What makes differences in cables made in same materials? SVS and Audio Envy
Hi
I am fairly new to audio world and looking for a copper speaker cables. Why I am looking for the ones made in copper? My speaker manufacturer recommended it over silver ones as it can be harsh on the high notes with the drivers they used. Anyhow. I already have a highly pure copper cables from SVS ($50) which I bought along with a now-returned SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers. I also found out that Audio Envy makes really awesome copper cables ($300) as highly recommended in many audio forums. But, what I don’t get is, what can possibly be different between the two? sound-wise? and also in terms of how those cables are made? To me, they seem to be the same copper cables both advertised to be made of highly pure copper and both comes in gold plated banana tips. Would you recommend any other copper speaker cables including diy? Any opinions would be much appreciated.
K
I am fairly new to audio world and looking for a copper speaker cables. Why I am looking for the ones made in copper? My speaker manufacturer recommended it over silver ones as it can be harsh on the high notes with the drivers they used. Anyhow. I already have a highly pure copper cables from SVS ($50) which I bought along with a now-returned SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers. I also found out that Audio Envy makes really awesome copper cables ($300) as highly recommended in many audio forums. But, what I don’t get is, what can possibly be different between the two? sound-wise? and also in terms of how those cables are made? To me, they seem to be the same copper cables both advertised to be made of highly pure copper and both comes in gold plated banana tips. Would you recommend any other copper speaker cables including diy? Any opinions would be much appreciated.
K
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For anyone interested in reading an old Audio Critic article regarding the effects of cable electrical properties on the speakers frequency response, here is a link. I certainly did not agree with Aczel’s view on many items, but I think this article is informative in the context we’re talking about here. BTW - when Aczel made his infamous statement about wire coat hangers sounding the same as the best cables, if you read it within the framework of the article, he meant that a coat hanger with the same RLC as a cable would sound the same. In his world, RLC was the ONLY thing that mattered as far as sound goes. Anyway - https://www.biline.ca/audio_critic/mags/The_Audio_Critic_16_r.pdf |
All cables have 3 electrical characteristics - Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance. When put into a circuit with an amplifier and a speaker, differences in these values may have very large effects on the frequency response of the speaker. Just an example - a cable with high inductance may result in rolled off high frequencies. Obviously, there is much more that goes into cable design, but I'm just mentioning this because I don't think anyone did yet. So the electrical properties may make 2 sets of copper wires sound very different. |
lalitk Thank you! Much needed info! |
HI Talkskiwon- there are a LOT of factors that go into a cable other than just that it is copper. How many strands and what size are they, what is the gauge, what is the purity of the copper, what is the dielectric, what is the geometry of the wind, are they shielded, how is the termination performed? ALL of these factors will make a difference in how the cables perform in a given system. Since you already have the SVS cables, use them at least initially and go from there |