Cables - less is more? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Larson]

After listening to the usual "thicker is better" talk everywhere i've been, today i found something totally opposite!
These guys say that thinner wire is better for both interconnects and speaker cables... Who to believe??
My $ 2.99 silver wire trick
Make your own silver cables

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Interconnects, perhaps. I think maybe there can be capacitance issues with thicker-guage signal connections. Don't know what a "capacitance issue" sounds like, though!
Speaker wire – NOT!
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Scott Simonian]

I think that there is a line between too think and too thin. I dont know where its at. Just my theory.

Very thick cable can put resistance to the signal going through. That I know.

 

[Pete Mazz]

Give most of these guys 6 months and they'll probably do a 180....and swear it's the "best sounding wire I've ever heard".

Pete

 

[Lee Weiss]

I would have bought an expensive subwoofer cable had it not been for this site. Instead, I took a piece of RG6 from a roll I had and bought some RCA adapters. I cannot tell the difference.

I did the same thing instead of buying a digital coax cable.

For the low budget audio person, it's a bargain.

 

[ThomasW]

A friend and I did a 6hr cable shootout yesterday on my big system (Sony SCD-777ES SACD player > Marchand passive pre-amp > tri-amped set of ESL's and 12 Shiva IB)

One of the more interesting winners was the Jon Risch DIY IC that uses the twisted pair Belden coax. It easily bested my $900 AudioQuest Diamonds (solid silver) and my DIY D.H. Labs Silver Sonics (silver plated copper) as far as soundstage. The all the silver cables sounded flat= 2D, the Risch recipe was very 3D.

There were aspects of the top end that I preferred with the silve wires. But their lack of depth put them out of the running.

 

[Pete Mazz]

Thomas

Interesting! Did you publish the results anywhere?

Pete

 

[Mark Larson]

So i'm assuming the most cost-effective speaker wire is still ol' 12 gauge from HD and interconnects from the shack?
I'm not building my own wires right now cos exams are pretty near.
Maybe in the summer i'll look into the DIY Cat 5 interconnects and speaker cables.

 

[ThomasW]

Hi Pete
No this is the only place where I've mentioned it. The Risch DIY recipe we tested was the older one with twisted pair of the 89259, not the newer version with 89259 and 89248 mix. It had the high-end WBT locking RCAs
I found the cable to be very nice except for a stange 'fullness' in the lower midrange. Note I'd never read the Risch DIY site until yesterday evening after the shootout. Risch on his site notes this same characteristic and states it's goes away with the newer 89248/89250 pairing.
I'm going to get some of the bulk Belden cable and play around, maybe pairing the Belden with the silverSonic

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I'm surprised no one picked up on this:

Very thick cable can put resistance to the signal going through. That I know.

This is not correct. Thinner wire has more resistance because it limits current flow. This is why the more amperage (current) an application requires, the larger the wire they use.

Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Scott Simonian]

Hmmm, I guess my Telecommunications teacher is telling me wrong. :frowning:
Thanks for picking that up.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Yup. Imagine current flow the same as water in a pipeline. Larger pipe delivers more water; a smaller pipe restricts delivery (a.k.a. resistance).

Since telecommunications typically deals with very low current and uses very tiny wire, (which is why they use tiny wire!) I wouldn’t expect a teacher in this field to be up on it.

Regards,

Wayne A. Pflughaupt