In a single ended cable, does the signal travel through the ground cable, or does it just dump its voltage to zero into ground? Is the quality of the conductor wire for the ground as important as the signal wire?
" So if you have one conductor made of, say, copper, and the other of, say, silver, and the two conductors are of significantly different lengths (one is straight, the other is spiraled around it), what effect would that have? "
It would have the effect to make the gullible transfer more of their net worth to an audio equipment manufacturer.
Anyone should realize that before the RCA connector on your device the signal path and the ground path have totally different materials, shapes and topographies right? The same after the termination.
So if you have one conductor made of, say, copper, and the other of, say, silver, and the two conductors are of significantly different lengths (one is straight, the other is spiraled around it), what effect would that have?
All that matters is that V(t) at the termination is equal to the V(t) at the source. The ground conductor as well as the insulation properties between the source and destination plays a role in this.
To achieve an ideal transfer function =1 you need to minimize the reactive currents in the cable. The ground conductor plays a role in this.
You can have a lousy quality center conductor and an equally lousy ground conductor and the effects can cancel each other out to provide an ideal output at the destination side. Buts its a lot harder to do it that way.
The signal ground using single end connectors is the whole chassis. The signal is the varying voltage in the center wire the ground is the reference. Not sure what you mean by how good is the quality of wire. Copper is good for conductivity and gold is good for connectors as it doesn't oxidize very easily.Â
My question in different words (perhaps) is if ground is zero potential (voltage), then the hot (+) caries the "information" to the component or speaker and it dissipates to zero at ground. This is only for single ended, not balanced which flip flops the signal across +/- voltages. So if the ground wire has zero potential (no signal) then how important is the quality of the wire?
Here we go.. Ok is that the question? OP what was the question again?
Now were talking about flow? Current? but not what he ask..
He ask if two different conductors, made a difference, ground, vs signal (pos)? I say yes, it does.. Again I still like the answer jder, posted.
I say that because I've mixed and matched on speaker cables, and it made a big difference...Copper/silver ground, with copper/copper pos, and a weave..
Reverse the two, use the copper/copper on the ground and the silver/copper, for the hot. On my system the tweeters will boil your ears, and the mids sound like they are wired out of phase.
Reverse it.. Wonderful again. Actually one of the better combos I've done, for small planars, and a splash of tungsten with copper, not silver, is pretty darn cool too...
Tough crowd. Signal doesn’t flow. Current flows. The signal is a time varying electric field between the two conductors. It exists at the input of the cable (source) and everywhere along that pair or conductors.
Where is the signal (electric field)? Simple answer, it is everywhere. Now that electric field will tend to induce some currents (that do no work) in the cable. That is where the mischief or magic happens. Some mischief can sound good, but its still mischief.
The fact that there is a slight timing issue, between pos and neg.Â
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In "real" cables there are slight out of phase current flow due to capacitance, induction and dissipative dielectric losses in the non-conducting materials. This will cause slight variation between the voltage at source and destination.
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I find the answer interesting, not the question, I haven't quit figured that out YET.
Normally, there is a 500 word answer, I like the trimmed down version. That explains HOW an RCA works.. Apply it where you like..
I agree it takes a neg, pos, covers, shielding (optional) and or armor.. AND yes, how it sounds. I'm just not sure that's what was asked either.
Except he didn't answer the question at all, which is where is the signal. He defined what is the signal in terms of voltage. Not a word about where it is, and does quality matter. In other words its all frosting. To paraphrase the old Wendy's lady, "Where's the cake?"
jderimig8 posts07-22-2020 12:10pmThe "signal" is the voltage level versus time between the center conductor and the ground potential at the destination. In an ideal cable this potential (voltage) is the same at the source and destination.
What a great explanation. I really don't need all the frosting a lot of folks add to the cake, so to speak. Direct question, direct answer.. I wish I could keep it as clear and concise. Thanks.
The "signal" is the voltage level versus time between the center conductor and the ground potential at the destination. In an ideal cable this potential (voltage) is the same at the source and destination.
In an ideal termination, any current flowing in the center conductor will be in perfect phase with the voltage.
In "real" cables there are slight out of phase current flows due to capacitance, induction and dissapative dielectric losses in the non-conducting materials. This will cause slight variation between the voltage at source and destination. In other words, cables will have a transfer function.
Cable designers should strive to make the cable have a transfer function which is equal to 1 (ideal cable).  However a non-ideal cable can have transfer functions that make it sound pleasing. These like other elements in our systems are really distortions. But not all distortions sound bad/
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