I started this tread, I didn't know to do that, because I knew how some people will react on a cable tread.
So I started this tread in a way from 'I'm the stupid one, and asking some dull questions' with in my mind to find some people with experiences.

But that wasn't the case.

I don't care if there are people with an other opinon, they only listen to their own system, and when they are satisfied, that's OK, of course I have no problem with that.
So than and when, I come here on the forum to share idea's, or find new ideas, only for one reason; I always want to make my Altec Lansing system better.
Money should not be an issue on this forum, when people think, oh that's much to expansive, it is easy to decide not to do it.
When I want to talk about money, I better can go to some kind of investors site.

Number one for me is the sound of my system!
About 45 years ago I got my first pair of Altec 409B speakers.
I am a man who always wanted to try everything what is possible without a preconceived opinion to get the best results.
I tried out the most idiot idea's with very bad results, but also with very good results.
Not thinking Ooh, that's the biggest bullshit I ever heard so let it be....
No, just try it out, that's the only way to find out.

I remember that guy in Las Vegas, which I helped with his system.
When we started he also was very very skeptical about cables, he didn't want to spent any extra money for that.
So I bought the best cables I ever had and still use, interconnects and speakers cables and I send them to him.
I made an appointment with him; listen minimum 30 hours to the cables and send me some money, only if you like them more than your previous cables.
Result after a few weeks, he told me he always was very skeptical and that was the reason he never tried it out, and now he never wanted to lose them again.

I can tell you one thing if you believe it or not; power and cables are very important!!

Unknown makes unloved!

My slogan is: Be open for all kinds of experiences and you can let your system sing like it never did before!

[joyspring]

While good mains power cannot be discounted for a variety of reasons, typical power supplies (excluding switchmode, which is the reason for line filters catering to computer users) will more than sufficiently address line-borne noise issues; again, power transformer primary winding inductance and power supply capacitors effectively mitigate noise.

If your mains power is causing audible audio artifacts - which indicates harmonics and line noise far in excess of what is legally permissible in most locales - then address your mains power first.

As opposed to the opinions of some, I believe these discussions - especially cable wars - are healthy; they offer an opportunity for technically-challenged enthusiasts to do research and acquire quantitative analytical skills which are sorely lacking in the audio engineering world - both professional and consumer.

So far as listening evaluations are concerned, I've always been a proponent of double-blind testing, which is a staple of nearly every industry (pharma and food for example), apart from audio that is...

http://seanolive.blogspot.com/2009/0...o-product.html

Also have a look at Floyd Toole and Sean Olive's AES preprint linked in the article above...

I've always been dismissive of typical undisciplined sighted audio evaluations without controls.

Yes, there may be audio phenomena which currently lies outside the realm of present knowledge of psychoacoustics but peer-reviewed research and double-blind testing clearly show that specialist line-level, speaker and power cables are not amongst them.

BobR