Even if I wanted to, I don't think that I could get any cable lifters in with this rats nest.

and I thought mine was 'busy'...Wow thats a notable bundle!   

"I see music as a lifetime affair." [Rory Gallagher]

It's an absolute nightmare, with not only main hifi but also home theater, multiple headphones amps, dacs, phonostages and sources.

All jammed into a tiny space.😚

Don't stress about tidying up too much.

Certainly don't 'cable-manage' by bundling wires together - I remember un-bundling cable-tied wires inside an amp once ('80s Plinius) & the result was more dynamic sound.

Nothing new here, this has been mentioned by others before & the reason is likely because AC signal cables generate EM fields & paralleling conductors results in these fields coupling or opposing. Whereas, conductors crossing at right-angles do not have this interaction.

However, I DO try to keep AC lines (eg mains power) away from other stuff, esp signal conductors (to minimise 50Hz hum pick-up).

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there's a school of thought that says just leave cables as they fall.

the randomness may work in your favour.

My concern is not with the sound quality.

Its a nightmare when trying to reroute cables, remove, replace a component. I've found cables attached to pieces of equipment that lead to nowhere...
Trying to match up one end to the other usually involves a bit of luck, a good yank and a prayer.

An Akai Prolab would fix everthing! No more need for all the separate nonsense!!

I actually have one in the spare room, which my father bought new.

Just look at all those buttons....My Absolarè clearly needs replacing!

Ive got the matching turntable from my deceased father in law.

I associate Prolab with a floor-standing cabinet unit with floor-standing box speakers, an instant stereo music solution
My neighbour bought one new in the 80s(?).

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My mum said she put the turntable in the garden shed, and to date it has not been found

I still have the floor standing cabinet and the floor speakers but the surrounds have perished.

yep, at a time when hi-fi imports were restricted the prolabs got a lot of people into hi-fi.

Bunking Cable Lifters: by Roger Skoff (POSITIVE FEEDBACK, 5 Oct '20)

Offers some technical reasons why some folks insist that Cable Lifters have a (positive) effect on the sound of your music system.


"...cable lifters...there's hardly anything I can think of that gets more consistently negative commentary, with or without real knowledge to back it up. "

" Lifting the cable off the floor lowers the cable's total capacitance, which can make a difference to the sound of your system...by directly affecting the frequency response of your speakers. "

" Air, in fact, has both a much lower dielectric constant and a much faster 'dump rate' than any flooring material known, and that should make it your obvious best choice as the material to put under your speaker cables. "


When I started DIYing cables in the 80s, I found that fresh air around the signal conductor wires, sounds better than any type of sheathing or jacketing over the cable.

(The tricky part is how to 'hold' the signal conductor wires mechanically stable /rigid, without wrapping them with something that degrades the signal )

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This makes sense Owen if (and possibly only if) you have unshielded cables. I'm not sure about a bit of stray capacitance although I can recall some early flat woven cables (intended for putting under carpets) from Monster Cables caused more than a few power amps to have a hissy fit. I think that any cable capacitance would be dwarfed by the crossover capacitors at close to the crossover points. Crossovers are bad bad bad although most often necessary.

Paul McGowan (PS AUDIO) on Cable Lifters:

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Main problem with cable lifters if you have JBL speakers, is the bass thump & beautiful women wiggling makes them to fall over all the time 

Paul McGowan....comes across as a totally clear thinking gentleman. If they work thats great...if they dont work and you havent spent any money then no harm done...quite simple really!! I do agree with Michael re the having heavy leads supported to stop tension on plugs etc

I will await the imminent release of cheap Chinese sky hooks.