Most "Musical" sounding speaker cable under $1000

LOL, I forgot to mention - It is a Canare 4S11 star quad sold by Blue Jeans.

May I hijack this thread for a few post? I would like to pick Al's brain, I hope to the benefit of all.

Most speakers do not have similarly flat impedance magnitudes, and most speakers have impedance phase angles that reach considerably negative values (i.e., considerably less than 0 degrees, meaning they are capacitive) at some frequencies.

Al or anyone, could you explain how the impedance phase angle impacts the system (amps, cables, speakers)?

Hi Nick,

Basically, if the speaker's impedance phase angle becomes significantly negative (i.e., capacitive) across a significant range of frequencies, the amount of current that the amplifier has to supply, and the amount of current that will flow through the speaker cables, will increase at those frequencies.

That will occur for two reasons. First, everything else being equal the efficiency of the speaker will be less than if the phase angle were zero degrees (i.e., purely resistive). The amount of power delivered at a given instant is proportional to the product (multiplication) of voltage (V) and current (I) at that instant. For a purely resistive load, voltage and current are in phase, meaning that they reach their maximum, minimum, and other corresponding values within each cycle at the same time. For a load that is partially capacitive and partially resistive (i.e., with a phase angle somewhere between zero degrees and -90 degrees), voltage and current will be somewhat out of phase (to a degree that increases as the negative phase angle increases), resulting in a reduction in V x I at any instant of time, and therefore less power delivery than if they were in phase. So to deliver a given amount of power and produce a given volume level, the amplifier will have to deliver more current and voltage if the load is significantly capacitive than if it were purely resistive, everything else being equal.

Secondly, the amount of current flowing through a capacitor is proportional to the rate of change of the applied voltage. So if the impedance of the speaker is significantly capacitive at high frequencies, a greater amount of current will have to be provided during high speed (rapidly changing) transients than would otherwise be necessary.

If the impedance magnitude (the number of ohms) reaches low values at frequencies where the phase angle also reaches low (more negative) values, the increased current requirements resulting from those effects will be further compounded.

Best regards,
-- Al

Newbee, Because I cannot contact you off line, have you ever used this Canare 4S11 Star Quad speaker cable for a reasonable length of time to provide some impressions?? I checked their website out via Audiogon; they seem similar to the "Parts Express" operation

Nevertheless, I need a 12 foot pair with connectors, at a dollar a foot as you claim, I would only be spending 24 dollars, plus connectors and shipping. These prices make Anti-Cable and Jw Cable look overpriced.

I e-mailed John at Jw Cable, and he explained the process used to create the cable. However, like the Anti Cable speaker cable, it is stiff like a coat hanger, and trying to install either cable behind a vertical audio rack could be troublesome, if not unsightly. if jaggedly suspended between the two speakers. This will surely trip the DEFCON 3 alert from the wife....however I always ignore the whinny sound!!! Though I am curious, if there are sound quality differences between the two cables. Anti-Cables "seems" to have racked up alot of customer testimonials which are "numbered" in segments and appear in the "Cable" category sale listings....Thanks for the advise and recommendation of the Canare Cable

Yes, I used a set for several years and was very happy with them. I actually preferred them to some high end ($25 ft) cable. Google 'Canare 4S11 speaker cable' and you will find lots of user comments and merchants other than Blue Jeans which BTW seems to be out of stock of all cable. Hum...

I was wrong about the price, at least at BJ. They want $1.35 per foot.