Braiding vs side by side?

Hi Harry,

Yes, there is some science behind it. Twisting the conductors together will reduce inductance and increase capacitance.

For either configuration, as you probably realize, both parameters (and resistance as well) are proportional to length.

Under most circumstances, including the cables you appear to be describing, capacitance in speaker cables is unimportant.

Inductance can be marginally significant, if the total inductance of the cable for the length being used is excessive in relation to the impedance of the speakers in the uppermost octave (10kHz to 20kHz). That would most commonly tend to be a concern with electrostatic speakers, which often have impedances that drop to very low values at high frequencies. In that situation excessive inductance will result in a slight loss of upper treble extension.

In the case of dynamic speakers, which commonly have impedances that rise or at least remain fairly flat at high frequencies, I would not expect that effect to be significant even for very long cable lengths.

If you'd like a more quantitative answer, let us know the length of the cables, and the make and model of the speakers and amplifier. Also, if possible, an approximate indication of the overall diameter of the insulation. Assuming an impedance vs. frequency curve is available for the speakers, I could then do some calculations that would provide a more quantitative perspective on it all.

Best regards,
-- Al

Sorry to butt in here but I can't help myself....As usual, Al, you are a wonderful person to have around. Your advice is always pertinent and detailed. I always learn something from your posts, including this one. Thanks.

I think leaving them separate would let them act as a radio antenna, and may pickup signal interference also.

Thanks for the responses.

Hifihvn, good point. So far the braided seems best but they are still pretty new.

Elizabeth, not sure how good my braiding was. I'll check for uniformity tomorrow and make it so if not.

Al, Cables are 8' in length, speakers are Magnepan 3.6's. I'm using 2 different amps, a pair of Pass XA100.5 monos and (hope you're sitting down) a pair of Cary 805 AE monos. The insulation is very thin teflon. I can try and measure it tomorrow, for now I'd guess 1/32" or less.

I've used this wire on my hi-eff/2 way 8 ohm speakers for years and really like it. It has just one wire per spade and have tried it that way on the Maggies but my friend had a little left over so I had him make up a set using 2 wires per spade wondering if the Maggies would like the extra current. These are so skinny to begin with, looks like it could be 16 ga, maybe even 18 ga. Don't know how much the silver factor fits in.

The Pass and Maggies are a nice match but the Cary has an output impedance of about 1.5 ohms giving it a damping factor of only 3 or 4 into the Maggies. There is a feedback control which if I switch in could reduce the impedance to around .5 but I'd rather not use it. Was wondering if the thicker wire would help the Cary out in the damping dept?

Thanks.

Here is a graph from Stereophiles measurements.
(Can't get the graph to appear but here are their comments)

The speaker's impedance (fig.1) approximates a resistive load of around 4 ohms over much of the audioband. However, there is a slight magnitude peak centered at 1.6kHz, due to the crossover between the ribbon and the midrange diaphragm. The minimum value is 3.3 ohms at 10kHz, which is not going to be problem for any good amplifier to drive, while the increasingly positive electrical phase angle at the top of the audioband is, I assume, due to the residual inductance of the ribbon driver. There is a small wrinkle in the trace between 50Hz and 60Hz, which is probably due to the tuning of the woofer diaphragm.



Fig.1 Magnepan MG3.6/R, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.)

This can be seen to the left of fig.2, as the big peak in the mid-bass. This is a nearfield measurement, which will exaggerate the behavior of the bass panel.