guitar cable recommendations?

[Glooper]

Your wrong jens... Silver is the highest and then copper and then Gold...

http://www.eddy-current.com/condres.htm
http://my.execpc.com/~rhoadley/magcondb.htm

steel is way down the list..

Ben

[jens]

I don't think steel is a better conductor than gold..

it is nonetheless...

nope it is not - you are completely right

[Jafo]

Just try and post a link to any authoritative measurements. I've looked. There aren't any.
If you can measure anything in the audio range you're on to a winner because Monster (to name but one) have been trying with the most sophisticated equipment for more than twenty years.
There still isn't a single measurement on their site.

?!@$!?

Wow... there really isn't a single one... This bodes not at all well for mine argument, which is now reduced to mere subjective hearing.

Hmm... Some time after payday rolls around (Tuesday, btw), I'll pick up a few new cables and run some experiments. I think I'll record a midi-controlled synth (say, my wife's cheap-ass Casio keyboard), since that'd be reasonably reproducible and would provide a good enough test for here, at any rate. I'll post the results here. Sound good?

[nuffink]

There's no mystery about conductance. A wire is a wire is a wire. It's understood down to the quantum level. If it weren't that 90nm cpu in the computer you're using couldn't possibly work.
The only mystery about cables is how the likes of Monster, Mogami et. al. can get away with it.

[Jafo]

I think he meant that while steel conducts a bit better than gold steel is more prone to rust and thus gold ends up being the better solution in the log-run...

Yep. More of an "in case" than anything else, but hey...

[nuffink]

Just try and post a link to any authoritative measurements. I've looked. There aren't any.
If you can measure anything in the audio range you're on to a winner because Monster (to name but one) have been trying with the most sophisticated equipment for more than twenty years.
There still isn't a single measurement on their site.

?!@$!?

Wow... there really isn't a single one... This bodes not at all well for mine argument, which is now reduced to mere subjective hearing.

Hmm... Some time after payday rolls around (Tuesday, btw), I'll pick up a few new cables and run some experiments. I think I'll record a midi-controlled synth (say, my wife's cheap-ass Casio keyboard), since that'd be reasonably reproducible and would provide a good enough test for here, at any rate. I'll post the results here. Sound good?

Sounds great. I'll look forward to it.
Even better why not run a simple loopback test using a few meters of boutique cable and a few meters of err... cable. Then when the signals cancel exectly you can attempt to find a reason.

[jens]

Your wrong jens... Silver is the highest and then copper and then Gold...

http://www.eddy-current.com/condres.htm
http://my.execpc.com/~rhoadley/magcondb.htm

steel is way down the list..

Ben

weell, if my guess is right and they alloy nickly with chrome then it conducts even better than gold...

(nichrome: 1,50 · 10-6 / gold: 2,44 · 10-8 )

I'm not sure though if they use nichrome for conventional plugs...

[jens]

I thought they used copper ... ...

nope

yep

now I realize what you are referring to - you are speaing about the cables itself, but I meant the plugs -
I think when Jafo brought it inot the conversation he meant the plugs as well. The cables itself are always copper it think - but that's not we we were speaking about...

[Jafo]

Good points and advice indeed! (But then, I find live music barbaric, and neither play nor hear it.)

im not sure i can work out what you mean here?
do you mean "real" instruments like guitars et al or do you mean what you in fact say and that live music ie bands and artists on a stage or performing anywhere is barbaric? if so can you explain?

On stage, basically. There's just too many variables unrelated to music. Live shows are a more or less holistic drama, whereas I only care about the music. It's purely a matter of preference, but I just don't care about light shows, what the band is wearing, whether they dance or not, or anything other than the sound. And live shows invariably have poor sound; audiences making noise, messing up the acoustics by their mere presence, and so forth. It may be valid to care about the process of pleasing the audience -- oops, I'm veering close to modern critical theory! -- but I only care about the final product.

Again, that's just my personal preference, and more power to you if you have other preferences.

[nuffink]

I thought they used copper ... ...

nope

yep

now I realize what you are referring to - you are speaing about the cables itself, but I meant the plugs -
I think when Jafo brought it inot the conversation he meant the plugs as well. The cables itself are always copper it think - but that's not we we were speaking about...

Apologies, I assumed you were talking cable.

[jens]

Apologies, I assumed you were talking cable.

no problem...

I think it was Ben who misunderstood it first:

gold plating (gold doesn't conduct as well as steel, but better than rust

I've never seen even just a tiny hint of rust on any of my guitar-cable jacks...

I don't think that's what he meant jens.. I think he was just commenting that some metals conduct better than others. (but I might be wrong)

iron is a poor conductor in comparison to copper... I thought gold was the best conductor better than steel anyway that has more impurities..

so you probably wouldn't use iron in leads anyway (hence why the wouldn't rust)

Ben

[jens]

The only mystery about cables is how the likes of Monster, Mogami et. al. can get away with it.

[nuffink]

One more thing you won't find in the internet... A double blind or ABX listening test showing any statistically significant differences between cables.
Not one.

[Jafo]

Just try and post a link to any authoritative measurements. I've looked. There aren't any.
If you can measure anything in the audio range you're on to a winner because Monster (to name but one) have been trying with the most sophisticated equipment for more than twenty years.
There still isn't a single measurement on their site.

?!@$!?

Wow... there really isn't a single one... This bodes not at all well for mine argument, which is now reduced to mere subjective hearing.

Hmm... Some time after payday rolls around (Tuesday, btw), I'll pick up a few new cables and run some experiments. I think I'll record a midi-controlled synth (say, my wife's cheap-ass Casio keyboard), since that'd be reasonably reproducible and would provide a good enough test for here, at any rate. I'll post the results here. Sound good?

Sounds great. I'll look forward to it.
Even better why not run a simple loopback test using a few meters of boutique cable and a few meters of err... cable. Then when the signals cancel exectly you can attempt to find a reason.

[Normally, when one politely concedes that you may very well be right, it is considered magnanimous -- or at least courteous -- to be similarly polite in response.]

I'll try that, too. Once I have sufficient funds to purchase said premium cabling in order to conduct such tests, that is. I'd like to test a Monster, a Mogami, and a LiveWire (midrange), vs the generic POS (cheap) and Radio Shack guitar cables I already have. Not a simple proposition, mind you, given that I am but a poor music store clerk (who hears these cables all day long, btw) with three children, but I'll make it happen.

For the record, although I'm positive I'll find a large difference between cheap and midrange cables, I suspect I'll end up showing that the "premium hype" is mostly -- but not entirely -- just hype.

[nuffink]

My apologies if that came off as impolite.
That's the second slap on the wrist I've had today about my attitude.