Hi , is it a bad ideea to twist speaker wires ? If using two separate wires for + and - , for esthetic purposes. I'm thinking it will increase capacitance , inductance . ?
- Bruno.
- Bruno.
Its proper idea. Keeping +/- wires closer to each other - capacitance higher, inductance lower. By twisting you improve emi/rfi situation with this geometry itself and also due to fixing wires against mutual movement.
Definitely not a bad idea -Bell Labs patented that one back in the 1870s for lowering inductance & [slightly] reducing RFI. Capacitance will rise slightly relative to the same leads in a closely spaced parallel feeder configuration, but not by much. You're only likely to run into potential issues with that when you start using large numbers of individually insulated wires with very extensive twisting [or braiding, but that last is daft], so a non-issue with a normal pair. You're not likely to see many gains with speaker leads, but it may have a slight edge & it won't do any harm.
Make sure, your amp is stable and has a efficient zobel-network on it´s output.
If you for instance own an old original Quad-405 or older/similar...... then don´t. They will certainly "explode" 😳
If you for instance own an old original Quad-405 or older/similar...... then don´t. They will certainly "explode" 😳
Length of speaker wires plays a SIGNIFICANT role in terms of L , C and R.
'Exotic' speaker wires of significant length can lead to very subtle audible changes depending on the speakers impedance response and
the Damping Factor of the amplifier.
As mentioned, amplifier stability can become an issue.
'Exotic' speaker wires of significant length can lead to very subtle audible changes depending on the speakers impedance response and
the Damping Factor of the amplifier.
As mentioned, amplifier stability can become an issue.
Quite, although in most conditions stability issues and excessive capacitance aren't too likely with a simple twisted pair of ordinary-gauge wires -the difference to a parallel feeder pair is rarely huge. Some daft multi-braid or over-complex twist with multiple independently insulated wires being used for who-knows-what reason, then sure: it's begging for trouble.
Some data: see the Sound King V1 [standard 10ga off-the-reel parallel feeder] and V2 [leads unzipped & twisted at an unspecified rate, but from the gauge & photograph, appears to be roughly 4 turns per foot. Slightly ironically, inductance has actually increased & capacitance fallen for the twisted pair (!) suggesting an insufficient twist rate or some other construction issue. Either way though, it's a good illustration of the relatively minimal effects either way with a simple pair of wires in this sort of gauge, be it closely-spaced parallel-feeder or twisted at a modest rate.
https://www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/diy-speaker-cable-faceoff
https://www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/diy-speaker-cable-faceoff
The purpose of twisting a wire pair is to reduce coupling by cancellation of fields. At audio frequencies the coupling won't be strong anyway, but its always good practice to do this. Moderate degree of twist won't affect the capacitance and inductance by any meaningful amount.
The classic case where this matters a lot at audio frequency is in old telephone trunk wiring where 100's of cable pairs are bundled together for significant distance - without using twisted pairs the crosstalk is unworkable.
At high frequencies its much more important - for instance standard ethernet cables use 4 twisted pairs each with a different rate of twist (vital to reduce crosstalk).