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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 jmcgrogan2

jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I'm just a guy trying to make sense of something that doesn't.
Idfnl


Good luck with that......let me know how you make out.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
First of all, the thickness of a wire has nothing to do with sound quality. The thin wire inside your speaker may very well sound better than your garden hose speaker cable.

Secondly, you can re-wire inside your speaker, I know many who have. Some have even taken the crossover outside the speaker cabinet and modified it with better caps, etc.

Lastly, speaker cables do make a difference, as do interconnects and power cords. Most cannot understand the logic, but hearing is believing.

Cheers,
John
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
This is one of many audio questions that cannot be answered, sorry. As with other questions relating to personal tastes, such as favorite wine, scotch, favorite golf clubs, favorite car, etc. Listening to music is an emotional experience, not a logical one. No computer or calculator will answer your question. If it could, you could just look it up in the archives.

Your only choice is to continue beating your head against the wall, or go on with your life. Is it possible the whole cable thing is a farce? Certainly it's possible. Cables are no more immune from public scrutiny than are cars, movies, vacation resorts, politicians, etc. None of the above have any definitive answers. Whether any of the above are right or wrong is all in the eye (ear) of the beer holder.

Enjoy the music.

Cheers,

John
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
There is more to cable construction than just the gauge of the conductor. Some use multi-stand very small conductors, some are larger gauge solid core conductors. Not all conductors are copper, some are silver, gold, platinum, palladium or carbon. Some conductors are a mixture of these materials. Some conductors use higher purity metals, for example: 99.9999% copper vs. 99.99% copper.

Then you have the dielectric, where some cables use helium or vacuum. Some cables even have networks built into them. Just like any other commodity, you are not simply paying for building materials either, you are paying for R&D, Advertising, Sales and Distribution.

I'm not trying to justify the cost of cables, I'm just saying there is more to a cable than the gauge of it's conductor. You are certainly entitled to feel any way you want about it. In the USA, the extreme seems to be the norm.

Cheers,
John
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