No one actually knows how to lculate what speaker cable they need

Mr. grannyring

I think very different on the matter. A sound of a system should not be played with speaker cables or any cables. Hi-end pushed away the old (70’s) tone controls, EQ and other options to fiddle with the sound, on demand for purity. No distortion, no phase shift and no unnatural effects to the source. So why let some cable, we know nothing about its properties, or how it affects sound take command?

Using ears to measure the sound quality. You may know that our ears are not a measurement instrument. Have you done lately a hearing test by lab? You know that a man’s hearing is dropping with age and may be damaged by some noise to exposed to in the past. This method of accepting someone’s word claiming he has the golden years, would need more proof than a calculation method.

As I said before (I don’t like repeating myself), when a speaker cable has a higher resistance than it should (not optimal vs. the amplification), it disables the system to deliver its full potential. The way I see it, that you play with that figure and practically do more damage than good. Who wants a sound system that he paid for $10,000.- to be used at only 20% or 50%? It’s like throwing $5,000 - $8,000 to the garbage can. I would like to believe that if you put this question to all clients, they would ask for the full 100%.

At a time you have the impression that you are getting someone’s system better, you just play along that range of how much of the optimal sound it will deliver. Even when you apply a cable that you and the customer likes, you may have no idea where are you on that optimal scale between almost nothing to 100%. It is a blind shot in the dark. I would rather take an approach I can deliver the full 100% every time (using some math rather than be depended on someone else likes and experience).

With my way, I can not only calculate, what the optimal cable is, but also calculate a given cable, how good or far it is from being optimal. That may give you an idea of some of your recent recommendations, how close and good, or how far and bad you did.

You never answered me of what is the thickest cable you got in your shop and how much that costs?

However, you did rest my case about no one really know what is the right cable especially those who make them. If I would try several dealers, with different experience and taste to sound, I would end up with as many different cables as dealers. To my perception its wrong!

Speaker cables and their sonic influence.

A speaker cable is a wire. It has no components (well, some do have a box on the cable, like MIT), and no power source. So it is a passive element. A speaker cable roll is to pass the amplifier's output to the speakers 1:1.

Any cable that doesn't do that is actually attenuating that amp's output in some way. If you connect two (or more cables) between the same amp and speakers, and they sound different, all but one, or all do some damage by not passing that signal 100% to the speakers. Only that could explain the difference.

Capacitance (C) and inductance (L) even if there is some, its value is very small. The capacitance is in pF (10-9) and the inductance in uH (10-6). Such small value, in a circuit that the amp's output resistance is close to null, has no audible (more than +/-0.1dB) effect on FR.

In a sound system we have plenty of elements that do influence the end result. It starts with the speakers of choice, the room we place them in, the placement of the speakers in that room, and then the electronics. Why do I need more variables, like cables to modify our sound? Where did you go wrong with that list, ending up looking for a remedy with the cables, and also willing to pay for that?

As we gave up the EQ stuff, when each slide had its clear frequency and gain set, we are getting back an EQ (sought of) with no idea what it really does on the frequency band or at the level of attenuation to our sound. We just follow blind folded our ears or a sales guy say, without having the tiniest clue of where we were and what do we ended up with. Throwing a dice has fewer options!

Mr. kosst_amojan

Please watch your language. I gave you no titles and kept this thread respectful. This will be your last slip.

A speaker cable is a wire. Wires should not have other than resistance value. What turns a resistive component into impedance are capacitance and inductive elements. A cable that brings lots of that is a bad cable. Most cables (that has the red and black wires together into a single cable, are having some of that as they are having some isolation and they tend to be a twisted pair). My idea as presented to your convenience DIY, are singles!

But even if you use a cable with such impedance properties, they are tiny. As the amplifier's output resistance is very low (exclude tube and tube alike) those impedance values are negligible. So they are with the capacitors and coils values found inside the speaker (crossover).

I wouldn't put my money on that cable impedance, unless you can prove some FR variation by calculations or measurements. It may have a FR deviation on interconnect cables. They are connected between two relatively higher input and output resistance of the components they connect.

An audio component input resistance is of 10k Ohms or more (A MM is 47k Ohms). A speaker's input impedance is 4-8 Ohms. So is the output resistance ratio. Interconnects have way higher impedance values than speaker cables, due to the shield and structure. So what may apply to an interconnect cable, is far from being correct for a speaker cable. Please be kindly reminded that this thread is for speaker cables.

I will report back on my 0 gauge cables in the future based on how they sound to my ears🙂 just the same as others have done here with your recipe. You have but one recipe in a speaker cable cookbook offering near endless recipe ideas. Remember, you are just one recipe and it may or may not taste the best based on the taster’s preferences.