Speaker Cables

roll off the highs within the audio bandwidth significantly enough to be audible

Questions like these are always rather futile. In this case the responses that you are going to get will fall into three categories:
(i) a long and (ultimately) confusing list of member‘s favourite speaker cables - mainly reflecting nothing more than their own biases and not specifically directed to your needs.
(ii) inconclusive arguments for and against bi-wiring (which can already be found on numerous other threads).
(iii) posts from those who believe that cables make no difference and tell you that you are deluding yourself if you believe otherwise (which again can be found on numerous other threads).

The concept that there is a specific set of cables out there with best synergy with your speakers, and that they are somehow going be identified out of the sheer morass of feedback generated by your post is folly. On two counts.

@jjss49 I second twoleftears suggestion of Duelund for your internal wiring. Check out the PartsConnexion site for various gauges. 

Bear in mind that if you put a film capacitors in place of an electrolytic, you will generally be lowering its equivalent series resistance (ESR), and thus altering a fundamental characteristic of the crossover which affects frequency response.

Whether the deviation is sufficient to warrant concern will depend on the speaker in question. One solution is to place a resistor in series with the capacitor to make up the lost resistance. The more capacitors in the crossover, the more significant the issue.

Some people complain that after putting boutique caps in their speakers there are significant gains in transparency, but somehow they sound, ‘all wrong‘. or, ‘completely different‘. Now you have a fair idea why.

Higher capacitance will start rolling off the higher frequencies

Quit just parroting stuff you read on the web. For normal runs capacitance will never roll off the highs in the audio bandwidth. It‘s marketing BS by shonkies like Blue jeans. Do the basic maths.

And the assertion you made above is incorrect. People do hear a difference: on a regular basis, as many of the previous posts indicate.

I was trying to make an exaggerated point

It sounds more like you were perpetuating misinformation shady cable manufacturers are using to sell their wares by attempting to sound knowledgeable.

’litz wire’ - won’t that cause termination/issues?

You can buy a solder pot cheaply off ebay. which should solve your termination issues. Dipping the ends in should remove the coating and tin them ready for termination.

This is insignificant in a crossover and can be ignored.

interesting post on Audiokarma 12 years ago:

Last night, inspired by this thread, I ran a bunch of capacitor curves. I tested six different types from my parts bin, ranging from the cheesiest old lytics to fancy film, and including garden variety audio NPE. All the caps were 4.7uF, within a couple of percent. I hooked each one in series, directly to a well-known 1" dome tweeter, then swept the voltage plot across the speaker terminals.

At 2 or 3 KHz, there was about a 1.5dB total spread between the units, increasing to almost 5dB at 20KHz. Interestingly, (or coincidentally?), the curves clustered into two fairly distinct groups. Also, interestingly, the two data clusters each contained both lytics and films. I will post curves and details when I have time, and will run impedance, ESR and DF curves on all the caps.

This was intended to be a quick, but very demanding test: the tweeter is 4 Ohms, and no other components were used at all. (EG- no pad resistor.) Eventually, I will test a more typical circuit topology.

The lessons, re-learned:

- changing cap types is perilous, and, will probably change the frequency response.

- Modern NPE’s can hold their own with film caps; there is no readily obvious, consistent advantage to either type, though there are various differences.

ken kantor, Mar 23, 2009

And what I am describing has nothing to do with capacitive reactance. It is called series resistance for a reason.

The point I am trying to make is that Ken’s data confirms that you can’t just. throw in a modern film cap in place of an old style electrolytic and expect your frequency response to remain totally in tact. You may get lucky, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Measured deviations of up to 5db at 20kHz between samples show considerable scope for audible changes.

If you are swapping a modern film with a modern film, your chances of success are far greater.

Between good good film caps perhaps, but between old design electrolytics and film caps, possibly quite significant. Way back when it was being discussed on this thread in some depth, various speaker manufacturers‘ philosophies were examined WRT ESR and were found to differ. You have found a couple who concur with your own. There are well respected manufacturers who do not.

This issue has already been examined in detail by those far more informed than you: do the legwork yourself. If you wish to ignore hard data because it challenges your beliefs so be it. Your exposition of logic beggars belief. I have no more to say on this matter.