Are there any constants in speaker wire designs?

09-01-10: Irvrobinson
Kijanki, skin effect isn't considered significant at audible frequencies. At 20KHz it'll be less than 0.2db, which is truly insignificant in the context of real speakers in a real room.

Strand jumping sounds like quasi-technical mumbo-jumbo to me.

You are correct about skin effect. Skin effect is a phenomenon that you tend to see at microwave frequencies. Your comments also point to one of the big problems in the audiophile game in general; there is too much BS in the selling of audio equipment. The reason, i suspect, is that most audiophiles know little about electronics and are therefore susceptible to marketing hype and "buzzwords". Add to it all, the "audiophile" reviews that you read by reviewers who often have undisclosed conflicts of interest that mean that they are really acting as salesmen for the vendors' products. For me, the net result is that I have become highly skeptical of the claims that I read. This loss of credibility, I think, is ultimately harmful to the industry.

Let me make a brief comment on you statement about the significance of inductance and capacitance in cable. Under the "transmission line" model, a wire can be characterized as a network of inductive and capacitive elements; then you analyze the signal distortion effects of this model. However, the transmission line model is also one that is primarily observed at microwave frequencies. At audio frequencies, the wire is basically a resistive element. But speaker cable might run on the order of 5-10 ohms/km so resistance should generally be negligible.

When people claim that they observe dramatic differences among cables (and they often do so using buzzwords like "sweetness", "focus" and similar BS), if the test is not minimally a blind test then I tend to discount the claims unless they can back it up with some objective data. I mean, in reality, when it comes to subjective judgments, you can pretty much convince yourself of anything.

PaperW8, not so long ago I was doing shootout of several power cords. When I put Kimber PK14 on a my DAC, all the music suddenly became sort of IN FOCUS. I can not find a better word to describe this. So it is not BS. And there is no equipment to measure "music focus". I know I could probably do this in blind test, but its so hard to organize this.. I mean, what go to other room and leave my wife to switch cables,do on/off/on all the quipment, etc..

Kijanki, that might be system dependant. I will only believe in "NORDOST is lean" stuff if at least 7 of 10 OWNERS would say so. In my system Nordost are FULL BODIED (quite an opposite ah?). Switching SC to 8TC makes me sleep, KCAG sometimes irritatingly "rings" and NORDOST.. they sound just right. And the reviewers... sometimes they have just not enought time, or not the most suitable equipment etc.. When I was buying nordost, I have read almost anything I could find, and now after couple years, when I really can say I know how the nordost house of sound looks like, I msut say, that there was one superb review in which reviewer NAILED IT DOWN right. But I forgot the link to it...

stranded cables sound soft in my system. Round solid wires have great detail and clarity, but roll off the ends. Thin, wide ribbon sounds far the best on my system.

"You are correct about skin effect. Skin effect is a phenomenon that you tend to see at microwave frequencies."

This is incorrect. At microwave frequencies skin depth is in order of um. At audio frequency of 20kHz largest copper wire that has still the same resistance for DC as AC is gauge 18. Please check skin depth calculator here:

http://daycounter.com/Calculators/SkinEffect/Skin-Effect-Calculator.phtml

Skin effect is very pronounced at video frequencies. That's why cables are made of cheap metal silver plated (signal travels on the surface).

Skin effect allows for shielding. Interconnect for instance cannot be possibly protected from electromagnetic pickup of high frequency signals by non-magnetic shield. What really happens is that shield passes these high frequencies and they are induced in the cable, but because of skin effect they travel on the outside of the cable - shield. Internally field is zero as long as wire is symmetrical. Without skin effect aluminum foil or copper braid would not shield higher frequencies (would protect only for capacitive pick-up). Shielding is very complicated. Shield is carrying externally induced high frequencies on its outside while at the same time common mode high frequency signal noise travels on the inside of the same shield. At lower frequencies shield does not protect at all but wire is to short to become effective antenna (starts at 1/10 of wavelength)

Audio cables are much more complicated than just RLC. If I remember correctly Muralman1 uses in his design cable different metals for signal and Ground wires. You cannot explain in terms of RLC how different metals change the sound.

PaperW8, I mentioned the inductance / capacitance issue with speakers because, as you probably know, some manufacturers are purposely designing cables to have abnormally high values of one characteristic or the other. Some high capacitance cables have even been known to destablize some poorly designed amps, not to mention causing high frequency roll-offs that people with overly bright speakers seem to be drawn to. Nonetheless, I think you and I are on the same page.

Mjordanas, I'm sorry, but changing a power cord is extraordinarily unlikely to change the way a DAC works, especially in a way that is beneficial. Focus would imply a measurable reduction in noise or distortion, which is beyond the capability of a completely passive conductor.