John, had a quick read through your article and I should be able to put it up. It is of course, very one-sided and opinionated so I'd like to line up a riposte article to go with it. Shouldn't be long though.
And I'll thank you not to try to intimidate new visitors to thread.
Me intimidate new visitors, now come on Dave you know me better than that, maybe you have not kept up with 'current affairs' but apologies have already been made, even to Delia Smith and the dumplings, quite apart from Tamara.
As for the article being opinionated and one sided, well that is maybe true, but to even write an article one has to have an opinion, otherwise what can one write about?
Really not so much an opinion but more an observation, it is only my view of Hi-Fi as we know it today.
Get real we all we only have one side in life, so if I write something it will be one sided, it can only be one side.
When it comes to Hi-Fi I only have one side, and that is the rather unknown side of truth, not belief, not the 'I have heard' or 'I have read', no rock bottom truth. Sorry a difficult concept, maybe even a new one, but I will stick with it for now.
Sorry if I offend you here, but opinions do vary from the norm - no opinion at all - to the the strong and opinionated, no one would even take the time or trouble to write an article if they did not have an opinion.
I'm certainly not criticising you for having an opinion John, but I do like to see strong opinions countered with equal and opposite ones on the site where possible.
On the other matter, I know you're not an intimidating kind of guy, and so will most of the regular readers of this thread. But that fact won't always be obvious to newcomers when they see your words in bald type, without inference or subtlety, especially if you start sw**ring at them. There shouldn't be any private members clubs on AVReview (although come to think of it, our IT guys are working on a system of user-generated groups, so I guess there probably will be in the future). 'Nuff said on the issue I think.
OK Dave, now the word swearing is not actually a swear word, so no need for the stars. Thinking about having a little wind up in life, I could well write your riposte, I could go into pages about just how important cables are, how an industry flourished from a new found technology. I could offer many scientific examples of 'skin' effect, and dialectic constants and their possible effects, I could give you oodles of input about how capacitors affect the final sound quality. I bet even Abbas would love it, I could agree all the way, it could come across as so scientific and academic that many would believe it.
It would be a masterpiece in complete bullshit, but it would be a masterpiece, many quotes, some beautiful graphs and diagrams, a sympathetic understanding of the cable conundrum.
For an example of writing two diametrically opposite views take a look at www.fisherflats.com scroll down to 'The reasons to rent', then check out 'the reasons to buy', if there are two different views on the property market then I think I have them both covered.
This is a new found 'fun' thing in life, to write a passionate piece about what I really believe, then an apparently equally passionate piece that simply 'takes the piss', I just love it.
I find it so strange that so many people try and say that the price of cables or as they are quaintly called “Interconnects” do not sound different to each other and also how price does not make any difference, I disagree in every way to this view, price is so important, consider a cable that costs five pounds and another that costs two thousand pounds, there is bound to be a very large difference between them better connectors can be used thicker gold plating on the connectors is possible as the thickness of gold depends on the price paid for the gold and the process used to put the gold on the connector, better quality cable can be used oxygen free, silver plated wire and a much better covering and it goes on. Speaker cables are the same but are many times larger in their construction and again cost has an enormous effect on the sound. So how anyone can say there is no difference makes me wonder if these people who say this are in the same world as the rest of us listeners, maybe they should have the gold on their golden ears re plated so they can hear properly and maybe the wax removed. The cost and things being better can be illustrated by for example if you buy a Ford Focus and an Aston Martin the latter is so much better in every aspect that the former this is because it costs many times as much, a fifteen to twenty pound bottle of wine tastes so much better than a bottle costing two pounds known as a bottle of plonk, stay in a hotel costing twenty five pounds a night or one costing two hundred and fifty pounds a night the latter again is so much better, these examples can continue for ever but nobody argues with them so why do the Golden eared brigade say that expensive cables do not sound any better than cheap ones it just does not make any sense, yet people keep saying this, do these same people say that a million pound house in London is as good as a one hundred pound house in Barnet no way they will always go for the more expensive one, I think I have made my point but like God squanders i.e. Jehovah Witnesses who will not be diverted from their views even when confronted by the truth and also as the ninety six percent of HI FI listeners say the more expensive cables sound better they still argue it just does not make sense to an intelligent person get real all you cable people and start to think straight instead of in a curve. This price versus sound quality also applies to CD players, record decks, cartridges speakers amplifiers and the list goes on how can a fifteen pound Tesco CD player sound as good as a well known and respected make costing two to three thousand pounds, there are some very respected companies out there who make extremely expensive equipment housings that make a huge difference to the sound of the equipment housed in them and housed in a cabinet made out of a honeycomb material and speakers standing on oak cones and the use of very good designed and made mains conditioners to clean up the mains can make the the equipment sound different, the list goes on and on, the fact that these companies who make the oak cones etc make so much money proves beyond doubt that cost is everything, if you see someone in the Lake District coming out of a Bank with a broad smile on their face then it is possible he is the owner of one of these companies and deserves all the money he can make because of the contribution he has made to the sound industry. Hopefully this will be a wake up call to all those people who do not believe this sound versus cost exists. Gerald Racklin.
As a follow on to my last very interesting post, re the cost of things making them sound better and taste better etc, I have been thinking that if John Fisher was to drink a very expensive and good Pilsner in a glass bottle, instead of cans of special brew which is considered to be a tramps drink he would hear the difference between various cables and equipment and write some very interesting posts, think on this John. Gerald
May I ask a question? I've noticed you often refer to Forum contributors or audiophiles as "golden ears". Would you describe yourself as being in this category? (I think if you were to poll the Forum members and ask them this same question they would probably modestly argue that their ears were either average or no better than anyone else's. In fact the only true "Golden Ears" may be those who are amateur or professional musicians.....)
(...Although you confused me a bit with the assertion that "Golden ears" favour cheap cables? Logically it must be the other way around if your general Logic is to be accepted ??)
I take your point about quality being commensurate with price in most walks of life, including hifi. There seems to be a Law of Diminishing Returns whereby the more you pay the less of an improvement you actually get. Most people aim to get as close to the "knee" of the curve as they possibly can within their given budgetary constraints.
The fact that hifi performance is so nebulous means that the position of the "knee" can never be truly known ! (...and another man's opinion will probably be different !)
Now Mr Racklin, reading your last two posts it is quite obvious that you have missed your medication for the day, may I suggest that you listen to nurse, and take the medicines.
Maybe then you will regain some sanity in life and rejoin the human race, maybe then you could gain some reality, maybe you could actually write some sense, whilst I am sympathetic about your mental condition, please don't inflict it on the whole world, perhaps one day you will wake to to realities of Hi-Fi or maybe even the realities of life.
Now a question for Dave Oliver, how would you like another article, not slagging anything, not a downer on cables but simply an observation on the Hi-Fi industry as we know it, only 1300 words, and really quite polite.
Bill you put together a factual and well reasoned argument, sorry mate, but why, you are discussing the matter with a well known psychopath, a complete nutter, someone who in layman's terms would be called LOONY, much as I enjoy the discussion it is getting rather out of hand.
High cost does not guarantee better performance only larger profits!
The best way to choose a better more efficient cable is to listen to it in your hifi system for a period of time and decide if it gives you greater listening pleasure the cost is secondary, if the cable costs £10,000 or £10 it is entirely up to the purchaser if he thinks the improvement is worth it .
The analogy between the ford focus and the Aston martin is not really true, the ford is a perfectly adequate family car of average good quality but the Aston is a pure indulgence for those that can afford it , not necessarily a better car it's just more desirable , a status symbol or statement.
At 50 years old i think the gold plating is beginning to fall off my ears, but i am enjoying my music more than ever, and yes i do have some expensive cables & mains filters, but they have only been added because of the improvement to sound quality, there may be cheaper better cables out there i just haven't found them yet.
I am at a loss to what to say in repy to Bill Colborne, John Fisher and Electrohead at this moment in time
I have taken my dedication and will have to wait until it starts to work, Nurse says I must be a good boy and let it take effect, so I hope you will bear with me until then, at times I rattle like nothing on earth due to the number of tablets I have inside me not sure if they make me write any clearer,
I do like the padded walls in my cell though they do absorb the high frequency content of the music but do not effect the bass of my Tannoy Monitor Gold Loudspeakers in their large reflex cabnets, I have tried putting a yellow duster in the port mouth but this makes the high frequency content of the music reduce, I find white or blue to sound much better, hopefully John Fisher will know the reason for this, I wish they would let me have a drink of beer but they say only frute juice or water so I am always clear headed. They may let me out in the garden with a man in a white coat over the weekend. Regards to you all. Gerald
Gerald seems to to be going through a tough period at the moment , perhaps an identity crisis ! so it would only be fair to be as kind and understanding as possible in his time of need, John especially.
It' almost like John and Gerald are two sides of the same coin, (no insult intended to either party ) I think we should all treat Gerald's posts with sensitivity and understanding as befits someone in his position.
Many thanks for your kind remark. Look forward to the technical essay when Dave publishes it.
When Dave says your bark is worse than your bite, I agree with him and feel the Forum would be all the poorer, and less thought provoking, without your technical input....
Much appreciated Bill, and yes my bark is worse that my bite. Speaking of barking, Gerald comes to mind, but maybe as electro points out we really should be more sympathetic, after all many extremely intelligent people do go 'over the edge', as they can never understand the thinking of others.
John...
PS I remember a comment from a guy who worked for me, he said 'unfortuanatly I am too intelligent to make any real money' my reply 'just don't use all of it then' did not go down well!!
Hello John and the rest of you realy nice people, had a nice walk in the garden this afternoon with the man in the white coat, and tried to tell him about the people I have known who were on the Astral Plane but he was not impressed which was a shame. He is not interested in Hi Fi or interconnects he says it is all a load of rubbish and he likes his DAB radio which he says is as good as his mates HI FI and a lot cheaper. He would not accept that the more it costs the better is sounds, I think he should be in the straight jacket with the straps and buckles as he is obviously very crazy. How they can let him live in a normal room without a lock on the door and padded walls I find it difficult to understand as he is obviously barking mad. Well seeing the doctor tomorow about changing my medication and hopefully one day in the future I will be cured and be let back into the real world with suposed sane people. Hope to listen to some music this evening using my TSD valve amplifier and my Tannoy speakers in their ported cabinets will experement with yellow, blue and white dusters to see what difference the colour makes which I am sure it does. Sleep well all of you and I will think about you when I am bashing my head on the wall in time to the music. Regards Gerald.
I know originality often comes from madness, now is that were the expression 'head banging music' comes from, I sometimes wonder about you Gerald.
Now back to reality, in listening to 'A momentary Lapse Of Reason' tonight I realised what had really changed in the last twenty five years:
CD players - not allot, cables - nothing at all, speakers - very little, so what did change to make tonight's listening such a pleasure, well only one thing is left.
Yes the amplifier, the only part left in the chain, so what is the difference, sorry to harp on here, but a zero crossover distortion class 'D' amp made all the difference, a difference that I would not have believed a year ago, I would not have believed that an amp could be so different.
A subtle difference, probably not one that would be heard in a dealers showroom, but one that is so astounding when listened in ones own surroundings, in the evening peace.
A sound so full bodied, fat and warm, peaceful and relaxed, a sound one just wants to hear more of, a sound so detailed and 'three dimensional' that many parts of it you may never have heard before. A sound so compelling that you just want to listen to some more, a holographic experience, a three dimensional sound field of the likes you have probably never known or heard before.
IMO that is the most significant thing to have happened since the CD, no cables, no passive preamp, no 'bullet plugs', no, a change in technology. That is the only way change can happen, tinkering with existing technology may improve it slightly but it will not bring dramatic changes.
Hello all of you nice people, had a very good couple of days it appears that the chief psychiatrist is a hi fi buff and when we started talking I persuaded him to let one of the nurses arrange for me to go and audition some hi fi equipment at the local dealers, I cant say which one or where it is.
He has changed my medication and I feel quite sane now hope it keeps up and I will be cured of my madness soon.
We heard some nice hi fi gear amongst the equipment on demonstration was a Quad CD player costing around one thousand pounds, the amplifier was a TSD valve amplifier with a matching pre amp cost three thousand five hundred pounds and some Podium loudspeakers costing five thousand pounds, the interconnects were KMS superior cost two thousand pounds and the speakers leads were HDP high power, costing one thousand three hundred pounds.
It did sound fantastic and I realised that having padded walls does reduce the high frequency content of the music; I feel that I could have walked round the back of the string quartet and would have smelt the perfume on the lady cello player.
On my return to the asylum the chief psychiatrist was very interested in my views of the various equipment and said he would like to accompany me next time I go.
I did ask them if they had any class D amplifiers but they were not very forth coming and changed the subject very quickly back to 9/11, but the nurse that was escorting me whisked out of their very quickly, and back to the asylum.
They did say that they had used a green pen on the edges of the CD's as this improves the sound, and always used oak cones and special shelves to help with the stereo image, not forgetting a good quality mains conditioner. The demonstrator said he always took some of John Fisher's hi fi enhantment pills before doing a demonstration, he had taken red ones that day and this made the sound very warm. And at only ten pence a time including VAT they are very good value.
Regards until I am released from Gerald S Racklin hi fi nirvana
Sorry to harp on about amplifiers here, but it is now 3:30 in the morning and a crucial thought struck me.
Most Hi-Fi demos/comparisons are done at monitor levels and most amplifiers sound excellent at that level, the differences only show up at the sub Watt levels that one listens to at three in the morning.
At that level many sound grainy and uninspiring, that is where class 'D' appears to shine, even at extremely low levels the sound still has a full bodied texture. deep involving passion that many class 'B' amps simply do not have. I would never have believed the difference from 'spec sheets' , it would not appear possible, but I have to admit that something is different. Having now listened until 3:30 at a level that would not disturb the neighbours it still was an enjoyable experience.
John, I read somewhere that listning at 3.30 in the morning makes amplifiers sound different but not sure if it changed by local time or has to be GMT or BST, not worth listening at less than full power and making the windows rattle you get a much better dynamic range, remember recording engineers listen at very high levels, but as one suposed golden eared idiot once said to me "Recording engineers dont know how to listen to sound" well if they dont we are in for a lot of trouble, what is the betting I will get pulled up for using the term golden eared. Keep the jokes comming they are very good. Now sane and cured which feels very good though I miss banging my head on the paded walls whilst listning to my music. Gerald
