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Can speaker cables be too thick?

Hi folks, I've tried several speaker cables in the past, like the MIT MH-750, Wireworld Gold Eclipse, Ridge Street Audio, Pure Note Paragon and Cardas Golden Eclipse. I've been using these expensive cables until I replace them with ordinary 2x6mm2 OFC copper cables consisting of multiple small gauge solid conductors. These cables have the best tonal balance and they match very well with the speakers (Dunlavy SC-V). I use them in biwire fashion (each cable is 5 ft in length). What would happen if I replace them with even larger gauge copper cables, like 2x8mm2 or 2x10mm2? Would the sound improve further with the larger gauge cables? What sonic characteristics can be heard when the speaker wire is "too thick"?

Chris
dazzdax

Showing 4 responses by davemitchell

davemitchell
253 posts
 
The fact of the matter is that pretty much any cable should be ok provided you avoid the obvious pitfalls...4 ohm speakers with 50 foot speaker cables of 20 AWG.

This is an independent engineers view. I have no axe to grind as I don't sell cables.

Shadorne my friend, just when I thought we were making nice progress on the cable front you take a few steps back.

I understand your zeal for the technical side of cables and measurements, but your mistake is assuming that any of that translates into knowledge about how they actually sound. If you'd spend half as much time listening to cables made with different conductors, dielectrics, gauges, etc... as you spent learning all the techno-theory, you'd find that you are incorrect in your assertions.

You do have an axe to grind in that you seem interested in convincing yourself and others that cables all sound virtually the same- and that's perfectly ok- but you're wrong:)
davemitchell
253 posts
 
I have found when making my own cables that too thick a conductor sounds bad (oddly enough too thick sounding) as does too thin. The range that I have found sounds best is between 18awg and 20awg per solid core conductor with the particular metals that I like. Why is this so? I don't honestly have a clue, I can only describe what I have experienced sonically.

What makes nearly as big a difference is the dielectric (insulation) material or lack thereof. Surrounding the conductor with as much air as possible yeilds the best sound.
davemitchell
253 posts
 
Dazz, using a selection of solid core silver conductors that I experimented with, when I got to 18awg I could already hear the sound getting too thick. Beyond that it just kept getting worse.

Remember though, you can't draw any global conclusions from that experiemnt because it is possible that I would have gotten slightly different results using some other metal conductor. I would bet that with any conductor you wouldn't want to go to much heavier than a 17 or 18awg individual conductor.

The way to make a heavier gauge cable then is too use multiple conductors, each individually insulated. But you should take care to minimze the insulation's contribution too.
davemitchell
253 posts
 
Muralman, while it seems we agree on the importance of the dielectric contribution, we disagree about the shape of the conductor.

I have experimented quite a bit with round vs. flat or rectangular conductors and my experience is exactly the opposite of what you say regarding high frequency performance. In my own experiments, a round conductor in the ~20awg range resulted in the most extended and open high frequencies.

What actually seems to be most improved by air dielectric is the high frequency range and sense of openness.
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