Math + Logic + Science = something completely mad...


So, I've done a metric fuckton of research, notwithstanding the clear bias the man who designed and built my Belles has against esoteric cabling.  And here's the conclusion to which I arrived. 

My monoblocks are sitting on top of the speakers.  The distance from the amp to the speaker is barely a foot, which is exactly how long a run of wire I intend to use.  Goal is to minimize the effect the wire has on the sound.  

According to the calculations I've seen and done, the skin effect depth on copper wire at 20Khz is 461 micrometers.  Meaning a 19-gauge copper wire (911 mics diameter) would reduce skin effect to zero.  As in no impact whatsoever on the signal. 
 
Of course, it's actually very difficult to find 19-gauge wire.  18-gauge (1024 mics) is much easier, and the skin effect is near zero, but not quite zero.  Seems to be an acceptable compromise. Could go down to 20-gauge and eliminate skin effect entirely.  If I could find insulated aluminum wire, 18-gauge would eliminate skin effect entirely, because skin effect depth on aluminum at 20khz is 580 mics.  

12 inches of 18-gauge wire produces 0.006 ohms of additional resistance.  20-gauge = 0.01 ohms.  

Frankly, I don't see the value in spending big bucks on esoteric, heavy-gauge wire for this application.  I'd rather make the bigger investment in the 2m runs from the preamp to the blocks, because that's where the wire's going to have a hell of a lot more of an effect on the sound.  

Stepping back to allow you all the opportunity to punch holes in my thought process here. 
jerkface
@dietch2 - well I’ve just spent the better part of the last 4 years ACTUALLY TRYING all of the things I have mentioned and in that time I have found that EVERY one of the things I mentioned does actually make for a vastly superior cable - regardless of length.

How did I measure all of this - with my ears.

I have tried cables from 12 ft long to 1 ft long and YES the incorporation of the adaptions I suggested made a noticeable improvements, not only in high end gear but budget systems also

MY PROCESS: I would change just one thing each time and make note of my observations.

So I’m not disputing what you say - you seem very educated
- I’m just stating what I have observed to make a noticeable difference

Regards - Steve
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Its transmission line effects, which don't matter in audio. It is skin effects, which are easily accounted for. It is triboelectric effect which is virtually never an issue in audio. It is E Its transmission line effects, which don't matter in audio. It is skin effects, which are easily accounted for. It is triboelectric effect which is virtually never an issue in audio. It is EMI, not an issue with 12" speaker cables.   MI, not an issue with 12" speaker cables.
 
I had this sneaking suspicion he was trying to mitigate skin effect when he started talking about dielectric.  But I was also trying to be jovial and open-minded when he described all the effort he went through to build these cables. 

@williewonka Literally, at the outset of the discussion, I showed the math regarding 18 and 20-gauge normal speaker cable and the skin effect at 20Khz.  Yet somehow you blew past that.  I don't get why. 
Literally, @williewonka , there's a calculator for skin effect depth out there.  

https://chemandy.com/calculators/skin-effect-calculator.htm

Skin effect at 20Khz on standard copper wire is 461 micrometers.  Which means a standard copper wire with a diameter of 922 micrometers, just short of 1 millimeter, will show zero skin effect.  Nada.  Zilch.  No dielectric needed.  

And then I showed the math on the net resistance of 18-gauge copper on a 12-inch run, which is 0.006 ohms.  

But frankly, I don't see how skin effect on a 1 or 2-foot run of wire is going to make any difference at all in the output signal.  We are talking about a signal velocity approaching the speed of light.  There isn't time in two feet of wire for the difference between HF and LF information to become out of phase at that velocity, even if the wire was 2-gauge battery cable, because comb filtering from phase cancellation doesn't even start happening until you get above the 20ms range.  But I did the math on skin effect for precisely that reason - so that anyone who believed in skin effect could see that, indeed, there would be zero skin effect with minimal additional resistance on the length of wire involved in this deployment if I took the path of small-gauge wire. 

At some point here in the near future, I plan to have a conversation about interconnects, which will be much more in earnest, since the distance increases to 2 meters, and the current, as a line level signal, is FAR lower, which I believe makes it more susceptible to the various and sundry electrical effects we're discussing here.  I'm open to being convinced of otherwise, however.  But I'm a lot more open to a wider variety of solutions to that particular conundrum, and more willing to spend on solutions that make sense.  Operative being "make sense", as in show me the math, show me the science, show me where we are on the perpetually diminishing returns scale, so I can make an intelligent decision about whether it's worth it.  

Pro tip:  You'll be hard-pressed to convince me that it's worth it in the 4-figure range. 
Totally looney to put big amps on speakers.
For all the valid and good reasons stated above.

If space is at such a premium, why not hang the amps on wires from the ceiling so they sit in the air just 1cm above the top of the speaker.


But @jerkface does make one interesting point: " We are talking about a signal velocity approaching the speed of light."

This must be correct.  So how come whatever wire you use can make a big difference to SQ.  Especially for @jerkface who employs extremely short runs.