Zen And The Art Of Car Audio

It is not often that I decide to put pen to paper and capture some of the, some might say, ridiculous thoughts that pass through my head each day.
As a reader of Talk Audio and long time audio buff (car and home), I spend considerable time trying to find improvements to my audio system. Recently the psychology of our hobby has been playing on my mind.
In the world of pharmacology there is an expression, which most people will know about, called the Placebo Effect (from the Latin “I will please”). This amazing phenomenon is our physical and mental response to a medicine, or treatment, without any real activity or potency. When dosed with non-potent sugar pills, patients have been know to show statistically significant improvements in their medical conditions.
Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars annually, performing ‘blind’ placebo controlled studies. The placebo arm of the research effort being a compulsory part of the study to ensure that the active ingredient is in fact a contributing factor in a patient’s improvement in health. In addition, multiple studies have been performed using placebo pills or simple saline injections to treat pain, with profound effect. Patients displayed an increased tolerance to pain when injected with a non-potent saline solution.
The mind is clearly a powerful part of the system (not unlike a decent head unit). Sceptics of homeopathy often attribute any perceived improvements in medical condition to the placebo effect rather than the effect of treatment with homeopathic remedies. Which can be understood since their treatments are essentially just water. Where conditions are related to depression, the interaction with a “medical expert”, such as a homeopath, may well make the patients mental outlook improve, in the same way that a hug from your mum makes the pain from a scuffed knee subside. Bored yet?
So what has this to do with the world of car audio? Before I start, please don’t take offence when I talk about the subject of cables. In my opinion (Remember that, it is mine and not really of any importance… Beg to differ, Ed) the Copper cable is the homeopathic remedy of the audio world. While we understand how the speaker design, amplifier power, head unit, etc. can influence the sound that we hear, the effect of different cables still remains a bit of a mystery. When there is no quantifiable or measurable difference between two different cables, we are told that it is our ears that will tell us which are best.

So we listen…in some cases in the presence of the cable shop keeper (the cable homeopath?). He or she (now there is an idea. Selling cables to TA members while wearing a bikini would be easy for almost any woman), will typically tell you what benefits you should hear from this length of Copper. Even the biggest cable sceptic at this point will start to doubt his own disbelief in the miracles of cryogenically frozen cables.
I for one certainly do.
Despite no evidence to suggest otherwise. I tell myself that they all sound the same, but still there is doubt. This brings me to another, lesser known, expression the Nocebo Effect (Latin “I will harm”). This is a pharmacological effect is the exact opposite of the Placebo Effect. A patient can experience a negative impact on their health, as result of being told a completely non-potent treatment will do them harm. My door speakers are wired using the standard Mazda wiring. Is this cable any worse than the stuff that you can buy for £100 per meter? I have no idea. It still plays on my mind though. It could well be a blend of Copper purity and Oxygen content that produces the almost perfect resistance and capacitance to produce the best possible sound from my system.
It could, but it was free. Besides, nobody ever told me it was the best, or even good for that matter, so how can it be? It keeps me awake at night that bloody Nocebo Effect! So are “better” cables (“better” typically being measured in the local currency of the listener) really worth the money? I paid £100 for a Lacoste polo shirt once. It certainly made me feel better than anything you could get from Primark (not that I have ever been in there).
Could this be a similar effect with cables? When you tell a cable homeopath that you cannot hear the difference, they tell you your system isn’t good enough to tell the difference. Why waste your money then? It’s a bit like my myopic Nan watching her Chippendale Blu-rays on her 1080p plasma…pointless.
Why then, do I love to see a braided cable with shrink wrapped ends (phroooar!)? I bet they sound better with the braiding, they must do.
I am off to iron my Lacoste shirt. What do you mean it’s a waste of money? Your fashion sense isn’t good enough to tell the difference anyway…

WORDS: Harryredchow, Moderator and Internet Legend 

PICTURES: Hayden Smith, Admin and Enigma