Hi Hal,
The author of the review you linked to often posts here, as member Douglas_Schroeder, and I recall that he has made the same point in threads here in the past. He has experience with a particularly wide range of speakers and cables, and he is a very good writer. All of which adds to his credibility, of course.
I personally have not ever experimented with doubled runs.
I note that he states in the review that his "guess is that the primary benefit is in the increased total gauge, a variable I believe is primary to the attainment of superior sound. Very simply put, the more metal, the more musical nuance and grace." The halving of resistance that will result from using two identical cables in parallel, relative to the resistance of each cable, could also be accomplished by using a single cable three gauge sizes larger. However the doubled pair of cables will also reduce inductance by a factor of two, while using a single cable that is three gauge sizes larger and is otherwise similar in design will not come close to doing that.
However reducing the **length** of a single cable by a factor of two, where possible, will cut both resistance and inductance in half, and will presumably also reduce the degree of most other cable effects that are conceivable. Antenna effects being a notable exception, although the significance antenna effects may have in a given system, if any, will depend on amplifier characteristics such as feedback and bandwidth, as well as on the RFI environment. And consequently those effects could be either better or worse at longer or shorter lengths, with little or no predictability.
I’ll mention also that larger gauge sizes are increasingly prone to skin effect, although the audible significance of that is highly debatable IMO. (I don’t wish to debate it here, if others who may post subsequently disagree).
The potential downside of doubling a speaker cable is that the total capacitance is doubled. Although aside from a few cable types having ultra-high capacitance, which is done in a few cable designs as a means of achieving ultra-low inductance, speaker cable capacitance is usually not very important (in contrast to the importance interconnect cable capacitance can have in many applications).
These and other parameters and effects that may be affected by doubling a speaker cable run will have greater or lesser significance depending on the impedance characteristics of the particular speaker, and often depending also on the design of the amplifier. And of course subjective reactions to the sonic consequences of all of this will differ widely among different listeners . So despite my respect for Mr. Schroeder’s formidable experience I would not extrapolate too broadly from his findings.
Finally, a belated thank you for the nice words in your message the other day.
Best regards,
-- Al
The author of the review you linked to often posts here, as member Douglas_Schroeder, and I recall that he has made the same point in threads here in the past. He has experience with a particularly wide range of speakers and cables, and he is a very good writer. All of which adds to his credibility, of course.
I personally have not ever experimented with doubled runs.
I note that he states in the review that his "guess is that the primary benefit is in the increased total gauge, a variable I believe is primary to the attainment of superior sound. Very simply put, the more metal, the more musical nuance and grace." The halving of resistance that will result from using two identical cables in parallel, relative to the resistance of each cable, could also be accomplished by using a single cable three gauge sizes larger. However the doubled pair of cables will also reduce inductance by a factor of two, while using a single cable that is three gauge sizes larger and is otherwise similar in design will not come close to doing that.
However reducing the **length** of a single cable by a factor of two, where possible, will cut both resistance and inductance in half, and will presumably also reduce the degree of most other cable effects that are conceivable. Antenna effects being a notable exception, although the significance antenna effects may have in a given system, if any, will depend on amplifier characteristics such as feedback and bandwidth, as well as on the RFI environment. And consequently those effects could be either better or worse at longer or shorter lengths, with little or no predictability.
I’ll mention also that larger gauge sizes are increasingly prone to skin effect, although the audible significance of that is highly debatable IMO. (I don’t wish to debate it here, if others who may post subsequently disagree).
The potential downside of doubling a speaker cable is that the total capacitance is doubled. Although aside from a few cable types having ultra-high capacitance, which is done in a few cable designs as a means of achieving ultra-low inductance, speaker cable capacitance is usually not very important (in contrast to the importance interconnect cable capacitance can have in many applications).
These and other parameters and effects that may be affected by doubling a speaker cable run will have greater or lesser significance depending on the impedance characteristics of the particular speaker, and often depending also on the design of the amplifier. And of course subjective reactions to the sonic consequences of all of this will differ widely among different listeners . So despite my respect for Mr. Schroeder’s formidable experience I would not extrapolate too broadly from his findings.
Finally, a belated thank you for the nice words in your message the other day.
Best regards,
-- Al