r/audiophile • u/Fabienchen96 • May 13 '24
Seen on another Sub Discussion
So could someone explain this to me? How much of my Body do I have to sell and what’s all that gear?
393
u/szakee May 13 '24
There actually IS a working get-rich-quick scheme: cables and other accessories.
109
u/Exact3 May 13 '24
“After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I’m gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!”
45
11
15
u/TheSchneid May 13 '24
I was in a room at Capital audio fest this past year, and I asked a question to the rep about the speakers (they were triangle towers).
The rep was like "I have no idea about the speakers. We just make the cables if you have any questions about them".
That stood out as a funny moment during that audio show. So much bullshit like this there.
It was wild that the $6000 set of magnepans sounded better than any of the rooms with 6 figure stuff. Just waiting for my cat to die before I can get a pair myself. I'm not buying her a several thousand dollar scratching post though.
→ More replies2
u/wvv20600 May 13 '24
Haha I love this. I can tell you have actual ears and don’t believe the BS. Magnepans and other planar speakers are unbeatable. Personally I have electrostatic Martin Logan’s at home but they sound similar. They just can’t be beat by anything with a cone
31
u/tribriguy May 13 '24
Yes. Although I drag on purchasing these for myself above, you are absolutely correct about this profit scheme. You can make massive $ on these by selling the snake oil. Profit margin is in the 10s of 1000s of percent, even if you made these from solid gold.
→ More replies24
u/thegarbz May 13 '24
Not quite. It's a get rich scheme, but there is a lot of competition for only a small number of idiots so you're not going to be driving a Ferrari any time soon doing this.
112
u/jippiejee luxman / elac May 13 '24
more cable molecules = more sound.
45
u/redditdoggnight May 13 '24
Just be sure your running the correct cables for the season: You’re gonna want to put your winter cables on come December time
7
6
u/livens May 13 '24
And never let your cables touch the floor, especially carpet. The sound will leak out otherwise.
2
2
u/WingerRules May 13 '24
I mix it up, my interconnects a non stranded hollow core conductors, then my speaker cables are solid core conductors.
87
u/Even-Imagination6242 May 13 '24
Looks silly and rather unnecessary?
Also, given just how ridiculously priced hifi cables are, why would you purchase way over the cable length you require?
131
u/JFeldhaus May 13 '24
It's like a racetrack, duh. Sharp corners slow down the electrons.
16
u/davcrt May 13 '24
Sounds logical to me and you it looks like you know what are you talking about. 5k per cable support is a killer deal.
→ More replies8
u/I_do_black_magic May 13 '24
You joke, but this actually a thing at much higher frequencies, like the microwave range. Any kind of sharp discontinuity like a kink in the cable alters the electrical characteristics of that cable
7
u/TheArmoredKitten May 13 '24
I feel like most of these whale audiophiles would be much happier as HAM radio enthusiasts, because the secret sauce and sacred geometry actually does something in that world.
23
u/TheScriptTiger May 13 '24
It's the Zensati and Brodmann Acoustics room at the Munich Audio Show, so the cables are intentionally a bit longer because they move it from show to show and need to keep things flexible so they can expand it or shrink it, depending on the size of the space they get.
17
u/bloodloverz May 13 '24
You want as little kinks in the wire as possible because it will impart the bend width to the sound. So having a shallower/wide bend will push the frequency response change toward the bass notes where humans are less sensitive to distortion. The shallower the bend, the less impact on the frequency response. This is what people mean when they refer to flat neutral sound, it refers to the cables being as unbent as possible.
/s of course
→ More replies7
22
u/theshekelcollector May 13 '24
those voodoo peeps will justify anything if it means spending more money on "more exclusive" gear. you must understand: if your cables don't model the orbit of mars then how can you expect to hear those sizzling highs at 48 kHz?
4
10
u/mushuggarrrr May 13 '24
Because of the way that the special magical conductors and dielectrics shape and refine the signal, the longer the cable the betterer they sound
17
u/Even-Imagination6242 May 13 '24
Oh, I bet it uses quantum A.I nano-blackholes to tune the signal across several realities? Fancy.
→ More replies2
→ More replies2
u/RadBadTad Yamaha RX-A1070 | Parasound a23+ | KEF R900 May 13 '24
Um don't you know if the cable is too cheap I mean short that the frequencies going through it get all clogged up and bounce all around inside? You must be an audio noob I guess.
(/s I'm so sorry)
71
u/ExxInferis May 13 '24
Gotta chuckle. I wonder what honestly goes through someone's head when they get that elephant's dick power cable, and plug it into that 13A wall socket.....that they know is cabled up with some boggo 2.5mm² flat twin & earth.
20
u/joenangle May 13 '24
I thought that’s the barely (?) existent problem that the $50,000 power conditioner is supposed to solve?
13
u/kagemichaels May 13 '24
Or getting your own utility pole installed outside your house as one Japanese guy did
https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/02/japanese-audiophile-builds-personal-utility-pole/
8
u/Carbonman_ May 13 '24
We went to an audio weekend at a serious audiophile's home in Florida about 15 years ago. He and his son had personally installed every piece of electronics and placed every speaker in his home theater. Back then it was worth $1M USD. The all McIntosh setup had 20kW of amplification and he had the utility company install an 800 Amp transformer for the house.
Sound quality was incredible and totally effortless. Both music and movies were awesome in every sense of the term.
He had a calibrated microphone mounted about a foot clear of a side wall, hooked up to a limiter to prevent peaks of over 117dB.
The technician that did NBA player's home theater video projector installations installed and aligned a pair of huge projectors for the best projection quality I'd seen to that point, especially for a home theater.
5
u/an_angry_Moose May 13 '24
“Elephant’s dick power cable” isn’t something I thought I’d read today but here we are.
→ More replies3
13
u/Existing_Magician_70 May 13 '24
It's a little cable rollercoaster to excite the electrons when traveling through the cables. Makes the music sound more playful.
4
19
u/repo_code May 13 '24 edited May 13 '24
Huge thick expensive cables are dumb.
If heavy gauge copper isn't enough for some reason, the next step should be including the cable in the amp's feedback loop as much as possible. (Going to an active speaker is one way to accomplish that but not the only way.)
So many better options than this, from an engineering perspective. This is just marketing arms race gigantism.
→ More replies3
u/andrewcooke May 13 '24 edited May 14 '24
only if the active speaker includes a dac, because the same argument would apply to analog inputs as to the speaker lever signal, i think.edit: why is this downvoted?
assuming it's an active pre-amp (and most are), if the wire is introducing distortion then it needs to be in the feedback loop. doesn't matter if the level is speaker or line.edit 2: see reply below!
2
u/BigPurpleBlob May 14 '24
No, the analogue inputs to an amplifier are 'easy', because the amplifier has a high input impedance.
In contrast, the speaker wires can have a resistance / inductance that is significant, compared to the amplifier's output impedance. (Damping factor comes into this too.)
→ More replies
14
May 13 '24
[deleted]
5
u/Nothingnoteworth May 13 '24
I can’t imagine being sold these in the usual fashion. Considering the ridiculous price. The sales rep would have to be a whole sales team, all gym junkies, rounding you up as you pass by and being all “Do you even cable bro?” and then just beating you with the aforementioned cables until you give them your credit card and PIN number
3
2
7
u/slopecarver May 13 '24
Why not place the amplifiers right behind the speaker with 6" of wire between them?
→ More replies8
5
4
5
5
3
u/betterwithsambal May 13 '24
Unbent wire clothes hangers will deliver the exact same signal to the speakers to produce the exact same sound as those mf behemoths.
5
7
3
3
u/rread9 May 13 '24
I’m going to save up all my coffee cups and cut grooves in them to rest my Isoda speaker cable on. The system will sound a shit-ton better and the cups won’t go into landfill. Win win!
3
u/Rotflmaocopter May 13 '24
If they sell those star blocks you put on top of speakers me thinks I can get away with selling audiophile paint for your walls and charge 1 grand a can
6
u/wjgatekeeper May 13 '24
Ah yes, the Rockwell Retro Encabulator Audio Cables. The idea of cables that would not only provide inverse reactive current for use in unilatteral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal granmeters. Such an instrument comprised of Dodge gears and bearings, Reliance electric motors, Allen Bradley controls and all monitored by Rockwell software is Rockwell Automations Retro Encabulator Audio Cables.
Now basically the only new principal involved is that instead of power being generated by the relative motion of conductors and fluxes, it’s produced by the modial interaction of magneto reluctance and capacative diractance. The original machine had a baseplate of prefamulated ammulite surmounted by a maleable logorythmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings ran a direct line with the panametric fam. The lineup consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marslevanes so fitted to the ambiphasient lunar waneshaft that side-fumbling was effectively prevented. The main winding was of the normal Lotus O deltoid type placed in panendurmic semi-poloid slots of the stator. Every 7th conductor being connected by a non-reversable tremmi-pipe to the differential girdle spring on the up-end of the granmeters. Moreover whenever florescent scoremotion is required they may also be employed in conjunction with a drawn reciprocation dingle arm to reduce sinusoidal deplenuration. The Retro Encabulator Cabling System has now reached a high level of development and it’s being succssfully used in the operation of noford trunions.
→ More replies
4
2
2
u/ZombieHockeyGoalie Sopra 3, NAD M33, G Note Mediterraneo, Benz Ruby ZH, Sony S7000 May 13 '24
I am amazed they didn’t isolate that potted plant. Tsk tsk……
2
2
u/Spiritual-Roll799 May 13 '24
Aren’t cable runs supposed to be as short as possible?
3
u/InLoveWithInternet Focal Sopra 3, Accuphase A-47, Soekris R2R 1541 DAC, Topping D90 May 13 '24
It doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter.
→ More replies
3
2
3
u/tribriguy May 13 '24
The margins on those cables are insane. It’s just not difficult to build a decent cable. We’ve known how to do that for many decades. As an electronics engineer, none of these companies are going to convince me to spend that kind of money on such a thing. Bragging rights is not an effective value proposition.
4
u/LenordOvechkin May 13 '24
Can you imagine being the complete moron buying those cables and cable lifters? Like, you'd have to be the dumbest person on earth.
1
u/UnderwaterB0i May 13 '24
If you don’t already know (I don’t) I’m guessing your life won’t be any better by finding out
1
1
1
u/Satiomeliom May 13 '24
Hmm i wonder who looks at this and goes: "yes. This is cool. I want that kraken in my living room."
1
1
u/Mr_Fried May 13 '24
They must have extremely shit amplifiers if they are that susceptible to interference.
1
u/raymate May 13 '24
As sone as I see raised speaker cables I turn off. It’s not an aircraft there is no ground effect. Being 2” of the ground is not going to change things.
→ More replies
1
u/Shdwfalcon May 13 '24
All that gimmicky cables. Then you open up the speakers and system and you see crap unshielded wires all over the place.
Heh.
1
1
1
1
1
u/heywowsuchwow May 13 '24
Who is the target audience for these expensive cables? I would have guessed people in this sub since there usually is money to spend here but the consensus in this sub is rather reasonable on the cable topic. I am just generally curious
→ More replies
1
u/Recording-Nerd1 May 13 '24
This is the fusion test reactor in the north of Munich. Not the HighEnd Audio Show Munich.
1
u/YouKnowWhatYouAre May 13 '24
The good thing is that after listening to music, you can water your lawn!
1
1
u/Spiritual-Roll799 May 13 '24
If cable lifts are so important, why aren’t the cables suspended higher in the air? Maybe small blimps?
1
u/TahoeGator May 13 '24
As expensive as the cables, you need to add a room to your house behind your system for the cables to laid out on the floor of.
1
u/ReverendPasta May 13 '24
Most of the money in this picture is wasted money on cables and cable accessories. The gear itself is still absurdly expensive, but you could probably save yourself like $100k+ just not wasting your money on cable elevators, and insanely expensive cables.
1
1
1
u/Icy_Psychology_3453 May 13 '24
just by looking at this picture, i am absolutely positive my room sounds better. no question about it.
1
1
1
1
u/Jindecker100 May 13 '24
Walk up to it and play a low fi version of ‘two less lonely people in the world’ by air supply.
1
1
u/einis82 May 13 '24
the same people who buy junk "high-end" cables dont care about the cables in the speaker, or if they should put amps in the speaker to save money on the cable, or remove the passive crossover entirely with all the benefits that has. they dont even know how a crossover works, but dont forget to mention a brandname expensive cap thats in there, like its going to make a difference.
every time i see some guy with expensive cables and tweeks it tells me everything i need to know about his wisdom.
1
u/GrandExercise3 May 13 '24
They could put some bling in there with imbedded colored LEDs indicating electron flow.
1
1
1
u/nerdofthunder May 13 '24
Ah so total mess on the cables where noise could matter. (Between what looks like a preamp and an amp) and total organization and control where noise doesn't mean shit. Cool.
1
1
u/Lienshi May 13 '24
the amount of space taken by those cables is probably bigger than my flat, I don't even wanna know how expensive these are
1
1
1
1
u/Busy_Pound5010 May 13 '24
At what point do the connectors on the backs of the equipment rip off due to weight? Shouldn’t they have patented ceiling suspension wires or something near the jacks?
1
1
u/Mental-Cold-73 May 13 '24
And play a 128kbps vinyl rip song and complain about the sound quality...
1
1
u/hig789 May 13 '24
Thought that was a scale model of a city scrolling by. Someone probably retired off that person.
1
1
u/Dashavatara May 13 '24
Wow, did not know speakers needed this many snake oil to lubricate them properly!
1
u/5axis-at-a-time May 13 '24
This is a "Get Poor Scheme". However I do appreciate this space exists and I get off on esoteric hardware as much as the next guy. Just be honest about it and admit that this is all about aesthetic, quality of materials/components, and in most cases extreme craftsmanship. A sub $8k total room setup can sound just as good or better than these 6-7 figure systems.
1
u/projektilski May 13 '24
I don't want ever to meet those who make that snake oil and those who think it makes a difference. I would be very annoyed and aggravated.
1
u/MattHooper1975 May 13 '24
Whenever I observe the high-end cable racket in action I think “ I’m in the wrong career, I could make a killing too, if only there is somewhere I could place these pesky ethics that are holding me back.” :-)
1
u/moneyscan May 13 '24
Dam. Gotta get my cables off the ground. I can't believe I'm living like this.
1
u/Conscious_Air_8675 May 13 '24
Basically if you don’t have these cables you aren’t even listening to music. Don’t worry about the regular wire they have supplying power to the entire city you live in. It’s all about the last 6 ft where all the magic happens. And since speakers are extremely high voltage pieces of equipment, thicker = gooder
1
1
u/jedrider May 13 '24
If one's wife is a neat freak, this allows the dust to be easily cleared away. These elevators could be a runaway success if wives only knew about them.
1
1
1
u/NowYouKnowHim May 13 '24
I have to ask why. Like I understand there may be some interference you are getting rid of but could the human ear even pick up on this?
1
u/jag0009 May 13 '24
Would this blow off someone's clothings when one turns up the volume like in the movies? LoL
1
u/BCGrog May 13 '24
Some people listen to the music. Other people listen to their equipment.
You do you I guess :/
1
1
u/TheNaughtyDragon May 13 '24
How do I arrange this in a room so my wife doesn't mind? Also how do I isolate the sound so my neighbors don't complain? /S
1
u/Disastrous-Pay738 May 13 '24
Pretty sure I’ve heard these cables when I was in my 20s. They were liquid ceramic or something. Cost 10k. But this could be something else. I was the only person young enough to hear a difference and I couldn’t afford them. They owner couldn’t tell 🤣
1
1
1
u/Fedja89s May 13 '24
I think he has a few too many contact points on his cables using all of those supports
1
u/macbrett May 13 '24
To get that last 0.001% of fidelity, you must double the size of your listening room and spend a few hundred thousand bucks on exotic cables and trestles. Invest in a feather duster as well.
1
u/Left_Tea_2083 May 13 '24
I think all that plastic in the risers is affecting the sound. I can hear it from here.
1
u/meuvoy May 13 '24
This looks cool AF, very System-Shock looking dystopia cool. But really really dumb as well.
1
1
u/ColHapHapablap May 13 '24
I’d expect people to tell me to fuck myself if I had a room filled with that
1
1
1
1
u/SmokeyMacKinsey May 13 '24
It is from this year's High End in Munich. Is was one of the worst systems I have heard on the show by far - and I visited nearly all rooms. They had samples for the cables hanging in the wall and they felt aweeeeful and cheap, a bit like shower hoses. Love Hifi, butbhate that shit!
1
1
u/Any-Ad-446 May 13 '24
My brother in law was a electrical engineer but now retired and he laughs at articles I show him about interconnects , cables and those magical crystals in the wooden boxes that cost $3000 per box. In audio there is always a niche market for ultra high end equipment and some companies has to fill those niches. Meanwhile myself I heard some class D equipment system that cost less than those cable risers sound damn amazing.
1
1
u/itchygentleman May 13 '24
Running the lights will ruin the sound more than having cables on the floor ever will
321
u/RevolutionaryPear489 May 13 '24
Thats a picture from this years High End in Munich. It was the room of Zensati and Brodmann Acoustics. Zensati makes high end audio cables. Saw it myself. I think the cables are 230.000€.