Cable myths, or truths?

[media at mail1.nai.net]

>the Solid State Logic studio I used at the university of southern california
>was sponsored by Moster Cable, so the whole studio was wired with it.  When
>it was done... all the mixes that came out of the studio lacked high end.
>After investigation, they found that the Moster cable boosted high end
>frequencies (a scheme used by speaker manufactures to make their products
>sound "brighter"... and what inexperienced ears would call "better")... so
>all the mixes were made while listening with too much high-end...
>
>They had to tear out all the monster cable and replace it with convention
>cable.

How can a cable attenuate bass??  I could see how going from an unusually
high output impedance the capacitance of a cable with a for a very log run
could attenuate treble (say a studio built for giant pre-historic lizards
out of consumer hi-fi), but I can't see it happening the other way round.
Nor can I see it happening with the low output impedance of an SSL console.


>"Directional cables" are obviously a hoax, however there are cases
>where you'd want the cable shield connected on one end only.  I don't
>know if that's what Monster is talking about or not.

That's usually to avoid ground loops -- you don't need "special" cable,
just a pair of dykes.  Anyway, I've never seen shielded speaker wire.