HEY!!!Essential Sound power cables (the $199 ones)- questions needed!

[MikeBass]

OK...here's the deal.
I'm going to be at a photoshoot this weekend for Detroit Bass Players at the Motown museum.

Michael Griffen (from Essential Sound) posted on the Detroit Bass Players fb page and said he was going to be there with some samples and would answer some questions......I commented and said I would have some questions taken from some TalkBass threads and let him comment officially.

HMMM!!!!!

So, this is NOT a bashing thread. Please leave all debateing and what-not to another thread. This is to gather questions for me to present to him.
Please, technical questions prefered as I would like to maybe have a list to get an official comment on- if he's willing and doesn't blow it off.

I also asked him if he would be willing to personally do a blind test of his cables.
So, if I could have a few suggestions as to how it should happen, that would be great.

Mine was simple- as I've done it before.
Grab a bass, amp and cables.
Turn you back and play a line.
Switch cables- play the exact line.
Repeat about 10 times.
And look at the results.
Grab another player and repeat.

My guess is he 1) won't answer any questions and 2) no way in hell he'll submit to a blind test of his cable.

So again, intelligent, factual technical question needed to present.
I'f I can, I'll video his responses. But I don't want to be/will not be disrespectful to him personally.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by MikeBass

Turn you back and play a line.
Switch cables- play the exact line.
Repeat about 10 times.

If you switch cables every other line, anyone would have a 50/50 shot of getting it right as it would either always be on odds or evens. Wouldn't it be better to mix in some falsities, such as leaving it plugged in twice in a row and leaving the "standard" cable plugged in twice in a row, etc.?

[MikeBass]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

If you switch cables every other line, anyone would have a 50/50 shot of getting it right as it would either always be on odds or evens. Wouldn't it be better to mix in some falsities, such as leaving it plugged in twice in a row and leaving the "standard" cable plugged in twice in a row, etc.?

Left that out....in the little "test" we did at Low Down Sound, we did exactly that.
A blind test. Switching them back and forth. Sometimes not switching etc....
No definitive, noticable difference between the "stock" amp cable and the ESP with multiple players.

Just for grins with one guy, we left the stock cable plugged in and never switched. Well, again, with some he "heard a difference".......yeah.

I'm a naysayer in this. And would like some proof that I could be wrong.
Not opinion. But proof.

[bongomania]

It is critical that the person playing the bass does NOT know when a cable has been changed, or which cable is in use. Knowing either of those things can subconsciously affect how they play, wrecking the test.

[bongomania]

A question for him:

Given that almost all amps and electronic devices convert the power from AC to DC before the power hits any portion of the audio circuit; and given that DC has no phase; how can "correcting the phase" in an AC cable have any relationship to what goes on inside the amp? And how can changing the wave shape of the AC affect the DC?

[Mark Reccord]

Originally Posted by bongomania

A question for him:

Given that almost all amps and electronic devices convert the power from AC to DC before the power hits any portion of the audio circuit; and given that DC has no phase; how can "correcting the phase" in an AC cable have any relationship to what goes on inside the amp? And how can changing the wave shape of the AC affect the DC?

This is on the top of my list of questions.

I'd like to know if they have any empirical evidence that their cables affect audible behaviour in amplifiers and I'd like to see some in depth technical explanations (i.e. EE-level stuff).

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by bongomania

...how can "correcting the phase" in an AC cable have any relationship to what goes on inside the amp?

That one is really laughable. In a 120VAC circuit, there is only one phased conductor. Correct it relative to what? The phase of the moon? I call PSMJ - Pseudo Scientific Mumbo Jumbo.

[ggunn]

Apparently we are not allowed to talk about the $199 power cord any more. I am surprised that this thread is still open.