MIT Cable

[craigk]

Craig, no disrespect intended at all, but I think many of us in here come from either a very scientific/engineering or electronics background, and while yes we all enjoy the same hobby of audio, we must all realize that some products are in the "very questionable" corner of science, where the probability of being a truly valid proven improvement, is not quite certain for sure.

you think i don't come from a scientific background ? i have an a BS specializing composite material. I have learned enough to know science doesn't always have all the answers. yes, there is snake oil out there, so let someone learn the hard way. one last thing, most of the better designs i have listened to at events come from people with no scientific background, that is kind of interesting. look at the PE winners list through the years. the more important question why is it anyone on this forums job to tell adults how and why to spend there money ? this forum has a several that go out of their way to belittle anyone because they like an expensive cap or speaker cables. that is why this forum has went downhill for the last 3 or 4 years. why do you think that several of the top designers have all be stopped posting here, they are tired of the mentality of the forum. 5 years ago you could actually come here and find an intelligent conversation. when was the last time a really good post, with the exception of Javad, was on the site ? no wonder people don't come here now.

[craigk]

The objective of doo-das me thinks is not to improve the sound but make a difference. The usual question after the application of the tweak is "Do you hear the difference???!!!". And the subconscious assumption of the audio connoisseur is that the difference is most of the time for the better. It's a bit like coffee luwac. If you haven't had real Jamaica Blue Mountain, drinking an ok tasting $hity coffee may sound like a good idea.

Anyway, Craig, did you figure out what the magic box does? I'd run a few MLS signals with and without just to see what are the alterations to the frequency response and impedance of the speaker, connected.

i have the one without the box and the other box intact, i am going to run some test after lunch.

[craigk]

I thought VAT is removed from exported items? No country employing VAT would otherwise be able to compete in the world marketplace, I had been led to believe. That, VAT was only on items for their own domestic consumption.

under VAT are IM, CV HNF and MPF. sometimes just renamed here. but you owe on anything of value that comes into the country.

[dlr]

The objective of doo-das me thinks is not to improve the sound but make a difference. The usual question after the application of the tweak is "Do you hear the difference???!!!". And the subconscious assumption of the audio connoisseur is that the difference is most of the time for the better. It's a bit like coffee luwac. If you haven't had real Jamaica Blue Mountain, drinking an ok tasting $hity coffee may sound like a good idea..

Years ago when I only purchased audio equipment I had Apogee ribbon hybrids. A local high end stereo shop, back when they existed, loaned me cables to try over a weekend. One was MIT, the other was Audio Quest Midnight, the latter being $500 in the early 90's. The MIT made it worse than the standard 16ga. cables I use. The Audio Quest made no difference whatsoever. Kind of what I expected, but I was open to hearing a difference.

In contrast, I had purchased an Aragon 2002 MkII from my regular dealer. I had a one year full trade in option, so just before it expired I auditioned the 4004 MkII (brought home over a weekend as well). I tried every combination, the 2002 alone bi-wired (Apogees were 2-way), 4004 alone bi-wired, 2002 on the base section (10 in. closed box woofer) with 4004 on the ribbon and finally 4004 on the woofer with 2002 on the ribbon. I was surprised to find that the 4004 alone bi-wired beat any other setup. I traded in the 2002 and still have that 4004. It gets use in my DIY NE events (which I hope to hold again this year). The cable was always just good quality 16 ga multi-stranded.

dlr

[craigk]

4 pounds of hot glue melted and inside the box ... an RC circuit. More coming

[craigk]

very gentle roll off starting around 12K. has a nice linear rolloff. About 1.5 db at 17K. So that's an expensive RC circuit.
Cable is well made. 2 strands of what looks like 16 and 2 of 14 gauge copper. Each wrapped in some kind of vinyl and paper insulators. Going to go listen to cable with box and without box now.

[Æ]

"doing away with the analogue out and changing it to transformers" To most this sounds like a oxymoron, perhaps you could
shed some light for "most".

I know someone who is doing this with a solid state headphone amplifier. Kind of similar to what is done with tube amps. The output is still analog, but through a transformer.
Personally, I'd just prefer a Tube Output buffer, they really do take the edge off the usual CD sound. Many of the "High End" CD players come with a tube buffer output.

[Æ]

A box full of bullsh!t - pretty typical of the high end world, amps, preamps, transports, speakers, and advocates.

Boxes with conjugate networks, to compensate for the severe reactances that are inherent with mega speaker cables.

[Æ]

so BASICALLY , what your saying is your Sounddesign 8 track counsel ROCKS!

Spelling Police Alert. CONSOLE, a cabinet or table.

[Æ]

Huh?

He likely meant CONSOLE as in cabinet or table. His reply was obviously a snide remark.

[Squidspeak]

Craig, I know you own multiple speaker systems but curious the front end components you use for your reference system. OT but interesting story was one
year DLR could not host DIY NE so Mike Mz hosted in RI. We were fortunate to have 2 guest speakers ;Winslow Burhue of EPI fame
and a writer for an audio magazine. So this gentleman had this product you brushed on all your terminal contacts RCA jacks and speaker cables
and he did an A/B comparison and he was convinced there was a dramatic improvement, exclaiming you hear how well this works. Well the 20 or so people that
attended, mostly DIY people from this forum politely nodded their head out of respect to Mike and not challenge this guys claims but most thought it was just
snake oil.

[Æ]

I follow Nelson Pass's rule. “Your speaker cable should not cost more than your amplifier”

"Sound" advice.
Spelling Police Alert. When a word or name already ends with an "s" and you want to show possession, you add an apostrophe after the s. ---->Pass' --->not Pass's

[dld]

I did an analysis of these cables actually. Basically it's a series of LCR filters which are tuned to the resonances of Diana Krall's vocal cords. Entry level just notches out the fundamental - if you spend more it notches out higher and higher harmonics.

If it could filter her out completely, I'd pay quite a bit.

[craigk]

If it could filter her out completely, I'd pay quite a bit.

Now this is a good DIY response. Not exactly my favorite either. I will give her credit, she does have a few really well produced songs, and her singing is pretty impressive.

[civit]

Craig, no disrespect intended at all, but I think many of us in here come from either a very scientific/engineering or electronics background, and while yes we all enjoy the same hobby of audio, we must all realize that some products are in the "very questionable" corner of science, where the probability of being a truly valid proven improvement, is not quite certain for sure.

Taking measurements and sharing data is far more fulfilling than the sort of stuff we see on DiyAudio. I am part of one audio forum, this one, and that is the reason. People here are more objective, more respectful, and build the best speakers.