Cable risers or lifts. They give engineers the fantods and audiophile critics perfect ammunition to indulge in ridicule. I couldn't care less. I use Furutech and AudioQuest versions downstairs and upstairs. I recently learnt of Audionet's Gauss, a €1.6K/4 variant using a hi-tech 3D-printable¹ aluminum alloy called AlMgty said to present like virtual air. When cables make contact with the floor, their capacitance increases because the materials they touch become an extension of their dielectric. That's one explanation I've come across which attempts to explain why 'floating' cables particularly speaker cables perform better. But I also wondered whether the electromagnetic field which surrounds current-carrying conductors "minds" that its upper half sees pure air whilst its lower half must penetrate carpet, tiles, parquet, concrete or other flooring materials. Not being an engineer, I've kept this assumption to myself. Now this illustration by Audionet, a German firm famous for highly engineered peak-performance electronics, suggests that they too see something about a floor-crawling cable's asymmetrical energy field that's not maximally happy for best audible performance. Once the cable floats, the EM field is free to develop evenly in all directions without having to penetrate physical obstructions.
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¹ We're told that the machine required to do this costs a cool €500'000. That's not your friendly neighborhood printer.
Being a contentious topic when most audiophiles see current flow as electrons moving down a wire like water in a hose, Audionet's website wisely engages no outrageous theories or makes claims other than let actual users chime in with their findings. And some of those users are rather big names in our sector. To float or to sink our cables? I've gone with float because my ears told me to. Hey, I gotta blame someone for listening to so outlandish a notion as lifted cables. Might as well be my own ears. It's why for Gauss Audionet have a 3-week no-questions-asked return privilege. Don't like what you hear; or hear nothing – send them back for a full refund. Such bullish confidence is rather suggestive…
Audionet's product page
