At least people are talking about wire instead of speakers and amplifiers, they aren't talking about harmonic distortion though, is that because there is nothing to say about it?
Yes. The stuff sucks for ease of use though - stiff like piping and requires soldered banana plugs for good contact and to allow push-in installation.
Solid does suck in an application like that. I have spools of nice annealed TEW in up to 10AWG for building cars. It's great inside amps.
It's a pain to work with.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised that a 12AWG beat a 16AWG in a direct comparison, since up to a point the less voltage drop at the speaker the better (also assuming nothing idiotic is being done with the geometry), but 12AWG is sufficient for most needs. What would be more instructive though is comparing it to a different wire of identical length, gauge & geometry. Plenty of people have done that (me included). Blind test, no difference. I've better things to be doing than worrying about arguably the simplest thing in the entire audio chain to do right.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised that a 12AWG beat a 16AWG in a direct comparison, since up to a point the less voltage drop at the speaker the better (also assuming nothing idiotic is being done with the geometry), but 12AWG is sufficient for most needs. What would be more instructive though is comparing it to a different wire of identical length, gauge & geometry. Plenty of people have done that (me included). Blind test, no difference. I've better things to be doing than worrying about arguably the simplest thing in the entire audio chain to do right.
ok, stop with the romex stuff 🙂 I worked as a trade electrician for God sake!
I use 4 strand 16 gauge, silver plated twisted (like Kimber kable) Hard Drawn OFC copper.
I think the big difference for sound is also the way the copper is drawn after solidification from the foundry.
There are many grades: soft drawn. hard drawn , medium. I choose hard drawn, very harder than the romex but sound is perfect!
I use 4 strand 16 gauge, silver plated twisted (like Kimber kable) Hard Drawn OFC copper.
I think the big difference for sound is also the way the copper is drawn after solidification from the foundry.
There are many grades: soft drawn. hard drawn , medium. I choose hard drawn, very harder than the romex but sound is perfect!
Ah, but around my area the most common 4 mm squared double insulated wire (approx 11 AWG) also comes with an earth conductor. What is the best connection for the earth conductor when used on a speaker cable: + leg, - leg, floating or other?
😀
I left mine floating. The 12ga Romex was simply a matter of convenience as it is readily available at home improvement stores and is relatively inexpensive. 25ft of 12/2 still cost like $18. Enough for 4 x 6ft cables.
This can also be phrased I suppose:
I hear a difference between combination of speaker and cables.....
It's very hard to single out the cable as it is never used alone.
Maybe it's the speaker that change 😉
It's like schrödingers cat - you don't know until you connect a speaker...
Anyways - trying to discuss the cable only is meaningless - it's a system we need to master.
//
so maybe the distortion and thd do not influence the sound very much? There must be other factor...
It's the changes in frequency response that are influencing the sound not the nonexistent harmonic distortion
No. You don't seem to understand even the basics of what we are discussing.BesPav said:
Pretty patterns look nice and aid marketing.gabdx said:
No. No sound difference at all.
It depends. If you have RF interference then grounding the earth conductor may reduce this a little. Otherwise just use it to parallel one of the conductors to get smaller resistance. It doesn't matter which conductor you parallel.mt490 said:
Excellent. It conducts electricity. Although as an observation, Kimber's speaker wire is braided rather than twisted.
I don't, given that the laws of physics our universe is obliged to conform with dictate that it doesn't. The signal couldn't give two hoots what way the wire is drawn.
Hard drawn copper is a trait I normally try to avoid in wire. I hate when wire coils back up after I unspool it. Annealed copper won't break from flexing as quickly.
Maybe your definition of distortion differs from mine, but to me it means the output signal differs from the input signal. When I build an amplifier I prefer the output signal to be as close to the input signal as possible but larger. Any change such as voltage drop or removal of frequency response by the speaker lead is distortion.
That being said, I personally don't believe that all these exotic speaker leads will improve anything. Simple stranded large diameter copper leads capable of carrying the required current without generating any heat will be the best you can hope to achieve.
I think what Valery's measurements were showing was the effects of voltage drop in the wire. If you look at the term distortion in it's basic meaning, output signal deviating from input signal, the higher number reading on the meter does mean more distortion of the signal. The signal has changed. Weather or not this change has any bearing/value/meaning is what we need to interpret. I think a more valid test would be the measurement of the output of the actual speaker.
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