I am a beginning student of the cups and balls, having purchased the aluminum cups and balls and The Complete Cups and Balls by Michael Ammar at Penquin. One problem I have encountered is that the cups will talk quite loudly when trying certain loading techniques discussed in the book. Do any experienced magicians out there have suggestions about this? Maybe I need a heavier set of cups which would be less apt to talk when a ball is dropped into them?

Thanks in advance for any help supplied.

Try to find balls that have a softer core than wood inside. Rubber balls inside the "knitting", should do it. Also heavier knitting. Or lighter balls.

I know that a dropping-loading technique from above inte a cup with its mouth up is hard to do silently, but try to tilt the cup first and when it is halfway in its turn, then drop the ball so it rolls on the inside of the cup, instead of just falling to the bottom with a thud.

what do you mean by talk?

"Talk" is a magi term for making noise. In this case the balls "clink" when they hit the side or bottom of the cups, in coin magic it is when the coins hit each other while making a pass to the "empty" hand letting everyone who is not deaf as a stone know that you had something palmed.

In Carl Andrews Table Hopping Cup and Balls, he loads the balls a little diffferently. When he is holding the ball below the opening on the cup, rather than tilt the cup so the ball rolls or drops to the bottom, he keeps the opening of the cup facing down. When he is ready to place the loaded cup on the table, he quickly raises the cup four to six inches, still keeping the opening facing down, and then slams the cup to the table. Just as he starts down with the cup, he releases the ball. In effect the cup comes down over the ball as it drops to the table. For the big loads, Andrews uses sponge balls, so the talking is minimized.