How Electricity Actually Works

deludedaudiophile

169 posts

05-01-2022 at 07:29am 

This does have implications for our audio cabling...

 

What implication would that be?

Most obvious is why the dielectric, insulation, used to cover the bare conductor on ICs and speaker cables can effect the sound. Example Teflon vs cheap PVC. 

Going even deeper it may also explain why the geometry build of a cable can have an impact on the sound of a cable.  Move the discussion from the signal energy traveling in the conductor  to traveling outside the conductor through the dielectric  in the form of an EM, electromagnetic, wave traveling in one direction from the source to the load at near the speed of light in a vacuum. Note the EM wave is not confined in the dielectric... It extends beyond the insulation. What effect does cable geometry have on the signal EM wave?  What effect does shielding have on the signal EM wave?

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Oops! "Preamp on top of the power amp." Although from a heat dissipation standpoint I guess that could make sense, but I have certainly never seen them stacked that way. 🙄

Most obvious is why the dielectric, insulation, used to cover the bare conductor on ICs and speaker cables can effect the sound. Example Teflon vs cheap PVC. Going even deeper it may also explain why the geometry build of a cable can have an impact on the sound of a cable.

Can does not mean does in a fashion that can detected by human hearing. Everything can have an effect. Fortunately all these things are well understood by many, are easily modelled, and can be related directly back to electrical signal levels. That should be sufficient to make an accurate estimate if humans are able to detect the change.

Good reason to use coaxial cable.

@deludedaudiophile said:

Good reason to use coaxial cable

Glad you mentioned coaxial cables. Great example for the discussion of this thread.

Here is how an AC signal travels in a coax cable. Note the signal does not flow in the center conductor. Note the signal does not travel back and forth from the source to the load. Rather it travels in one direction from the source to the load outside the center conductor through the insulation, dielectric.

Example: Power flow in a coaxial cable

Fortunately at the frequencies of concern for analog audio and our wire length field, signal propogation is not a concern though audiophiles get themselves worked up easily. For digital cables it is important but something figured out long ago.