Who loves Cotton ??


A trend I've noticed for a long time now but never indulged is the use of cotton or even silk insulators on wires intended for low voltages, including speaker voltages.

 

I'm just wondering why, and who has direct experience with them in general.

 

Thanks!

 

Erik

erik_squires

Had cotton(copper) ground wire $155.00 list got it used..This cable was a joke it took out my right channel on phono only as soon as I put in the original cable right channel came back.Lesson learned got my money back will NEVER use cotton on any cable.True garbage.

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@erik_squires - when used as an insulation Cotton performs better (i.e. improved clarity) due to its lower value of dielectric constant (Dk).

  • Vacuum is 1.0
  • Air is 1.1
  • Cotton/silk is 1.3
  • Foamed Teflon (e.g. Airlok) is 1.4
  • Teflon is 2.2
  • PVC and rubber variant are much higher

The insulation charges and discharges with the change in polarity, which impedes the transfer of the signal.

The lower the value of DK results in a more accurate signal transfer

For more details on cable design take look at...

https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-1/

https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-2/

https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-3/

I have tried all of the insulation mentioned above and the very best to date is inserting bare wire into a teflon tube with a larger diameter bore. The teflon tube does not collapse like cotton or silk, which results in a layer of air between the wire and the teflon tube - this is about as close as you will get to an air insulation.

Using this technique to insulate wires in cables produces exceptional details and clarity.

I use it in all my DIY cables.

Hope that helps - Steve