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Explain speaker cable resistance, capacitacance?

Can anyone please easily explain, without going too technical, the effects on sound of resistance, capacitance, inductance in speaker cable?
For example, these are the specs of two cables made by the same manufacturer:
CABLE 1
Resistance: 0.9 Ohm/100 m.
Capacitance: 17.5 pF/m.
CABLE 2
Resistance: 0.34 Ohm/100 m.
Capacitance: 32.5 pF/m.
What differences should be expected between these all other things (lenght, system) being equal?
Does the same apply to interconnects?
Thank you for your support :)
vmm
rodman99999
6,206 posts
 
It's impossible to predict how a cable or interconnect will sound, without having it installed in a system. All conductors will necessarily interact with widely diverse component input & output impedances, as well as the highly reactive(in most cases) impedance of speakers. There's some very good info(re: impedance/capacitance), contained in this company's white paper on cables: (http://www.analysis-plus.com/design_whitepaper.html) There are also some topics on which to click, upper right of the page(Design). No doubt: some will brand this as hype. Check out the company's creds, before pointing fingers: (http://www.analysisplusinc.com/)
ths364
181 posts
 
Resistance is opposition to the flow of electrons in a conductor. Higher resistance basically means that more of the signal is being dissipated as heat.
Sound-wise I doubt you'd ever hear the resistive component of these cables unless something else in the system was unusual.
Higher capacitance generally tends to roll-off treble frequencies in this application.
mceljo
1,357 posts
 
From my limited understanding a higher resistance will reduce the volume slightly. It's also interesting that I've heard that in an A/B comparison the vast majority will prefer the slightly louder sound mistaking it for being more clear, I guess. This is one reason that speaker wire comparisons are difficult at best when the lengths are not custom lengths to match the overall resistance.

Take a look at the TNT Audio website for some interesting reading on the theory of DIY cables. Speaker cables and ICs require very different designs for the best performance.
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