Cable Costs Relative to System

Muralman - I said I'm not sure why we need thick speaker wires. My Acoustic Zen Satori Shotguns have gauge 7 each (about 1" dia.) and I think it is overkill but I trust AZ designer Robert Lee and bought the cable. The reason for doubt is simple - why do we need very thick wire or huge damping factor if inductor in series with the woofer has about 0.1 Ohm? Inductance of the wire improves but very little so why to go to such thick wires?

I read on the DIY forum about good results with cotton ,that you mentioned, as a dielectric. Making it pretty is secondary issue but obtaining high quality copper or silver wire is difficult.

I re trimmed my Satoris with new spades and discovered that wire has inside isolated strands (9 I think) + 1 strand that is not solid but has inside again 9 very small strands. More complicated than I expected.

I understand that making cables in small quantities and exotic technologies (zero crystals - means cooling metal very slowly in hot forms so that crystals can not form) but price of some excellent wires (like Stealth Indra) are reaching price of a small car. When I hear no comments from my non-audiophile friends it means they think I'm crazy. For them spending more than $100 on an amp or $500 on speakers is a sin (or madness).

My speakers average .8 ohm, and dip to .3 ohm. My SCs are 12 gauge and are .003" thick.

In my $16K system of new and used components, all the wire adds up to a hair under 10%. This wasn't by design, but I just happened to come across this posts and did the math. I was surprised by how close to 10% I was without even knowing it!

Krell/Focal/Nordost system.

gherrera1

Gherrea1 - I ended up 18.6% Now I have to upgrade equipment to bring ratio down to recommended 10% (at least that's what I'm going to tell my wife)

Kijanki,

That's the perfect excuse to upgrade. Tell the wife your system sounds better with the 10% wire rule.