| If you go to your local home theater store, you | | | | numbers. |
| may be confronted by a variety of "extreme" | | | | These numbers are then read and translated into |
| sounding names for cabling: Mega Cables, Monster | | | | electronic signals, which are sent to the speakers |
| Cables, Uber Cables... the proliferation of "boutique" | | | | in order to approximate the actual sounds. With |
| cabling is always a source of controversy in home | | | | that in mind, it makes sense that poor quality |
| theater and audiophile circles. The question is, how | | | | wires don't physically change the sound - instead |
| much difference do they make, and are they | | | | it's like a game of 'telephone', in which the band |
| worth it? Well despite the perils involved in even | | | | tells the CD, the CD tells the player, the player |
| mentioning this topic, I'm going to attempt to add | | | | tells the wires, and the wires tell the speakers, |
| something to the discussion. | | | | with something being lost at every step so that |
| The most important thing to recognize is that a | | | | the message "Aunt Betty baked a pie" is altered |
| cable cannot improve the sound of a home | | | | to "Fat Eddy wants to cry" or what should be a |
| stereo system any more than an electrical wire | | | | great live recording sounds tinny, distant, or |
| can create extra electricity when you plug it into | | | | otherwise just plain wrong. |
| the wall. That's actually a very good example, | | | | A good cable will change the signal as little as |
| because when you're listening to audio for | | | | possible, but all cables do damage your signal a bit |
| instance, what we're hearing is an electronic | | | | - it's simply a matter of degree. As far as which |
| representation of acoustic sounds - that is to say, | | | | cables are the best? That's up to you or your |
| the actual sounds have not been captured and | | | | local audio guru to decide - much is up to personal |
| stuffed into a compact disc like fireflies in a child's | | | | preference, with the rest probably being left up to |
| jar - they have been copied, imitated, and a | | | | your budget to decide. |
| representation stored on the disc as a series of | | | | |