Kimber 8TC beater?

Pc ... I use 8TCs. Thinking about going back to lamp wire. LOL :)

Cabling is one of the most contentious and potentially expensive subject A'gon topic.

It's really hard to frac the voodoo and hype from the truth.

Why not join me in my holy quest for better sound -- see DEQX. Check discussion in the "Sloped Baffle" thread.

Ok ... I have a serious question. Was thinking about this after my last post.

Why wouldn't heavy gauge romex (say 10 or 12 gauge), which is solid copper I believe, make a good speaker cable. Not trying to be simple. It is a sincere question.

Bruce

Ok ... I am going to do an experiment and will report back results.

I am going to buy some off the shelf 12 gauge romex and make up a paid of speaker cables. I'll even make a set of jumpers out of the scrap wire. As I said, I currently use Kimber 8TC cables.

I'm going to end this debate once and for all. LOL :)

Pc123v .... cool your jets until I finish my romex experiment. Pure copper ... ultra pure ... hyper pure. Dielectric properties of insulation. Reminds me of the Space Balls movie when the baddies went to "Ludicrous Speed." Voodoo. Snake oil. Bull sh*t.

The test will be my Kimber 8TC cables versus 12 gauge romex! I'm looking at a 15 foot run. I may try lamp wire too. Let the best wire win. :)

Ok,let's take inventory of what we know and what we surmise about romex.

I can't verify these stats, but let's start with resistance. Based on this link:

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?38733-Resistivity-of-Romex-(NM)-Wire

Someone posted the following regarding standard Romex:

"At 25 deg C, ohms per 1000 ft

#8 .6405/1000 ft
#10 1.018/1000 ft
#12 1.619/1000 ft
#14 2.575/1000 ft

"The insulation type doesn't matter. Current carrying capacity is different in conduit or open air(higher in open air). Basically figure 15 amps for #14, 20 amps for #12, 30 amps for #10, and 40 amps for #8.(these are the in conduit ratings)

"I got this out of the 1963 ARRL handbook."

So ... as regards resistance, standard romex presents a very low resistive load. In in the case of standard 10 gauge solid copper romex, just a smidge over 1 ohm for a 1000 foot run. That's nothing. My run will be 15 feet.

Al seems to concur, "[a]s you realize, 12 gauge Romex will provide adequately low resistance for most applications."

Moving on to capacitance, Al says that "[c]apacitance is usually not a major consideration when it comes to speaker cables, except in the case of a few cables (such as Goertz) which achieve ultra-low inductance at the expense of having ultra-high capacitance ...."

Last is inductance. Al says he doesn't know what the inductance of Romex is, but he suspects it is neither particularly high nor particularly low. I'll do some more web checking.

So in summary, romex looks like a medium that presents a very low resistive load and probably low capacitance. Not sure about inductance, but may not be a major factor.

I think I'm ready for the test. I'll need some auxiliary supplies to ensure a fair test; namely a pint of Knobs Creek.

I'll be back. Get your anti-snake venom ready.

Not yet .. but maybe this weekend.