Comments on: Don't sully your TOSLINK with carpet fluff

by: Neal

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:31:39 +0000

Apparently, it's possible to disbelieve great cables into mediocrity:
“Many people don’t want there to be a difference in cables, so to them, there is none,” says Sarkin.

Of course, it's crazy to think that it might work the other way.

by: Daniel Rutter

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:36:01 +0000

Holy crap, man! Do you know what that much oxygenated copper will do to your system's transparency, immediacy, musicality and hoist if your floor and wall heights aren't in the golden ratio? Don't panic, though. As long as you only listen when you're sitting in a La-Z-Boy carved out of low-radioactivity granite by an uncircumcised Belgian and you align your earlobes (NOT your whole ears!!) with the earth's axis of rotation (not magnetic North, obviously, except for when you're listening to a medium-density pressing of Jazz At The Pawnshop), and if you breathe no more than once every 2.7183 sidereal seconds, you'll probably be OK. If you sneeze, stop listening immediately. If you don't, your hippocampus will degauss in less than a kleptosecond. If you find that your fingernails still grow, they'll obviously drown out the more ethereal of the midrange transients. I suggest you lighten your PayPal account appropriately. That'll probably clear it right up.

by: MQ

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:03:43 +0000

Actually, at least in my case, I think 20% for cable is about right. I bought a $US440 Onkyo 7.1 channel home theatre system and I am pretty sure I spent over $80 on cable by the time I ran all that wire up the walls, across the ceiling and back down again. And that was just plain 14 gauge WalMart speaker wire.

by: Chazzozz

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:14:13 +0000

Heck, if you're not worried about how they look then there's no need to spend money at all. Just visit any construction site where they're pouring concrete slabs and you'll see all sorts of reinforcement bar positioners that've been discarded. You may need to fossick through the rubbish pile a bit, but I think that'd be the worst of it. You could even hit 'em with a lick 'o paint if you want them to scrub up a bit.

I agree that they may serve a useful purpose for keeping cables away from hungry furniture feet or reducing the Cable Clutter™ that seems to crop up everywhere.

by: Keris

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:00:54 +0000

Well, about the only use I can ever see for cable stands is to keep the cables organized and out of the way of getting crushed by furniture. I will not pay $150+ for this; a re-purposed plastic "space saver" closet hanger did the job for me. Now the bazillion cables running from this to that are organized and out of [very unlikely] harm's way. I think it cost me $20 for the whole job (four hangers and some weighted feet to bolt onto them).

by: swalve

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:08:07 +0000

I think it's cargo-cult / magical thinking.

by: FuzzyPlushroom

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:00:14 +0000

Hahaha! I saw this from another site and immediately thought of you, Dan. Now I check your blog and you've found, and lambasted, it already. Good man.

by: Erik T

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:02:15 +0000

Unfortunately, after unsubscribing to this clown's mailing list, you then give him a few dozen/thousand extra hits so we can all see his crazy firsthand.

I don't see a solution to this conundrum.

by: Bern

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:11:40 +0000

Speaking of ludicrously priced cables, I was in the local JB Hi-Fi this morning, and was astounded to see HDMI leads for $300 (I don't know if it was a 'premium' brand, as I'd never heard of it, but I assume so). The thing that really shocked me, though, was that they had 0.9m Belkin HDMI cables for $99. Yup, more than $100 a metre for the next best thing to el-cheapo generic cables!

If'n I ever buy something that needs to be connected with HDMI, I think I'll hit up eBay or something...

by: Major Malfunction

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:46:22 +0000

I wouldn't be so dismissive.

Cable stands would be just the ticket if you were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle living in a sewer and had a desperate requirement to raise your cables above the inch-thick ubiquitous sludge and rabid-crazy cable-gnawing mutant rats.

Ahem.