Can speaker cables be too thick?

You do have an axe to grind in that you seem interested in convincing yourself and others that cables all sound virtually the same- and that's perfectly ok- but you're wrong:)

No problem Dave, I respect that you and many others disagree on the magnitude of the audible effects of different cables. I know some believe the effects to be extraordinary (this is where I strongly disagree). We won't settle it in a thread anyway and everyone has to decide for themselves.

As for an agenda, axe to grind, or a vested interest in promoting untruths - I honestly don't have any motive other than sharing what I believe/understand to be true. Engineers work under a strict code of ethics and it would be unethical for me to promote or sell extremely expensive audio cables if engineering principles have taught me to believe that the benefits are almost negligible. I do respect everyone's right to disagree and to buy, manufacture and sell the very best high performance cables they can. I respect that other engineers may disagree - we all work and follow our training, experience and conscience. For the record I make no claims at being an expert on audio cables design but I simply understand the basic scientific principles.

Can anyone tell me what the sonic characteristics are when you are using a very thick copper cable (> 4 AWG) compared with cables with higher gauge number? A certain Swiss amplifier manufacturer claims that the thicker the copper cable the better the sound. Sometimes 20-30A travels through the cables during very short periodes (kick drum, tympani) even when the speakers seem to be a benign load throughout because in real life with real music a speaker's impedance can vary a lot.

Chris

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

This should answe3r your thickness issue w/ regard to overkill. He takes a common sense approach, missing in much of what passes for cable "wisdom" today.

I recently had an odd experience. I am not into the technical aspects of electrical phenomena, so no arguements from me.
I use tube monos and decided on short, 1.5m Cardas Ref cables for my Avalons and Audio Physics. After about 3 weeks, it seemed the music was compressed and muddied. No longer had the soulfulness. My audio group agreed.
I tried my old standbys- DIY monster cable with a Home Depot power cord taped together in biwire configuration. (Absolute Sound did a speaker cable shoot out with low, med, very high $ cables. The Home Depot the lowest $. A Sound concluded that it was tought to HEAR much of a difference between the H Dep. and the most expensive cables.)
My cheap DIY monster cable with a Home Depot cord at 15 feet immediatley put the soul, depth, soundstage, tonal balance back into the room for which the Avalons and Audio P are known for.
I don't know if the Cardas were too short. But they were HUNDREDS of dollars more expensive than the cables I am using and will DIFINITELY remain in my system.
You might want to give this approach a chance. if you agree with my take on the matter, you can use that good money for other things.
Good luck!