So how does this apply to speaker cables?

Interesting article, Neil. Thanks! And I agree with your subtly stated conclusion :-)

Best regards,
-- Al

Take a look at this from Cardes
http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=6&pagestring=Golden+Ratio,+Constant+

Alan

Answer: It doesn't:

except that George Cardas uses the Golden Ratio in his cable design (& always did). He's of the opinion that this is the "correct" way to design hyper-litz cables.....
So, maybe your statement isn't totally true??

"except that George Cardas uses the Golden Ratio in his cable design"

. . . . yes, a practice which has resulted (due to all that "golden section multi-stranding") in the highest capacitance speaker cables (>430pF/ft) in the industry -- and therefore the ones with the most high-frequency roll-off!

Maybe I was being too subtle Al ;~)
.

. . . . from the Cardas website:

"Golden Mean forms the mathematical proportions nature uses to shape leaves and sea shells, insects and people, hurricanes and galaxies."

Alan, first of all, this (statement) is total malarky -- as detailed in the NYT article! But to spare you the burden of actually reading the article, I'll quote the following excerpt:

"Unfortunately, in the more than two millenniums since Euclid, the golden ratio has suffered from so much hype, numerology and wishful thinking that it’s become hard to separate the myth from the math. Many of its supposed occurrences in nature, anatomy, art and architecture don’t stand up to careful scrutiny. For example, you can find lots of books and Web sites claiming that the shell of the chambered nautilus obeys the golden ratio, but in reality, nautilus shells have average growth ratios between 1.24 and 1.43, quite far from 1.618.

So be skeptical the next time you see the golden ratio being used to sell blue jeans, stock tips or the perfect smile."

(and, one might add, audio cable ;~)

"The upside is, if a nautilus can’t get its proportions golden, maybe I shouldn’t worry so much about mine."

My point is that in implementing his own non-scientific hype, Mr. Cardas has managed to create some of the worst-sounding audio speaker cables out there (in my humble opinion of course ;~)
.

Those must be the Nautilus from the wrong side of the reef. :-)

Mark

Poor George just can't get a break. IME, Cardas cables have always sounded warm and phasey. No doubt due to the multi-conductors and high cap. Still, many purists love them.