Kimber 8TC beater?

Ok,let's take inventory of what we know and what we surmise about romex.

I can't verify these stats, but let's start with resistance. Based on this link:

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?38733-Resistivity-of-Romex-(NM)-Wire

Someone posted the following regarding standard Romex:

"At 25 deg C, ohms per 1000 ft

#8 .6405/1000 ft
#10 1.018/1000 ft
#12 1.619/1000 ft
#14 2.575/1000 ft

"The insulation type doesn't matter. Current carrying capacity is different in conduit or open air(higher in open air). Basically figure 15 amps for #14, 20 amps for #12, 30 amps for #10, and 40 amps for #8.(these are the in conduit ratings)

"I got this out of the 1963 ARRL handbook."

So ... as regards resistance, standard romex presents a very low resistive load. In in the case of standard 10 gauge solid copper romex, just a smidge over 1 ohm for a 1000 foot run. That's nothing. My run will be 15 feet.

Al seems to concur, "[a]s you realize, 12 gauge Romex will provide adequately low resistance for most applications."

Moving on to capacitance, Al says that "[c]apacitance is usually not a major consideration when it comes to speaker cables, except in the case of a few cables (such as Goertz) which achieve ultra-low inductance at the expense of having ultra-high capacitance ...."

Last is inductance. Al says he doesn't know what the inductance of Romex is, but he suspects it is neither particularly high nor particularly low. I'll do some more web checking.

So in summary, romex looks like a medium that presents a very low resistive load and probably low capacitance. Not sure about inductance, but may not be a major factor.

I think I'm ready for the test. I'll need some auxiliary supplies to ensure a fair test; namely a pint of Knobs Creek.

I'll be back. Get your anti-snake venom ready.

I should make a correction to my post above. Mogami 3103 is actually about 1/8 the cost of Kimber 8TC. And, as I also mentioned earlier, exactly the same cable as 3104 but without the ability to bi-wire.

Not quite identical, HDM. 3104 is four conductor, so one can shotgun each plus/minus per channel to lower resistance, etc.

"Not quite identical, HDM. 3104 is four conductor, so one can shotgun each plus/minus per channel to lower resistance, etc."

I believe resistance would remain unchanged but capacitance would be lowered marginally. You'd have to compare to see whether there would be audible differences.

My point was mainly that the 3103 as a two conductor cable is a bargain relative to the 3104 at approximately half the price (under $3 ft.) and, of course, the 8TC.

I'd expect the choice of termination would have much more effect on sound quality than shotgunning but that's another discussion altogether.

I know that Gene at Takefive typically uses the Vampire HDS spades with the 3104 which are another very high quality low cost product that delivers the sonic goods.

There are some very positive comments on 3103 and 3104 on Arthur Salvatore's website in the speaker cable section.

Paralleling two 2-conductor pairs that are not physically close to one another (each pair carrying + and -) will cut resistance and inductance in half, and will double capacitance.

If the two pairs are contained within the same jacket, as in the case of the Mogami 3104, resistance will also be cut in half. I suspect that inductance and capacitance would not change precisely by the same factor of 2, but inductance would still be considerably reduced, and capacitance considerably increased.

Loftarasa, thanks for the nice words. Your posts have been impressive as well.

Regards,
-- Al