This box (as explained in Greenhill’s article) used logic circuitry to randomly trigger relays that allowed listeners to compare two unknown sources instantaneously while eliminating the need for (and therefore, the bias of) a test administrator to select the sources hence the term double-blind. Testing device called the ABX Double Blind Comparator System. Greenhill’s science background and personal interest in acoustic perception and subjective listening had led him to write some articles on these subjects, and eventually to fascination with a new audio The pitch was made by accomplished research psychiatrist Laurence Greenhill, an active member of the Westchester (county) Audiophile Society based in the New York City suburbs, and a reviewer for the audio journal High Performance Review. It was no surprise, then, that in 1983, the magazine jumped at the opportunity to conduct a double-blind listening test, which editor-in-chief Bill Livingston and his colleagues hoped would reveal, scientifically, that high-end cables were indeed a hoax and provided no higher performance than the everyday lamp cord in common use at the time. It wasn’t long before Stereo Review began positioning itself as the skeptical voice of reason in what its editors deemed an audio industry gone mad. The highly objective measurement-based testing approach employed by Julian Hirsch and his colleagues already ran counter to the high-end community’s subjective reviews, which focused solely on claimed sonic differences that SR’s instruments couldn’t detect. The editors of our precursor Stereo Review were suspicious of the benefits of such speaker cables and interconnects, which were suddenly being proffered by an ever-widening mix of high-end specialists, often at prices far higher than Monster’s. In the midst of all this, the premium cable business emerged, driven in no small part by the success of the early Monster Cable products that followed the company’s founding by engineer/audiophile Noel Lee in 1979. But the High End also attracted its share of half-baked products and at least a few charlatans looking to cash in selling accessories that had little higher performance than a dime-store engagement ring. Some of these claims were founded-true advances were indeed being made by start-ups run by technicians with first-class bonafides and good ears. Fueled by an underground audio press that included magazines and newsletters such as Sound & Vision sister publication Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, International Audio Review, The Audio Critic, and others, a cottage industry emerged, one populated by small manufacturers of low-volume, high-priced exotica claiming greater faithfulness to the music than the gear reviewed and advertised in the pages of Stereo Review, High Fidelity, Audio, et al. If the extension of the wire is beyond 100 feet, consider replacing the wire with a thicker size.The results of blind listening tests with eleven audio experts.Įditor's Note, 2018: In the early 1980s, esoteric high-end audio as we know it today was just taking off as an alternative to the mass-market equipment offered in neighborhood TV/appliance stores.You can splice 2 differently-sized wires together, as long as they're close in gauge (like 18AWG and 16AWG).16 gauge is also common, especially for distances up to 50 ft (15 m). 18 gauge (AWG) is the most popular size, and it's usually used for distances of up to 25 ft (7.6 m).
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