How do I get rid of Victor?

[David A. Davis]

If you look past all the impressive graphs and acres of text, you will see that what they are saying is that a decent heavier gauge power cable is better than a cheap thin power cable, and you will improve your sound by changing from the cheap thin one to their clearly very well-made one. And with that, you actually can't argue.

Ps electrons don't actually travel down the length of the cable...

Would you like to explain to us how electrons move?

 

[Gizmot]

My god... the amount of pseudoscience...

You cannot reduce the resistance by running cable from the same hot source in parallel to the same end point, any more than you could do it by simply using a cable with greater diameter... The electrons can't tell a difference.

So if those cables make the difference because of parallel wires running from the same hot source, it's literally because there their combined area and width were bigger.

And fatter wires themselves are always recommended to be used for appliances that use a greater amount of electricity. If you have an electric heater, look at how fat its cable is. If you wonder why - it's exactly to reduce the resistance, and if you use a thinner cable, it might fry.

Audio amplifiers are weird - their AC source will take most energy at peaks, and the least on "sustain", so if your cable is overheating or has too high resistance for your amp, that means it's simply a cable unfit for the purpose, period. If your amp is rated at 1000w, use a cable that's also rated for 1000w+.

Also, there's no such thing as "getting electrons to the amp faster", it's either they get there in time or not at all. Just because there was a peak and not enough electrons got to the amp to make it sounds with the expected amplitude, doesn't mean electrons will get "late", it's that they won't get there at all due to resistance.

In a way, the only effect an unfitting cable will have on your sound is that it will compress the sound because the resistance is too high, not allowing the highest transients to ever hit their expected peak. It will also reduce the volume, so it's no wonder people like the smallest resistance cable better - IT SOUNDS LOUDER.

So the TL;DR is, buy a fatter cable designed for electric heaters and don't bother paying $150+ for this thing. If all that thing is doing is reducing resistance (which it should) then a fatter cable will do the exact same thing. Electronics aren't magic.

Now that I think of it, Victor could as well have been deceived in the same exact way, by being sold the same pseudoscientific story. Which I guess is sad, and I shouldn't be that hard on Victor.

I'm not going to convince you about anything - and you aren't going to convince me that I'm wrong. All I can say is that my ears don't lie.

I used to think some of the same things that you said, but then I tried a cord with my own setup and was blown away at how much better it sounded. I also put one on my Pioneer Kuro video monitor - - the colors were brighter, the blacks blacker and the overall definition better.

Look at the growing list of well-known musicians and recording engineers who've tried and now use Music Cords - we're not victims of hype - we just know what sounds right.

 

[2112]

 

[InternetAlias]

I'm not going to convince you about anything - and you aren't going to convince me that I'm wrong.

I can't convince you that you have bought an overpriced low resistance cable that was marketed as having extra features that aren't really doing anything that a quality heater cable wouldn't?

All I can say is that my ears don't lie.

Oh, you bet they do. Ears lie to everyone. But in your case, it could be that the cable you previously used caused the sound to be more compressed and lower in volume, and even choking at times, due to having higher resistance than your amp actually requires to function ideally.

I used to think some of the same things that you said, but then I tried a cord with my own setup and was blown away at how much better it sounded. I also put one on my Pioneer Kuro video monitor - - the colors were brighter, the blacks blacker and the overall definition better.

Alright, I can say that changing the resistance on the #1 will do some work in case the previous cable had too much resistance, but modern monitors and screens really do not benefit from that. They either don't work without enough electricity, or they do work with enough electricity. They also aren't transient-based like audio gear. At this point you're arguing against anyone who understands how modern screens work knows, and it's mind boggling. I could say that a lower resistance cable would work better for a CRT monitor, but not the modern ones.

Look at the growing list of well-known musicians and recording engineers who've tried and now use Music Cords - we're not victims of hype - we just know what sounds right.

Appeal to popularity? Prety low. Audiophiles believe their eyes and ears don't lie to them, which is utter nonsense since they lie to all of us, but not all of us are arrogant enough to claim to have perfect sensory organs since we understand why we can't. You're trying to argue against science, and can only come on top in the minds of other audiophiles who have also given up on it and decided that they understand physics better.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Would you like to explain to us how electrons move?

Randomly. They don't shoot straight down a cable at 2 3rds the speed of light. This kind of thing is easy to google.

Or perhaps you have a different explanation?

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Here ya go...

Science Guys | Deparment of Physics at Union University

 

[David A. Davis]

Randomly. They don't shoot straight down a cable at 2 3rds the speed of light. This kind of thing is easy to google.

Or perhaps you have a different explanation?

I was just curious of your theory. You said "electrons don't actually move down the length of the cable". Then how do they get from the wall outlet to the amp?

 

[mrjim123]

Per Google, electrons DO move through a conductor. Also, per Google:

"A calculation shows that the electron is traveling at about 2,200 kilometers per second. That's less than 1% of the speed of light, but it's fast enough to get it around the Earth in just over 18 seconds. Read up on what happens when nothing can go faster than the speed of light."

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I was just curious of your theory. You said "electrons don't actually move down the length of the cable". Then how do they get from the wall outlet to the amp?

While I'd like to be able to claim a theory of electromagnetism, it isn't mine

 

[InternetAlias]

Per Google, electrons DO move through a conductor. Also, per Google:

"A calculation shows that the electron is traveling at about 2,200 kilometers per second. That's less than 1% of the speed of light, but it's fast enough to get it around the Earth in just over 18 seconds. Read up on what happens when nothing can go faster than the speed of light."

Well, they do and they don't, depending on what you consider movement or traveling. I think people who understand physics are mostly against calling it "traveling" or "movement" since it's kind of an oversimplification. You can definitely shoot electrons (or photons, or any particle) to cause it to TRAVEL but that's not what's happening in the wire.

See, when a layman hears that an electron moves through a wire, they will imagine (and will often be depicted as) that the wire is some tube through which electrons move. What actually happens is more akin to having a chain (although in practice, it is not a chain but a matrix) of atoms which each keep exchanging electrons with the next ones in the "flow" of electricity. As soon as an electron is released from one atom, that atom will adopt a new electron, then leave one of the electrons in the valence shell, then adopt a new one, etc.

So what people really perceive as "electrons traveling" is really a lot more like "electrons jump from atom to atom". Only electrons that are in the valence shell can leave the atom, and once they leave, if other electrons are adopted from other valence shells, they'll adopted there.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Well, they do and they don't, depending on what you consider movement or traveling. I think people who understand physics are mostly against calling it "traveling" or "movement" since it's kind of an oversimplification. You can definitely shoot electrons (or photons, or any particle) to cause it to TRAVEL but that's not what's happening in the wire.

See, when a layman hears that an electron moves through a wire, they will imagine (and will often be depicted as) that the wire is some tube through which electrons move. What actually happens is more akin to having a chain of atoms which each keep exchanging electrons with the next ones in the "flow" of electricity. As soon as an electron is released from one atom, that atom will adopt a new electron, then leave one of the electrons in the valence shell, then adopt a new one, etc.

So what people really perceive as "electrons traveling" is really a lot more like "electrons jump from atom to atom". Only electrons that are in the valence shell can leave the atom, and once they leave, if other electrons are adopted from other valence shells, they'll adopted there.

Good explanation. It's a wave.

 

[David A. Davis]

While I'd like to be able to claim a theory of electromagnetism, it isn't mine

Electromagnetism is a totally different area. I'm just curious about your interpretation of how electrons are used in this situation.

 

[InternetAlias]

Good explanation. It's a wave.

Yeah, but saying that it's a wave isn't very explanatory to people who ask the question. I learned this while trying to explain how sound works

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Electromagnetism is a totally different area. I'm just curious about your interpretation of how electrons are used in this situation.

I think if you refer to the link I posted and the post by @InternetAlias, you have the explanation.

 

[David A. Davis]

I think if you refer to the link I posted and the post by @InternetAlias, you have the explanation.

Nice diversion from my original question.

 

[mrjim123]

I have a BS in electronics technology, and one of the first things I learned is that it is actually hole charges that "flow" in the direction that early scientists thought electrons flowed, i.e., they got it totally backwards. But, yeah, electrons don't flow in the same sense that water flows through a pipe.

 

[mrjim123]

We have all of this knowledge and, although I haven't read every reply to this thread, it seems that nobody can answer the original question, "How do I get rid of Victor?".

 

[InternetAlias]

I have a BS in electronics technology, and one of the first things I learned is that it is actually hole charges that "flow" in the direction that early scientists thought electrons flowed, i.e., they got it totally backwards. But, yeah, electrons don't flow in the same sense that water flows through a pipe.

It's also fun to note that electron "flowing" doesn't start with the "giving" but rather with "taking". As in, the perceived flow of electrons starts when the device that is supposed to spend the energy takes the valent electrons from atoms it has direct contact with, then those take the electrons of others until it reaches the energy source. It's quite fun to think about how backwards the whole process actually seems when you break it down to physics.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Nice diversion from my original question.

What? You want me to quote specific sections from an article? Or are you maybe just trolling...

 

[Deleted member 165050]

We have all of this knowledge and, although I haven't read every reply to this thread, it seems that nobody can answer the original question, "How do I get rid of Victor?".

I don't really want to get rid of Victor, he's way too nice