I don't believe it's "what makes the cables sound different."
It is what the cable parasitics do to the amplifier and speaker performance.
I believe it is the amplifier performance that changes and/or it's the speaker performance that changes.
Marce seems to be saying much the same
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Andrew, it is just different wording... And your statement (and Marce's) is true... Or may be not, depends on how you want to play with the words...
For some actual physics at play (albeit with added marketing)
Star Quad Cable Demonstration - Video - Benchmark Media Systems, Inc.
Star Quad Cable Demonstration - Video - Benchmark Media Systems, Inc.
I use long star quad as interconnects.
2wire pairs from Cat5, when straightened and then re-wound give a nice strong unscreened star quad, that seems to be impervious to most/all interference in normal unbalanced inputs.
The longest I have done is 3.1m and trailed it over/under transformers and other powered on mains wiring and equipment. I could not hear any effect from the stereo speakers. I have placed my mobile on the IC star quad cable and ran it from my landline and agian I could not hear any effect at the speakers.
This highish capacitance IC is driven by a DCB1 (Mezmerise), that is not hotrodded.
2wire pairs from Cat5, when straightened and then re-wound give a nice strong unscreened star quad, that seems to be impervious to most/all interference in normal unbalanced inputs.
The longest I have done is 3.1m and trailed it over/under transformers and other powered on mains wiring and equipment. I could not hear any effect from the stereo speakers. I have placed my mobile on the IC star quad cable and ran it from my landline and agian I could not hear any effect at the speakers.
This highish capacitance IC is driven by a DCB1 (Mezmerise), that is not hotrodded.
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locally here starquad is around $2 a metre, not sure what grade you are being quoted for. I should note that there is no real need for starquad in a domestic system, I raised it because there is a real and measureable difference with it. I will not make any claims of audibility.
But when you realise that, for a std interconnect there is zero common mode rejection, suddenly balanced interconnects with 60-80dB CMRR seem a good idea. Starquad takes it to the next level by reducing any possible differential mode pickup. Handy in say a theatre...
But when you realise that, for a std interconnect there is zero common mode rejection, suddenly balanced interconnects with 60-80dB CMRR seem a good idea. Starquad takes it to the next level by reducing any possible differential mode pickup. Handy in say a theatre...
Well in my 20s I did make some interconnects out of 75 ohm semi-rigid, but in general the screen has well under 100% shielding and won't stop a magnetic field. Whether enough signal can be induced with the stray grot in the average living room to be audible is arguable (ignoring ground loops).
But it doesn't feel right sending your signal one way down the centre conductor and back down the screen exposed to the world.
The screen merely has to be concentric with the inner in order to pick up the same voltage from a magnetic field; we rely on symmetry, not 100% coverage. Less than 100% screen can increase electric field pickup, though. However, electric field pickup is usually reduced significantly by having a low source impedance - only 'audiophile' sources fail here.
Fortunately in engineering we don't need to design according to our feelings; we have facts to guide us instead.
The main problem with unbalanced audio interconnects is not the cable or the receiver but the fact that equipment grounding may provide an alternate path for some of the return current at lower frequencies, thus creating a loop.
Fortunately in engineering we don't need to design according to our feelings; we have facts to guide us instead.
The main problem with unbalanced audio interconnects is not the cable or the receiver but the fact that equipment grounding may provide an alternate path for some of the return current at lower frequencies, thus creating a loop.
But few 'audiophile' cables are concentric, esp as the oddly omit bend radius and domestic audio rarely offers cable management.
But I agree the ground going via the shield is a much bigger potential problem. That for me is enough to be balanced at minimum at the receiver. I've got no easy access to semi-rigid anymore
But I agree the ground going via the shield is a much bigger potential problem. That for me is enough to be balanced at minimum at the receiver. I've got no easy access to semi-rigid anymore
If the speaker wires will be less than 25 feet, I recommend 16AWG AC line cord bought at any hardware store for $0.50/foot. Make sure it has a polarity indication (they all do) so you can get your various speakers in phase with each other. Longer cables will deteriorate the damping of the speaker by the power amp a tiny bit, and lose a few watts. Not an audible thing. If the resistance of the cables is over half an ohm, it can throw off the calibration of a passive crossover in the speaker a small amount, assuming it was at all "calibrated". Most are a bit sloppy, so it could also get better from this.
If your poweramp has a problem with the reactance of the speaker cable, it's the power amps fault. The Engineer may not have dealt with phase margin well. This may have been an issue back in the 1960's and 70's when many engineers didn't have a good understanding of phase margin issues.
It's the connectors and not the wire that could make a difference. I prefer gold alloy connectors since they don't corrode (oxidize) forming distortion producing junctions with other metals (as much). The bigger issue might be how the wire is connected to the connector. Soldering is good, little set screws (on Bananas) are less desirable.
Ideally, any metal to metal contact (in a connector) would be of same metals, so there isn't the tiny voltage issue that over time contributes to undesirable chemical reaction at the junction, which can eventually cause distortion. Not likely a problem with speaker connectors since the current is higher which burns off some of this "corrosion" within milliseconds, but at line level and especially at phono level, this could be significant. I've used a bunch of different interconnect cables (line level) and never had a problem at all, so I don't worry about it.
For opamps I just go with the OPA2134. It's the one Linkwitz uses in his active crossovers. I've heard them sound VERY good with quite a few in the signal path. In my tri-amp's open baffle system I run audio through over a dozen of these opamps; between my preamp, active crossover, holographic generator, 4 section tone control circuit, and whatever was on the recording end, and my system sounds VERY excellent, when the program material is high quality. My education is from working in video engineering at Tektronix, and Cinema products engineering at Dolby Labs, and a bunch of other places.
Don't be fooled into paying $500+ for speaker wires, or using opamps that go the speed of light fast. Ultra fast opamps may be more likely to oscillate if the circuit and its layout isn't perfect.
If your poweramp has a problem with the reactance of the speaker cable, it's the power amps fault. The Engineer may not have dealt with phase margin well. This may have been an issue back in the 1960's and 70's when many engineers didn't have a good understanding of phase margin issues.
It's the connectors and not the wire that could make a difference. I prefer gold alloy connectors since they don't corrode (oxidize) forming distortion producing junctions with other metals (as much). The bigger issue might be how the wire is connected to the connector. Soldering is good, little set screws (on Bananas) are less desirable.
Ideally, any metal to metal contact (in a connector) would be of same metals, so there isn't the tiny voltage issue that over time contributes to undesirable chemical reaction at the junction, which can eventually cause distortion. Not likely a problem with speaker connectors since the current is higher which burns off some of this "corrosion" within milliseconds, but at line level and especially at phono level, this could be significant. I've used a bunch of different interconnect cables (line level) and never had a problem at all, so I don't worry about it.
For opamps I just go with the OPA2134. It's the one Linkwitz uses in his active crossovers. I've heard them sound VERY good with quite a few in the signal path. In my tri-amp's open baffle system I run audio through over a dozen of these opamps; between my preamp, active crossover, holographic generator, 4 section tone control circuit, and whatever was on the recording end, and my system sounds VERY excellent, when the program material is high quality. My education is from working in video engineering at Tektronix, and Cinema products engineering at Dolby Labs, and a bunch of other places.
Don't be fooled into paying $500+ for speaker wires, or using opamps that go the speed of light fast. Ultra fast opamps may be more likely to oscillate if the circuit and its layout isn't perfect.
May be now some people will realize that there is no easy way to remove "cable sound"... (well, increasing amplifier's PSRR is a more noble effort, IMO, as long as it doesn't affect circuit performance.)
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I'm afraid that using cheap line cord will actually harm the sound. If we cannot hear cable differences, why should we worry about it??
If you put a resistor at the amplifier output (even as big as 10 Ohm) you might actually hear an "improvement". So why worry with a little resistance??
I'm quite lucky that I found sound differences are always correlated well with Physics. For a long time I couldn't accept opamps (with their circuit) because they introduce an unacceptable noise. Then how I can solve it is to make a low noise one... Low noise power supply, low noise opamps and suitable circuit for the opamps...
Look up Canare star uad microphone cable, and F-9 and F-10 RCA jacks. The microphone cable is like $0.50 a foot and is very high quality. The RCA plugs are about $3 each, have teflon insulation and are also very high quality. While you are at it, check out the canare speaker cable, it comes in two or three gauges and is high quality and sounds very good.
Here's where I get mine: Markertek - Search Results for canare
Sheldon
Here's where I get mine: Markertek - Search Results for canare
Sheldon
By understanding the Physics? Understanding what an RFI is. Understanding what an EMI is. Understanding what a ground loop is. Then understanding that the solution to each of the problems is different. Then understanding that a solution to one problem can often an invitation for the other problem.
Of course there are other things that require understanding. But understanding requires certain attitude towards learning.
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