Speaker cable lifters?...is anyone doing this?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by fronn

The amount if static electricity in a carpet is not going to going to be able to pass through any sufficiently shielded PVC cable jacket.

This is the type of stuff that just makes audiophiles look like loons.

The placebo affect is very powerful, especially after spending hundreds or thousands of dollars.

I am not advocating that anyone should buy cable lifters and I question their benefit. However, you need to understand the science behind the argument. The PVC insulator around the cable is the cause of capacitance.

Capacitance occurs by the insulator around the conductor. In amplifiers, capacitance is a desirable property. In cables, some of the electrons passing through the cable or from static electricity is transferred to the insulator and stored as energy. When they are released back into the conductor, it may cause a deteriorationin of the sound quality.

The type of insulator has a direct effect on capacitance. Most insulator are PVC, Polyethylene, Polypropylene, and Teflon. Teflon is the best, but it is a difficult material to work with. That is one reason why cables that use Teflon are normally more expensive.

Impedance is the combination of resitance, inductance, and capacitance. Some amplifiers are more sensitive to the load impedance of the speaker wires. The reason is because the higher the output impedance of the amplifier, the more likely capacitance and inductance of the cable will affect the sound quality. Tube amplifiers are more sensitive to cables than solid state amplifiers because they have higher output impedances.