Elevating speaker cables and interconnects off the floor.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-21 23:59

I've seen some articles advocating elevating audio cables off of the floor, and according to those articles - it does make a sonic improvement. Has anybody experimented with elevating speaker cables and/or interconnects off the floor? If so, what were the results?

paolo · Post by **paolo** » 2010-01-22 15:38

I've tried many years ago experimenting a little bit with this, suspending K400s both on insulating supports (pieces of foam and similiar) on the floor and hanging on rubber bands attached to the wall. The results were terrible indeed, you get a very impressive widening of the soundstage with plenty of so called "air" but....well everything gets confused and unspecific, cohesion and solidity get completely lost. Surpising effect both for its magnitude and for its deleterious effect on music!

Paolo

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-22 16:57

My power amplifier sits directly between the speakers, and the speaker cales are only one meter long. As such, there is only a small area of the speaker cable touching the floor (less than one inch). So, I can't really tell if that is an issue, but don't hear any problems either.

However, my interconnects going from the preamplifer to power amplifier are three meters long. Needless to say a much larger portion of these cables are in contact with the floor (approximately 2.5 meters).

I didn't know if elevating these interconnects would make a positive sonic improvement, or if it would be worth the effort of experimenting?

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-24 17:50

I decided to elevate my "three meter long" interconnects off the floor. But I really didn't want to buy expensive "cable elevators" (although expensive can be relative). So, I used two pieces of black nylon thread to lift each interconnect off the floor.

As it turns out, it was a good experiment to conduct. The noise level seems lower, which makes the music sound clearer. Bass notes are tighter and better sounding overall. Midrange seems to be improved as well; essentially they're more natural sounding. The voices' of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Grace Slick, John Lennon (as well as others) seem like they're singing in my room. Guitar solo's seem to have a little more energeny also.

This upgrade was worth the effort of experimenting, and the cost was just pennies :D .

Post by **lejonklou** » 2010-01-24 17:56

Ok, Tony. But is it better? By that I mean: Easier to follow the tune of a song you don't know by heart.

I tried these kind of experiments in the past, both on speaker cables and interconnects. Both sounded a lot worse when suspended! In general, I got a more "interesting" and hifi-ish sound that was musically worse.

On your description above, it sounds as if you've obtained something similar...?

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-24 18:49

Well, the music does sound more tuneful, or realisitc. In fact, I was able to compare older original record albums, to the newer audiophile versions, which I discuss in another thread (vinyl tunefulness). However, I'll continue to listen over time with various musical genre.

I was very skeptical of this particular "tuning method," which is why I didn't conduct an experiment sooner. Based on so many opinions, it certainly wasn't clear to me if this effort would be an improvement. And the only way for me to know for sure - was to experiment on my system.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-26 03:21

I've been listening to various styles of music to determine the improvement of lifting my interconnects off the floor. As such, I purchased an album called "Burning Spear" by Rasta Business. This reggae band performs as well as any I've heard, and the album is just as nice. I played the record with the interconnects (three meters) on the floor, and then lifted off the floor. Needless to say, the album sounded good both ways, but having the interconnects essentially suspended in air was an overall improvement. The music on this album is very musically involved and has a wide variety of instruments (trumpet, trombone, saxophone, various drums and guitars, etc.).

Although the improvement isn't like installing the new Linn Radikal, it was certainly worth the time and effort. I'm now getting better performance from the interconnects. All of this improvement with two pieces of nylon thread per interconnect; minimal contact area and essentially suspended in air. I'm not sure how the "cable risers" would sound, but they've been advertised at $100.00 for a set of four, and $300.00 for a set of twelve.

Post by **lejonklou** » 2010-01-26 23:22

When I have the time, I'll have to try this again. It's pretty odd it should have much effect at all, but I do remember the difference as surprisingly obvious.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-27 02:46

Ultimately, the many variables of any audio system could make this particular tuning method go either way (i.e., bad or good).

Some floors are concrete, hardwood or tile, and some floors have carpet or rugs. Some rooms contain furnishings that reflect musical notes, and some room furnishings will absorb musical notes. My audio room leans towards absorbing notes.

And perhaps length, and how the interconnects and speaker cable are made might have an influence as well. In any case, people have experienced various results; improvement, not as good, or just different but neither better or worse.

Post by **lejonklou** » 2010-01-27 12:27

Sorry, but I don't believe for a second that room acoustics has any influence on whether suspending cables is good or bad.

Lego · Post by **Lego** » 2010-01-27 12:42

Tony Tune-age wrote:I've been listening to various styles of music to determine the improvement of lifting my interconnects off the floor. As such, I purchased an album called "Burning Spear" by Rasta Business. This reggae band performs as well as any I've heard, and the album is just as nice. I played the record with the interconnects (three meters) on the floor, and then lifted off the floor. Needless to say, the album sounded good both ways, but having the interconnects essentially suspended in air was an overall improvement. The music on this album is very musically involved and has a wide variety of instruments (trumpet, trombone, saxophone, various drums and guitars, etc.).

Although the improvement isn't like installing the new Linn Radikal, it was certainly worth the time and effort. I'm now getting better performance from the interconnects. All of this improvement with two pieces of nylon thread per interconnect; minimal contact area and essentially suspended in air. I'm not sure how the "cable risers" would sound, but they've been advertised at $100.00 for a set of four, and $300.00 for a set of twelve.

I'm sure if you paid 100 bucks for a few lumps of wood you wouldn't hear an improvement Tony,how does your system sound with the cables back on the floor.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-27 13:59

Lego, the interconnects had been on the floor since they were originally installed, and certainly didn't sound bad. But the music is clearer sounding now with them being lifted off the floor, and I have experimented both ways using various types of music.

Also, this sonic improvement stays in line with the whole pace, rhythm and timing (PRAT) goal - at least on my system.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-01-27 14:15

Lejonklou, I don't know if room acoustics have an influence for sure, but I haven't ruled out the possibility either. As previously stated, I didn't conduct this experiment for a long time, because it never seemed logical. I figured there was no way that interrconnects could sound different or better - no matter how they were installed.

In spite of all the articles and opinions regarding this subject, I've seen no clear explanation or proof, as to why interconnects sound different on the floor and off the floor.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-02-11 21:21

I'm now experimenting with elevating my power cords off the floor, but this is a little more challenging due to limited space and increased weight. However, the few power cords that have been elevated, seem to have a small improvement. I should know more later, whether elevating power cords is actually an improvement on my system.

Tony Tune-age · Post by **Tony Tune-age** » 2010-02-19 16:21

Update on elevating power cords: Power cords that touched the floor for less than an inch, didn't appear to change much (if any) by being elevated. However, power cords that touched the floor for more than six inches, did improve by being elevated. The biggest sonic improvement came from elevating the power amplifier cord (EPS-3 standard, by Elrod Power Systems). Most of this cord was in contact with the floor, which may be the reason it had the largest amount of sonic improvement by being elevated. This was an easy and simple experiment to conduct, which has provided a small increase of sonic performance.