A hard look at the effect of cables

I don't believe the article was meant to blame cables but rather highlight the complex interaction of the system due to the cable's connection - and that the cables themselves also contribute to the overall effect to varying degree.

Arthur, now I fully agree. However, the title of the thread was "a hard look at the effect of cables", which implies that the cables themselves are the primary cause of observed differences. I am just presenting the alternate viewpoint that one should look at the system holistically.

The authors (Philip Newell and Keith Holland) in your original link state

It does not take too much imagination to realise how a 20 or 30 amp low frequency current can modulate high frequency signals passing along the same cable at levels of 40 dB below.

and

the generally prevailing opinion is that multi-amplified systems sound 'cleaner' than equivalent systems using single, full-range amplifiers. And of course, with multiamplification, multi-cabling is an automatic result.

and

There is no doubt that it is asking a lot of any amplifier, or loudspeaker cable, to faithfully pass up to 11 octaves of musical signal with a dynamic range of 90 dB or more. Considering the fact that no loudspeaker driver can do this, it seems perfectly reasonable to split the frequency bands ahead of the amplifiers and drive each frequency range independently. {Note: This describes an Active Speaker}

and

It has been the experience of the authors that as the frequency bands become narrower, the need for specially selected cables reduces considerably. {my point above, earlier in this thread}

=> I interpret the authors as saying that you can, if you like, regard cables as the root problem (presumably band-aid or color your sound by finding a cable that has the least problems in combo with your gear) or, alternatively, you can turn to Active Speakers if you simply want to avoid a whole bunch of issues that they describe (drawback: this requires accepting a manufacturer's design rather than your own recipe for sound, a kind of straight jacket).

BTW: Great that you pointed this article out. It is the most compelling argument for taking a serious look at Active Speakers that I have seen in a long while. Of course, for those who are not interested in tackling the root cause, then it can be construed as a good reason to try another more expensive speaker cable...perhaps it will sound better ....perhaps it won't...at least the cable tweaking provides hours of entertainment!

Not being an EE I don't know if I really grasped the article, but I wonder if this research and argument supports the use of magnet wire (Speltz, et al.): no dialectric, short wires from mono amps close to the speakers, wires separated from each other in space? Also, he tested coax type speaker wire. Who makes coax style speaker wires? I see lots of ICs with this configuration, but don't recall SCs. Thanks again for the info. It is lots of fun to explore deeper into the science of music reproduction.

Bring back the stereo console and have everything hard wired and stop all this craziness!

Wouldn't multiamplification come with many attendant challenges, including more (but shorter) wires, signal loss and coloring by two or three amplifiers instead of one, signal level matching across several separate frequency bands complicated by perhaps using different types of specialized amplifiers for each range, etc? Essentially some of the challenges one deals with now for subwoofers, and the jury is still out on the hi fi benefits of using a sub.

Don't know enough to understand how crossing over occurs in an active versus passive system - how similar or different is this process with amplification occurring before or after signal separation? Or is this really a non issue?

One could imagine the complexity driving costs quite high for this type of equipment. I realize that these products are already available - but seems like a manufacturers delight as they capture two markets with one product.

From my very novice perspective, the way I look at this series of articles is that:

1) speaker and amp matching for peak performance is difficult at best, and in the home audio world where design standards are loose, a hit or miss affair

2) speaker cables have a significant impact on the interaction and combined performance of these components, and

3) one way to reduce this effect is to use the shortest pieces of wire possible with reasonable resistance, capacitance and impedance characteristics in a configuration that effectively rejects EMF/RFI.

The fact the authors report on significant and distinct distortion signatures of different length runs of different wire types should indicate to most that wires make a measurable difference in both extreme and real life situations, confirming what most audiophiles have discovered at some point on their own. This information has me questioning my own 10 meter runs of speaker cable, but understanding why the switch from standard side by side stranded cord to a more complex configuration made a noticeable (but expensive) difference in sound quality.

It is doubtful to me that any of us will usher in a new era of active speakers as the dominant format as a result of this and other findings. I do think this information is as much about the relationship between amp and speaker design as it is about cables. In some ways this just further confirms what most audiophiles have already experienced, that it takes a long time and a lot of equipment swapping to find a match made in heaven, and happily or unhappily, cables can contribute (greatly) to that quest.