RMAF 2012

MIT’s Cable Comparisons

Jason Victor Serinus  |  Oct 18, 2012

Not to be outdone, Kent Loughlin of MIT (Music Interface Technologies) staged 5-minute cable comparisons in the MIT room on the 2nd floor of the Marriott’s Tower. Using a Cary CD player and Cary monoblock amplifiers, and Polk Audio monitors with Custom Sound Anchors stands, Loughlin initially chose the beautiful, albeit oft-played soprano solo from Reference Recordings’ superb version of Rutter’s Requiem to let people hear the difference that MIT’s AVT Speaker Module ($149), which added up to 10 poles of articulation, brought to MIT’s custom installation cable (80 cents/foot for 12-gauge cable with two conductors).

When someone in the room asked, “Do you have anything other than classical?” Loughlin switched to a beautiful recording of a female singer/songwriter on the Blue Coast Records label. It was easy to hear how the AVT module brought more warmth to the sound, and conveyed far more information from the piano.

Then Loughlin switched from between different levels of cable in its “affordable” Matrix Series. (MIT’s Matrix 18 Speaker Interface, which seems to be a fancy name for speaker cable, costs $999/pair) In this case, I heard far more depth and air. In addition, one of the other people in the room noted that he heard more realistic decay on the piano. “Far more presence,” I wrote in my notes.

It’s easy for people who do not experience these tests in person to dismiss them. It’s a bit cheekier for people who sit in the room with others to tell those who hear differences that they are delusional, and that only double blind testing can tell for sure. Not that saying this will stop anyone from switching into auto-dismissal mode. Moving on. . .

COMMENTS
JohnnyR's picture
Submitted by JohnnyR on October 18, 2012 - 6:35am

Mr "I Don't Believe in DBT" always gets so defensive about it but then will sit in a room with no control tets what so ever and spew platitudes till the cows come home without knowing just what it was he heard

You are on record saying that you have ALWAYS heard a difference in EVERY cable you have ever tried. Now just what does THAT have to say about your biases?

."added up to 10 poles of articulation"........oh I'm sorry but is that a technical term that I have never heard of or just another made up term you are so good at?

Like I have stated before, if you want to change the tonal balance of a system, that is what bass, treble or a parametric EG are for NOT the job of cables who's job is to simply carry the signal from pont A to point B WITHOUT changing the frequency response.

kevon27's picture
Submitted by kevon27 on October 18, 2012 - 7:14am

It's good that we have options when it comes to this industry. If you believe the cable makes a huge difference then you can go get yourself the expensive stuff (MIT, Cardas, Loss Less, etc).. If you don't believe and have done the DBT's and have not heard any difference in well made cables (expensive vs low cost) you've got lot of options (Ram cables, Bluejean, Emotiva, Pro audio cables, Monster, my fav. MONOPRICE.com, Home Depot, 99 cent discount stores.)

You'll always have different opinions but we do have options..

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