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Twisted or Straight?

I searched Audiogon for info on inductance and capacitance. From an excellent post by Sean on March 24, he explains that inductance increases with wire spacing ant that capacitance increases as wires move closer together. Therefore, a twisted pair raises capacitance as contact between wires is increased. On the other hand, I'm a bit confused in that I thought winding wire would increase inductance.
Here is my question: For an ac power cable running from the panel box to the outlet, would it be better to run twisted wire or straight (i.e., parallel) wire? Specifically, I'm referring to twisting the hot, neutral and ground vs. having them run parallel? I've read strong preferences for both. Per Subaruguru's post, straight romex increases inductance and allows unwanted high frequencies to roll off. Other posts suggest that twisted is better. Please help me sort this out since I am running dedicated lines to my stereo. Thanks in advance.
ozfly

Showing 3 responses by bob_bundus

bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
Without even questioning the scientific reasoning & recommendations of cable designer Mike VansEvers I went with the twisted 10awg THHN solid copper, installed in grounded Greenfield (flexible metal conduit) for shielding. This works so well that I haven't even bothered to try out anything else so I can't actually compare, but can attest to my own very satisfactory results.
Mike told me to tape all 3 conductors together, then clamp one end of the bundle in a vice & the other end in a variable speed drill chuck. I aligned the printing on all 3 conductors in the same direction before twisting them up. It winds up like a big spring & then unwinds somewhat when the drill is powered off, so I then exchanged ends & better re-twisted the remainder. The load end is now terminated with a Wattagate 381 outlet, which from a sonic standpoint completely obliterated the 20A industrial Leviton outlet that was previously in place.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
no - never use glass fuses they sound terrible.
Ceramic is the only way to go, but I have a feeling Glen that you don't subscribe to any of this nonsense. Well neither did I, until I heard it for myself. I'll never go back.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
This thread just keeps on getting better & better. Wow; 6 to 10 times the work that I had to do for my single dedicated line; is it really 6 to 10 times quieter? Could certainly be, but I really don't think I want to get that involved in this scenario. Have at it; whatever floats your boat is fine with me too.
Oz: I didn't mention above (I'm just not THAT into it) that some have found wire directionality to be a sonic issue, just as in audio cabling. That why I suggest aligning the printing on the insulation with all wires running the same way. I didn't try this myself, but some have temp'd in the wiring, listened for a day, then turned the whole thing around in the opposite direction & listened again. Hard to believe I know, but the results were that one direction sounded better than the other direction. By the time I had read about this, my own ded. line was already weeks old so I figured it was pretty much broken in & would only sound worse if turned around so I didn't bother with that test. Of course YMMV.
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