Slow speaker cables?

Thanks Al. That's very generous of you but I'm not about to put your insight to the test. It's off to Wikipedia!LOL. Not really. I'll need a week or so. But I was hoping Kijanki would have continued on another thread regarding skin effect. My research seems to corroborate my experience that replacing power supply wiring with 8awg, 500 strand is a significant overall improvement. My Acoustat TNT amps are already wired this way obviously in order to facilitate electrostats. But I notice a definite benefit even with dynamic speakers after upgrading to this wire. Apparently skin effect diminishes as the number of strands increases in a given gauge of wire until it's cancelled out, thus improving overall conductivity. The result is basically a bigger sound stage, better transients and damping factor. The amp just seems more open and free to perform. Can you concede any of this as factual or is it all in my head?

Michael, David, thank you kindly.

Csontos, probably the only times I've had friendly disagreements with the opinions of my learned A'gon colleague Kijanki is with respect to cable-related matters such as skin effect and "strand jumping," both of which I tend to be skeptical about, although I remain at least a little bit open-minded about those issues.

Both questions could be the subject of extensive debates, with the end result probably being that a conclusively proven conclusion cannot be reached, notwithstanding the many claims and "white papers" that have been issued by cable manufacturers.

Also, if I understand correctly, you are saying that the 8 awg 500 strand wire resulted in improvements in both power wiring and speaker cable applications. As you no doubt realize, the technical considerations, and the wire parameters that are most likely to be optimal, are very different for the two applications. An increase in inductance in power wiring, for example, involves a tradeoff between the benefits it may provide in filtering out high frequency noise, vs. the downside it may have of reduced responsiveness to abrupt changes in demand for current. The bottom line on those tradeoffs probably figures to be amplifier dependent, in part because the degree of fluctuation in current demand will vary dramatically among Class A, Class AB, and Class D amplifiers.

In any event, I don't doubt that the improvements you realized with the specific cables you described were real. I would just question the reasons for those improvements, and, to the extent that those reasons are in doubt, the applicability of your findings to other situations.

Best regards,
-- Al

Hard to define "fast" and "slow" as many other audio terms.

Assuming "fast" and "slow" refer to transient and/or impulse response, Al mentions most of the factors, with the exception of "characteristic impedance" that can impact directly or combine with the load to react. Essentially, the cable can become a storage device, storing and releasing part of the energy. Although the effect would be miniscule compared to the crossover components and voice coils (if applicable), particularly at lower frequencies.

Maybe wires need a Q rating like drivers and cabinets. And to raise the analogy: Are the MIT boxes on their cables like port tuning?

There's nothing to get B, it's all mumbo jumbo !!!!
Tpreaves

Start off with a correct answer and then comes the "mumbo jombo." I love it.

As Almarg and Jcharvet have alluded to, I judge a cables speed, fast or slow, depending on how it attacks a note and releases it (decay). Attack and decay are the primary contributers to the timbre of a musical instrument. Attack is how clear is the leading edge and decay is how long the note takes to dissipate.

Some cables attack and release a note quickly and move on to the next note, these cables tend to be called fast, revealing, articulate or transparent, etc. Other cables tend to hold on to a note longer, allowing it to resonate or decay longer, these cables tend to be called slow, warm, musical, vibrant, etc.
It doesn't have to do with the musical timing of the instruments themselves, but how the notes that they play resonate, which determines how the timbre of the instrument is perceived.