Technical parameters vs. perception: Subjective and objective approaches to assessing the impact of speaker cables on sound
Abstract
The speaker cable used to connect a power amplifier to a speaker is a topic of much debate between researchers and a group of music enthusiasts known as audiophiles. To analyse this issue, both objective and subjective measurements were conducted to study the impact of changing the type of speaker cable on the listener's auditory experience. The results of the objective research include the frequency characteristics of the tested cables, THD+N values, and measurements of the frequency response of the speaker system connected to the amplifier using different speaker cables. For the subjective tests, 15-second audio samples from three different music genres were used, along with a comparative evaluation method. The tested perceptual attributes were dynamics, clarity of sound, transparency, and overall rating. Gathered results made it possible to conclude that the influence of the loudspeaker cable in a music system is negligible. Subjective tests carried out on an expert group confirmed the theory that the loudspeaker cable used in a home music system has no effect on music reception in any of the genres tested.
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