2. cables
  3. 1252371020

Is rewiring worth it considering...


My question surrounds rewiring. Why bother?

Let me explain my point by following a signal path:

First, a nice thick speaker cable connects to the terminals. But the second it crosses the terminals threshold, a thin little circular spade is sandwiched between 2 screws which is attached to a rather thin wire. This thin wire goes to the crossover (again attached with a thin spade) which is then distributed across a circuit board that is even thinner than the thin wire, into caps and inductors with non copper ends, etc.

From here more thin stainless steel spades to wires and onto the actual drivers, again spades and then an very thin wire into the actual driver itself where the wire spun around the voice coil is thinner than every part of the signal path so far.

So, long winded, but here is my point: why bother rewiring when all you will end up with is a point where the internal wiring will get very thin and you cant do anything about it?

Isn't this akin to having a 40 lane highway bottleneck into a 2 lane road when it reaches the woofer's voice coil?

idfnl

Showing 4 responses by idfnl

idfnl OP
16 posts
 
The problem is the logic of it though.

I'm not saying there is no difference between cables, but can't anyone explain why? You'd think the millions of $ spent on cables would lead to a scientific explanation, because once the signal reaches the amp or speaker, etc, its a tiny little solid steel wire or a circuit board.

Especially for a speaker: how can it make a difference when in the end it becomes a strand of hair in thickness wrapped around a magnet?

Is it possible that there is no scientific explanation because this is simply a farce and people are spending $10,000 on a meter of cable that a bunch of cat5 wired together would equal?

In the end, I am trying to decide whether to rewire my speakers, but to take all this time and investment in time and money and have it be a waste of energy would suck, I want to know why this would make a difference considering that in the end its a tiny little thin wire.
idfnl OP
16 posts
 
While its not as simple as a yes or no thing, Hifitime hit upon it, its just a salesman's theory and nobody seems able to explain how all the cable as thick as your wrist gets bottled thru a tiny wire.

A performant cable shouldn't create any more than 5% of the resistance of the speaker itself.

A very thick speaker cable will create more resistance than a very thin cable, but once you get past about 14 gauge, you need a massive amount of energy moving thru the wire to have it generate enough resistance to make any difference at that gauge.

The longer the cable, the more resistance that gets built up, so the longer the span, the thicker the cable.

In almost all normal scenarios, science says that a 12 or 14 gauge cable is more than sufficient. Wouldn't this explain why the wire inside of speakers and amps is thin and still performant?

So what is the point of all this mega cable? Especially the ones that cost uber money for like 1 meter... a span that small would be fine at 18 gauge.
idfnl OP
16 posts
 
John,

I'm aware of the different variations out there, and I agree some of the more exotic materials justify the price of the cables, what I question though is how they can really make any difference if within 1 cm of the termination of the $$ cable is a basic wire. Its illogical to me that you can go from 2 extremes of wiring and have it work.

Again, I am not saying these cables are a ripoff on their own, but how much good can they do with a simple wire at the ends of the termination?

As far as the purity of the copper goes, all the .00999% gets you is an incredibly insignificant reduction in resistance. When they eliminate the oxygen they are also eliminating iron and traces of other metals which have more resistive properties.

I doubt my thoughts are extreme, but in the USA you are entitled to label me any way you wish. I'm just a guy trying to make sense of something that doesn't.
idfnl OP
16 posts
 
Gregm,

Yes, thats exactly my point. When you pass thru these smaller wires and spades, dont you wreck the quality of the signal thru the large cables?
More to discover