How to select a good Speaker Cable

Mr. mahlman

I do not use Voodoo or other kinds of magic  to get to a better sound.
I use physics, and mathematics (Electronics) to calculate and build a cable. That's the only thing that makes sense to me. 

Directional: Sound is an AC signal. It's nature to flow 50% of the time in one direction and the other 50% of the time in the other. (Nyquist theory, that all AC signals can be broken down into sine waves, is the basic of digital Audio!).
When you claim on a cable it's directional, which  50% of the time it benefits, and which  50% of the time it doesn't?

Cooker: the melting point of Copper is:  1,085 °C
In the process of making a cable, it is melted. Once it solidifies, the metal structure is set. No heating under that melting point would change that.
So is the other direction: Cryo treatment. No effect on conductivity.
When using supper conductivity, in extreme cold: (close to the 0 Kelvin = -297 °C) it is not a copper conductor, but composite material. None apply to Audio. They are used in supercomputers or cold fusion attempts.

Do you have more Speaker cables sales BS?  
It's fun to crash them, one at a time. There are so many. The latest is called: Geometry.
It will expend for Quantum physics, String theory, Singularity quiq to come and maybe lean over older fashioned religious blessing or cursing, to get ignorance to the a new hight.

As some issues on cables and speaker cables were pointed out (directional and cooker), I feel that the obvious need to be said:

All cable stories ever been told by speaker cables makers or sales rep's,
are a lie. An ugly lie, to enhance sales over clients ignorance. 

The fact is, that none of them ever came out with a reasonable say what cable we need, or why cable A is better than cable B. A shame.
An entire industry sale a product, that they have absolutely no idea what
it should be to fit a customer's sound system.

This is the situation even in those very moments, I'm writing those lines. 

Dear Michael,

You are right, again.

0 AWG wire delivered yesterday.  Within two hours I had it installed in the system.  Each side is now driven by 2x0 AWG cable.  Best $67 tweak, yet.

Two steps closer to believing the performers are in the room.  New aural clues being processed by my tiny brain.  Resolution from 30hz to 16khz was improved.

In-room Pink Noise Real Time Analyzer graph unchanged.  Response curve is slightly jagged but flat.

I used a different type of cable for the second run (Welding cable linked above).  I was unable to source the cable used for the first batch of cables.  The new cable is more flexible and easier to work with.  It's OD is 9/16" and therefore the plastic hose clamps previous used did not work well.  Metal screw tightening hose clamps would work, but they are a bit cumbersome.  Consequently, I wrapped the cable ends with Gorilla tape to hold the walls of the insulation.  I then screwed a #12 1- 1/2" brass round head wood screw into the center of the cable strands to secure a #10 eyelet with a 3" 10 AWG tail crimped and soldered to it. Spades at one end and banana plugs at the other were installed to the eight tails for connection to the system. Exposed surfaces were wrapped with Gorilla tape pending the ordering and installation of heat shrink tubing.

The speaker cables are 5 feet long, not six. At the risk of being redundant, do your calculations suggest an additional one or two 0 AWG cables would further improve the performance of the system?  If you think further improvement can be achieved, I will be ordering another length of cable.

Again, thanks for the generosity of your time and talent.

All good wishes,

J

Hi Mr. keppertup

Congratulations. You really make me happy with your great news.
I wish to share that I also received my cables today (from the US). Slight delay of 2 days, due to COVID-19. No big deal.

The best way for you, would be to get two monoblocks of such high DF, and get a short as possible cable. Less than 10’’!

I need you to understand that the only parameter that matters, is the cables resistance vs. the Amp’s output resistance (Ro).
So the different type of cables has no significance. You are good.
As a cable’s resistance = to a constant, multiplied by length (in meters) and divided by cross section in mm2.
Just by short the length by half, you can gain the same on cross section.
5 feet = ~ 1,5m
It’s already 16 times #0 awg instead of 32 times.
But if you could get it down to 25 cm (6 times shorter), you could have it right with 16/6 = 3 times # 0 awg (DF = 8,000).

I’m sorry to inform you that Devialet main office let me down and answered only after another email and two weeks.

Enjoy.

For all others out there, you see I’m series and confident about my theory. It really works. One more happy guy.

Michael,

Thanks for the information and suggestion.  I am first going to install another 0 AWG set of cables to see if this improves performance, before considering the acquisition of another amp.

I high pass the amp output from 35hz.  The Magnepan MGIIIa's are flat to 40hz and fall off from there.  Moreover, the bass Mylar panel is a large area with very little excursion.  Consequently, perhaps the control of this driver is not as challenging as a cone driver with a long excursion attempting to reproduce sub 35hz frequencies.  Is the optimum DF as critical with this system?

Frequencies below 45hz are fed via the pre-out to a Velodyne FSX-12 that is "Servo Controlled" to limit excursion.  The pre-out and powered outputs includes Devialet's SAM software designed to limit cone breakup.  The speaker cable in this unit is probably 14 inches long.  I can not find a DF spec for it's A-B amplifier. 

Does any of this additional information alter your opinion of the ideal cables for this system?

Notwithstanding the fact that DF is supposed to benefit frequencies below 85hz, my observation is that adding 2x0 AWG speaker cables greatly improved mid and high frequency resolution.  This may be the result of the attenuation of bass and mid-bass excess excursion (boom). 

Current bass control sounds tighter and realistic.  It's measured in-room response is flat.

Unless you advise otherwise, I am willing to invest another $67 to see if it can get any better.  Plus, I like tinkering.  I will let you know if the next experiment yields diminishing returns.

Cheers

J