Speaker Wire Length - opinions please - Page 2

Curt, you're right. They do make a difference ... about plus or minus 0.2 dB! A JND (Just Noticeable Difference) is generally considered to be around 1 dB on typical program material, so it's not plausible you would be able to hear 0.2 dB, despite claims to the contrary.

Loudspeaker wire does make a big difference.

I remember when I purchased my first set of "SMOG LIFTERS" speaker cables back in the late 1970s. They were a revelation, like getting a new amplifier. They really were not that expensive at the time, maybe $30 or so. They were a thick, fairly flat braided speaker cable with silver on the connecting ends.

Later I used thick braided flat cables from IBM which I used used for longer runs in a different house. They sounded great as well. IBM used them to connect some type of high tech equipment. A friend got them for me when IBM gave away some equipment to employees.

The speaker wires on the market today range from the reasonable to the insane. I like the thick, flat braided speaker cables just because they are what I have used in the past and they do help allot. Other wires I see I do not understand. I think spending thousands of dollars on a 10' speaker wire run is over-the-top. I would rather spend that money on a vacation.

Here you can find a picture of SMOG LIFTERS available on Craig's List.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/ele/2891197780.html


"For sale is one pair of Discwasher Smog Lifter speaker cables from the late 1970s. These are somewhere between 5 meters and 20ft. in length. They are constructed of high-speed computer cable - high capacitance, 24 gauge stranded wire. Many wires are woven into the cable (sort of forms a tube) to minimize outside interference. Here's something I found on the Internet: "The flat braided design reduced inductance, so the top end was not attenuated, making the sound with some amps and speakers clearer and more open. But only with some combinations! The price you paid for the lower inductance was about 10x higher capacitance. As mentioned, some amps objected strenuously to that, so it's a try it and see proposition. However, if the amp goes unstable, you may risk blowing the outputs."

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm - Speaker Wire - A History by Roger Russell

Cable inductance is determined by the ratio of conductor spacing to conductor radius (D/r). The D/r ratio of the cable I use is roughly 2, which translates to an inductance of 90 nH per foot. So, a 20 foot run of cable (1.8 uH inductance) would exhibit an inductive reactance of 0.11 ohms at 10 kHz, which in turn would cause about 0.25 dB of attenuation with a 4 ohm loudspeaker termination. Doubt I would be noticing that. I'm using regular old 10 AWG loudspeaker cable. Nothing fancy.

Loudspeaker cable DOESN'T make a big difference to those of us who understand and respect the laws of Physics. Only to those who believe in voodoo marketing science.

Designed to confuse both us metric Canadians and the empirical Americans!

Note that I did not write that and I am not the person selling the cables. I found the Craig''s List advertisement doing a web search.

My old Smog Lifters did make my Magnepan MG 1s sound better. Is that because it elevated the treble and Magnepans of that era had a diminished high end? I do not know what it did, but it sure made my speakers sound better, allot better. Then Smog Lifters changed their speaker cable design to a cheaper construction and it sounded just like lamp cord.

Julian Hirsch use to write for a magazine called "Stereo Review" and he would go on and on about how all electronics pretty much sounded the same, and how all capacitors in amplifiers and loudspeaker crossovers sounded the same.

I do not think spending huge amounts of money on loudspeaker cables makes sense, but I think there are subtle differences that are not related to simple electrical resistance.

...Julian Hirsch use to write for a magazine called "Stereo Review" and he would go on and on about how all electronics pretty much sounded the same, and how all capacitors in amplifiers and loudspeaker crossovers sounded the same....

What does a capacitor sound like? Like loudspeaker cable? I know what they sound like when they blow!

Switching from a cheap capacitor in a speaker crossover to a good polypropylene capacitor makes a huge difference in sound quality. A cheap capacitor in series with a tweeter adds mud and fuzz to the sound.

Mud and fuzz? I always thought it more like gunk and grunge. Sometimes bordering on sludge and snow. Or if a bit warmer of a capacitor perhaps melt and mist. And capacitors don't lift veils, so don't go there. More like a sheet. Or a scrim. Or sometimes just a screen. But the very best... that is where the funk and fire of music come from.

Lol. Always amused at the descriptive words use in describing these huge differences, when they would utterly fail to distinguish between two capacitors in otherwise identical pieces of typical equipment were they not allowed to know which was which.

See http://www.ntid.rit.edu/

All bets are off unless you have a set of these: http://www.soundstage.com/equipment/...dark_field.htm to support that speaker cable.