ultra cheap tweak.

[Kenscollick]

I was talking with Ted Denny about the Tesla Speaker cables and he aksed if I had them elevated? he said only wood or plastic should be used and recommended using Cd cases. tried it and there is an improvement.

 

[twich54]

Interesting, a real "Sam Tellig" special. I don't understand the "wood and plastic only" thing....wouldn't glass / ceramic cable elevators be good as well ??

 

[Sasha]

I am new to this cables elevating, but can someone explain what exactly am I gaining by doing this funny looking 'tweak' ?

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Sasha,

Theory generally goes like this and applies to cables that rest on artificial fiber carpet, per Pierre Sprey of Mapleshade Audio. Carpet can act like a dialetric and stores static electricity, which can be "absorbed" by your cables, negatively impacting the ability of the cable to pass a "clean" signal. For a visual comparison, think about looking through a window that hasn't been cleaned for awhile and then cleaning the window.

I've never had to do raise my interconnects / speaker cables since I've had / have wood floors. To avoid seeing the speaker cables, I've drilled a small hole through my floor and ran the speaker cable, through the crawl space, from the amp to the speaker.

For those who have wood floors, I certainly understand one's reluctance to do what I have done but I've done it for aesthetic reasons.

Bottom line:

Pretty cheap tweak that may improve your system sound. Give it a try and see what you think.

GG

 

[twich54]

Gordon, you know that's the explanation I got too, so if static elecricity is the issue then I wonder why is palstic/wood a better insulator than glass ??

FWIW, my primary reason for elevating my speaker cables is for better 'parallel seperation' from my AC power cables. General rule of thumb...signal cables and power cables should not run parallel against each other , and cross @90 degrees.

 

[Dreamer]

Or if you are like me, and your rig in in a room with a concrete slab floor, all the re-bar in the concrete can cause some weird EM interference--not so much from the magnetic fields generated by the cables, but by acting as antenna for exterior EMI/RFI like TV/radio transmitters, etc. Since I live within 5 miles of one of the largest military bases in the mid-Atlantic region (Fort Bragg) I imagine there is a LOT of stray high-energy radio garbage in our air. (not as bad as when I lived about 8 miles from Vint Hill and about 15 miles from CIA headquarters in northern VA...)

I've finally got my speaker cables back up on ceramic elevators (telegraph insulators) and they do sound a little cleaner (mostly a "blacker" noise floor)...

--Richard

 

[tonepub]

I've also had good luck getting the cables up off the floor, but was intrigued by these:

http://www.shunyata.com/Content/products-DarkField.html

They have a couple sets on the way, so Ill keep you guys posted. But these are NOT a cheap tweak. 250 for a set of 12...

But we'll see how they do, the guys at Shunyata are pretty sharp!

 

[Jem90]

Maybe you could make some elevators using antistatic foam used for packaging electronic equipment? its quite firm and you could easily cut a "V" to locate the cable.:think:

 

[DTB300]

Maybe you could make some elevators using antistatic foam used for packaging electronic equipment? its quite firm and you could easily cut a "V" to locate the cable.:think:

But Shunyata is stating you need something which is not anti-static if I am reading their product info correctly:

"The elevator is constructed from expensive, multiple layers of electrically conductive foam. This allows static charges to migrate through the elevator eliminating the build up of static field differentials between the floor and cable that would otherwise create noticeable signal degradation."

 

[Sasha]

Thats ok then, I have solid wood floor, no need for raisers thankfuly I wonder how would I explain raisers to my wife... she would probably call me insane as always

 

[kach22i]

My flat ribbon cable Nordost Blue Heaven speaker wires lay between two foam rubber carpet pads under the area carpet (wood floors).

I think the foam rubber is an insulator.

Don't use the cheep stuff at the big box discount stores, much better quality at the high end Persian carpet stores.