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The Cabling Industry Needs a Makeover
Shepherd retweeted a blog written by L.A. recording engineer Bobby Owsinski, who blogged about a 2008 Engadget story that asked 12 "audiophiles" to compare an audiophile cable brand with another cabling product. It turns out the other cabling product was a set of coat hangers. The crux of the story is that those audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between coat hangers and expensive cables.
Adding insult to injury, Owsinski points out the obvious difference between the audiophile community and professional sound engineers that use their listening skills for work by noting, "'audiophiles' showed just why they get so much abuse from pros over their so-called "golden ears."
Monster was the cable manufacturer in question in Engadget's blind testing, and Owsinski says Monster does make good products; the problem, in his opinion, is with how the products are marketed. "Monster Cable takes some reasonably good cable and markets it in such a way that its perceived value is a lot greater than it deserves to be," he asserts in his blog. "The problem is that for speaker cable, 12 or 10 gauge zip cord [lamp cable] will work just as well as expensive Monster cable."
Unfortunately for the cabling industry, Owsinski isn't alone in his opinion, and websites such as Audioholics.com fuel the public's disdain for cabling by publishing stories that attack the credibility of many of the cable category's claims for improved performance.
Like Owsinski, Gene DeSalla at Audioholics points out that Monster and other brands aren't necessarily bad, its just that their products don't measure up to the claims.
To rectify this problem, I think it's time for the cabling category to own up to its self-generated hyperbole and tone it down. Let's start by addressing the claims of exotic materials, proprietary construction techniques and slick geometry designs that contribute to their out-of-this-world performance claims without any third-party verification.
Manufacturers should look to develop products that are affordable to consumers in these difficult economic times. Too often, critics point to the steep price tags attached to some cabling products and note that a consumer could buy a nice car or place a down payment on a house with the amount of money some companies ask for a pair of speaker cables.
The last thing the cabling industry needs to do is educate the public on the benefits of a properly designed cable that employs quality materials. Owsinski says cabling can make a difference in how a system performs, and I believe he is correct. Using dealers, let's teach consumers on how to buy cable and how to listen.
One other suggestion I would make is that maybe we should think about locking audiophiles in the basements from which they came. For all their passion about music and equipment, they inflict a lot of irreparable damage to an industry that can hardly afford the scrutiny of a public that doesn't respect their collective opinions. OK, OK, I'm only kidding about that last suggestion, but I would take away their Diana Krall and Patricia Barber CDs and LPs as punishment for their past transgressions.
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9 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
If you don’t care about the design and construction of your wire and cable, why sweat the details of the components they connect to?
jhamill1, you hit the nail on the head. great comment, nobody has said it better.
There are those who cannot tell the difference between wines, cars, watches, and many other products that are differentiated by manufacturing quality and performance. Any person who cannot tell the difference should spend as little as possible, since they cannot differentiate or (more likely) do not place any significant value on the perceived differences. For those who do see, hear, or taste a difference, the value proposition is personal. If something does not seem worth the added cost, one should never spend the money to buy that item. If it makes a difference that is meaningful to the person paying the hard-earned dollars, it seems irrelevant whether Bobby Owsinski or Gene DeSalla share the same values for their own personal purchase. Perhaps the claims made by some cable manufacturers seem exaggerated to you, but they may seem understated to others. This is life, and it does not seem really helpful to suggest that any manufacturer of a product understate the differentiating qualities to meet the lowest common denominator of taste or discrimination.
Witness, one time, the Audioquest “boom-box” test and forever after make nonsense comments that cables make no difference.
Jhamil1 is correct: How many times do studios release “Remastered” editions…
because the first go-‘round was, as the Scottish say: Crrrrrrrrrrap
The point of the blog is that cables do make a difference, but I think we as an industry need to tone down the superlatives and phrasing of our marketing because most people find it out of line.
In many ways it reminds me of how the FDA regulates the labeling of food labels. The terminology the food industry was using confused many consumers and the government stepped in to demystify what terms could be used.
Addressing the guys complaining about the gear musicians use. Keep in mind many recording engineers/mastering engineers do not have full control over the content they are working on (the labels dictate certain parameters). Most sound quality complaints involve the compression used to master a recording and that has nothing to do with the cabling they use, the computers, the software, the mixing board, mics or instruments.
Also remember that musicians use their ears as tools, they have refined listening skills far beyond that of most audiophiles (just look at the results of the coat hanger comparison). They also view things like guitars, speakers, amps and cables as tools. They don’t revere these products like collectors and enthusiasts. They treasure very few things—59 Les Paul, 61 Stratocaster—for example, but for the most part they aren’t overly analytical about gear.
I am a proponent of good quality cables and have written about the category and companies like AudioQuest, Transparent, Straight Wire and Tributaries for a long time. I believe these companies try to engineer good products, but I’m sure they would agree that the polarizing nature of cable discussion is probably harmful to the category in the grand scheme of things.
I agree with Michael Hamilton. Listen to the AudioQuest boombox test and you’ll hear a difference. That said, there is a lot of hocus pocus in the premium cabling industry no doubt. There is a lot of that in the speaker, projector, display industries as well btw.
I have tried all kinds of cabling; premium brand, radioshack brand, untwisted CAT5 plenum, etc etc. Each has a unique sound but I can’t say others can or will appreciate it.
The arrogance of our industry amazes me all the time. If we would just treat people with respect, not try to sell them snake oil, and stop saying anyone who doesn’t get it must not be our clients, maybe we would be doing better as a whole. I believe in quality, but isn’t finding the right products for our clients budget part of what we do? I’m sure I’ll take a beating from some, but I believe I’ve got a good bead on who drives our industry and it’s definitely not the audiophiles.
I have to agree with Orlando’s post above. Sure there are the greatest products out on the market that make a difference, but maybe the client will get more satisfaction and value out of something else like more automation. It’s like cars, everybody knows who makes the best quality cars, but what do most people drive? Not the best quality cars. Everybody puts different values on different things.
Monster is certainly not the brand we want as the poster child for high performance cables. Truly, cable from Nordost and the like shatter any myth of lamp cord getting the job done. However, they are priced appropriately. At the end of the day, much like the TV market, cheap people will continue to buy cheap junk. No amount of information will sway them. They want to pretend they’re eating caviar on a Taco Bell budget. They are as discerning as a dog eating in an alley and as disloyal as any customer could be. The “average consumer” having to choose between a house payment and a good set of cables is not the target client of the CE Pro crowd. Leave them for Costco, Best Buy, electricians, alarm guys, internet deep discounters and next door neighbors.
Additionally, with so many audio and video engineers out there who feel that cable is cable is cable, it’s easy to see why so many otherwise great albums and movies are well below reference grade recording quality.