Just boil it down to this:
* Power cables are designed and built to accurately transmit DC and AC from point A to point B
* Audio signals are AC, and fully fit in the above description.
* so Power cables are perfectly fit to transmit both Mains frequencies and Power as well as Audio frequencies and Power.
Nothing else is needed.
* Power cables are designed and built to accurately transmit DC and AC from point A to point B
* Audio signals are AC, and fully fit in the above description.
* so Power cables are perfectly fit to transmit both Mains frequencies and Power as well as Audio frequencies and Power.
Nothing else is needed.
I've often specified mains power cables for speaker use on PA installations when the electrical installer is also in charge of installing the ceiling speakers, because this is cheaper and easier for everyone involved and it is allowed by local regulations, although this is not the best/proper way to do the job. The speaker cable, even when is rated for mains voltages, is still not allowed to share the same conduit with mains conductors, of course.
I haven't found any electrical issues at all even with long cables, as expected. The only issue comes when the cables aren't properly labeled, and someone connects them to mains power. If you dont'have full control over the environement, be sure to label your speaker cables very clearly.
I haven't found any electrical issues at all even with long cables, as expected. The only issue comes when the cables aren't properly labeled, and someone connects them to mains power. If you dont'have full control over the environement, be sure to label your speaker cables very clearly.
AMEN Brother!!!!
I was asked to supply the PA system for La Fusa in Uruguay´s posh Punta del Este, where among others Maria Creuza would sing.
As usual, I supplied mains/machine tool type back round cable with 1/4" plug connectors for speakers.
Then came back to Buenos Aires.
Was desperately phoned at 3 AM a few days later.
Artists (I "see" wiseoldtech rolling eyes
) complained about the "ugly wiring" and also that "they could trip on it" so La Fusa owner asked a local electrician to hide wiring from sight (and wandering feet).Which he did by cutting my original cable plug ends and patching them to plain parallel white lamp cord trough conduit, using regular Mains type 2 pin male female connectors for extensions.
It worked (sort of, I doubt he knew or cared about phase) .... until "the cleaning lady" (not her fault of course) unplugged wires from the wall to do her vacuuming and then plugged them back ... at random of course.
Imagine following night show: as soon as they enabled Stage breakers, they got the Mother of ll explosions.
I had to urgently fly with 8 woofers.
Oh, and WHO is Maria Creuza?
Here: a free sample:
As was pointed out by several members here, power cables do not make an amplifier to misbehave.
Just an additional comment because of something somebody here much wiser and more experienced than I advised decades ago.
Here in Australia it is often the case that extension leads [ FLEX in many countries] are the cheapest way to buy speaker cable, so I take the ground and return wires, the green and blue ones and combine those and use the brown one as the positive, I've been doing this for about 20 years now.
The usual size for these is 1.5mm<2 but I do have a couple with 2.5mm<2 wire inside I use for my big party subwoofers, I know it's overkill but I got the leads for free due to some dumb industrial law about minor cable damage; some shallow nicks in the outer sheath
Here in Australia it is often the case that extension leads [ FLEX in many countries] are the cheapest way to buy speaker cable, so I take the ground and return wires, the green and blue ones and combine those and use the brown one as the positive, I've been doing this for about 20 years now.
The usual size for these is 1.5mm<2 but I do have a couple with 2.5mm<2 wire inside I use for my big party subwoofers, I know it's overkill but I got the leads for free due to some dumb industrial law about minor cable damage; some shallow nicks in the outer sheath
A length of standard 16 gauge extension cord, copper, here are some facts.
A 10 foot run of it to a speaker system comes to 0.08 ohms, considering its a dual conductor cord.
For a 5 foot run, it amounts to half that, or 0.04 ohms.
Now why would anyone have to dig around, and worry about such a thing?
It beats the hell out of me.
A 10 foot run of it to a speaker system comes to 0.08 ohms, considering its a dual conductor cord.
For a 5 foot run, it amounts to half that, or 0.04 ohms.
Now why would anyone have to dig around, and worry about such a thing?
It beats the hell out of me.
Well maybe some of us have long runs to our party speakers, One of my sets is quite a way from my amps, not long by professional strandrards perhaps but long enough maybe for resistance to be a factor, or maybe simply because we can and do think about such things; even if they don't really matter too much. The correct amount of resistance being zero??
What's 16g in real terms??
What's 16g in real terms??
16 gauge lamp cords are commonly used household cords.
In fact, they're used as power cords for portable space heaters which are rated at 12 amps.
Even vaccuum cleaners use them, with lengths around 25 to 35 feet.
I highly doubt that with our strict electrical codes here, that the average16 gauge lamp cord used for mere speaker duty would pull 12 amps continuously.
Now, everyone can nit-pick and debate to their heart's content... carry on.
Been doing it a lot longer than 20 years. ALL 72 of my Speakon to Speakon cables were former extension cords. Most of them are #12’s (Harbor Freight had a really good deal on 50 foot 12/3’s and I snagged as many as I could transport once). You don’t waste the 3rd wire - you parallel two on one side. Six of my 100 footers are doubled up #16’s - three wires each run. And they are on spools.
I‘ve been flamed on this forum and others for doing this - with advice that it it against codes (in most places in the US) and could result in my gig being shut down if an electrical inspector ever saw it. The SJT jacket is not “rated” for the duty, but SO is. Jeezus Christ, it’s SPEAKER WIRE, and the amps all have short circuit current limiting. No one has ever filed a complaint. They could have complained about my non-GFCI distro, which was at least an actual blatant violation.
In a resistor the current is always in phase with the voltage across it. This implies, resistance is not what causes an amplifier to oscillate. Capacitance and inductance both react to AC. Both of these cause a phase difference between current and voltage. Using a cable from an amplifier to a loadspeaker is like adding two chains of very small series inductors with equally small capacitors connected like the rungs of a ladder. In fact, for an RF frequency, the wavelength on wire, known in RF as a transmission line, can be calculated using these incremental inductances and capacitances. I remember reading such a derivation by the UK author F.A. Wilson when I was still an adolescent and wanted to learn electronics. In the case of audio, the frequencies are too low and the wavelengths are consequently huge. In this case, a tranmission like acts as a lumped impedance.
Replies to this thread corfirm parasitic RLC are too low to consider and to do anything unexpectedly.
Replies to this thread corfirm parasitic RLC are too low to consider and to do anything unexpectedly.
Amplifiers have to drive reactive loads all the time. They are called speakers. Phase angles can be as bad as 60 degrees for conventional cone drivers with high Qms. And that occurs down low in frequency - just above bass resonance. Impedance tends to go inductive above the audio band in any speaker with a voice coil. Its all over the place in a multi-way with a passive crossover. If a given amplifier can’t handle some reactance it’s got bigger problems than what you’re using for speaker wire.
DIY amplifiers (and some store bought too, ie PL700) can have stability problems. And just as likely to show up with a speaker driver connected directly across the binding posts, or be worse with no load at all. Those problems need to be fixed - not band aided by specifying an especially low capacitance speaker wire.
RF transmission lines often get a black eye for being “reactive”, because even a resistive load mismatch can be reflected as reactance to the source. It is a real phenomenon, but it only happens when length is long wrt a wavelength.
DIY amplifiers (and some store bought too, ie PL700) can have stability problems. And just as likely to show up with a speaker driver connected directly across the binding posts, or be worse with no load at all. Those problems need to be fixed - not band aided by specifying an especially low capacitance speaker wire.
RF transmission lines often get a black eye for being “reactive”, because even a resistive load mismatch can be reflected as reactance to the source. It is a real phenomenon, but it only happens when length is long wrt a wavelength.