Speaker Wire - Does it effect the sound quality??

admin_exported

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Speaker wire is a passive electrical component described by three properties which determine its performance: resistance, capacitance, and inductance. A theoretically perfect wire has no resistance, capacitance, or inductance. The shorter a wire, the closer it comes to this, because resistance increases with the length of the conductor (except superconductors). The wire's resistance has the greatest effect on its performance.[1] The capacitance and inductance of the wire has less effect because they are insignificant relative to the capacitance and inductance of the loudspeaker. Larger conductors (smaller wire gauge) have less resistance but increased skin effect. As long as speaker wire resistance is kept to less than 5% of the speaker's impedance, the conductor will be adequate for home use.

Speaker wires are selected based on quality of construction, price, aesthetic purpose, and convenience. Stranded wire is more flexible than solid wire, and is suitable for movable equipment. For a wire that will be exposed rather than run within walls, under floor coverings, or behind moldings (such as in a home), appearance may be a subjective benefit, but it is irrelevant to electrical characteristics. Better purification of oxidizing materials such as copper is said to result in more consistent conductive properties throughout the length of the wire, but this is a non-issue in terms of its effect on sound quality. Better jacketing may be thicker or tougher, less chemically reactive with the conductor, less likely to tangle and easier to pull through a group of other wires, or may incorporate a number of shielding techniques for non-domestic uses.

Even with poor-quality wire, an audible degradation of sound may not exist. Many supposedly audible differences in speaker wire can be attributed to listener bias or the placebo effect. Listener bias is enhanced in no small part by the popular manufacturers' practice of making claims about their products either with no valid engineering or scientific basis, or of no real-world significance. Many manufacturers catering to audiophiles (as well as those supplying less expensive retail markets) also make unmeasurable, if poetic, claims about their wire sounding open, dynamic, or smooth. To justify these claims, many cite electrical properties such as skin effect, characteristic impedance of the cable, or resonance, which are generally little understood by consumers. None of these has any measurable effect at audio frequencies, though each matters at radio frequencies.[2]

[edit] ResistanceResistance is by far the most important specification of speaker wire. Low-resistance speaker wire allows more of the amplifier's power to energize the loudspeaker's voice coil. The shorter the cable and the greater the conductor's cross-sectional area, the lower its resistance. Depending on the hearing ability of the listener, this resistance begins to have an audible effect when the resistance exceeds 5% of the speaker's impedance.

A speaker wire’s impedance takes into account the wire’s resistance, the wire’s path, and the dielectric properties of local insulators. The latter two factors also determine the wire's frequency response. The lower the impedance of the speaker, the greater a significance the speaker wire's resistance will have.

[edit] Wire gaugeThicker wires reduce resistance. The resistance of 16-gauge or heavier speaker connection cable has no detectable effect in runs of 50 feet (15 meters) or less in standard domestic loudspeaker connections for a typical 8 ohm speaker.[3] As speaker resistance drops, lower gauge (heavier) wire is needed to prevent degradation to damping factor—a measure of the amplifier's control over the position of the voice coil.

Insulation thickness or type also has no audible effect as long as the insulation is of good quality and does not chemically react with the wire itself (poor-quality insulation has occasionally been found to accelerate oxidation of the copper conductor, increasing resistance over time). High-power in-car audio systems using 2-ohm speaker circuits require thicker wire than 4 to 8-ohm home audio applications.

Most consumer applications use two conductor wire. A common rule of thumb is that the resistance of the speaker wire should not exceed 5% of the rated impedance of the system. The table below shows recommended lengths based on this guideline:

Maximum wire lengths for two conductor copper wire[3] Wire size 2 Ω load 4 Ω load 6 Ω load 8 Ω load
22 AWG (0.326 mm2) 3 ft (0.9 m) 6 ft (1.8 m) 9 ft (2.7 m) 12 ft (3.6 m)
20 AWG (0.518 mm2) 5 ft (1.5 m) 10 ft (3 m) 15 ft (4.5 m) 20 ft (6 m)
18 AWG (0.823 mm2) 8 ft (2.4 m) 16 ft (4.9 m) 24 ft (7.3 m) 32 ft (9.7 m)
16 AWG (1.31 mm2) 12 ft (3.6 m) 24 ft (7.3 m) 36 ft (11 m) 48 ft (15 m)
14 AWG (2.08 mm2) 20 ft (6.1 m) 40 ft (12 m) 60 ft (18 m)* 80 ft (24 m)*
12 AWG (3.31 mm2) 30 ft (9.1 m) 60 ft (18 m)* 90 ft (27 m)* 120 ft (36 m)*
10 AWG (5.26 mm2) 50 ft (15 m) 100 ft (30 m)* 150 ft (46 m)* 200 ft (61 m)*

* While in theory heavier wire can have longer runs, recommended household audio lengths should not exceed 50 feet (15 m).[3]
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
And the point of the post is...? :roll:

Yes, I can tell differences in speaker cable and interconnects on my #1 hifi, its a pretty revealing setup. Not all differences are an improvement, but I can hear them.

I have more difficulty hearing differences on my #2 hifi, its more subtle since the system is less revealing. I can hear the differences between say the DNM interconnect and a freebie using the CD player or Touch, but really struggle with the Tuner or Cassette deck.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
ooo, I'm looking forward to where this thread is going...

Just a moment, let me pull up a chair...

;)
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I put this thread up as I see hundreds of different choices when it comes to speaker cables.

I see people spending silly amounts of money on such poducts. When I listen I can't help thinking that its in their minds not the in the OFC cabling, there was no noticble difference. If you are spending £100 - £200 on cables to connect your speakers you should be able to hear a noticble difference.

I hope this clears it up Dr Lodge.
 

PaulGreyhead

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Yes it does affect the sound quality. Some people may not be able to (or refuse to) hear a difference, but I certainly can.

I have two sets of speaker cables here that would clearly demonstrate the differences. Maybe suprisingly, the more expensive (silver conductors) sound worse than a cheaper pair (copper conductors)!

I also have interconnects that clearly let you hear the differences between them.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Tim MP said:
Speaker wire is a passive electrical component described by three properties which determine its performance: resistance, capacitance, and inductance. A theoretically perfect wire has no resistance, capacitance, or inductance. The shorter a wire, the closer it comes to this, because resistance increases with the length of the conductor (except superconductors). The wire's resistance has the greatest effect on its performance.[1] The capacitance and inductance of the wire has less effect because they are insignificant relative to the capacitance and inductance of the loudspeaker. Larger conductors (smaller wire gauge) have less resistance but increased skin effect. As long as speaker wire resistance is kept to less than 5% of the speaker's impedance, the conductor will be adequate for home use. Speaker wires are selected based on quality of construction, price, aesthetic purpose, and convenience. Stranded wire is more flexible than solid wire, and is suitable for movable equipment. For a wire that will be exposed rather than run within walls, under floor coverings, or behind moldings (such as in a home), appearance may be a subjective benefit, but it is irrelevant to electrical characteristics. Better purification of oxidizing materials such as copper is said to result in more consistent conductive properties throughout the length of the wire, but this is a non-issue in terms of its effect on sound quality. Better jacketing may be thicker or tougher, less chemically reactive with the conductor, less likely to tangle and easier to pull through a group of other wires, or may incorporate a number of shielding techniques for non-domestic uses. Even with poor-quality wire, an audible degradation of sound may not exist. Many supposedly audible differences in speaker wire can be attributed to listener bias or the placebo effect. Listener bias is enhanced in no small part by the popular manufacturers' practice of making claims about their products either with no valid engineering or scientific basis, or of no real-world significance. Many manufacturers catering to audiophiles (as well as those supplying less expensive retail markets) also make unmeasurable, if poetic, claims about their wire sounding open, dynamic, or smooth. To justify these claims, many cite electrical properties such as skin effect, characteristic impedance of the cable, or resonance, which are generally little understood by consumers. None of these has any measurable effect at audio frequencies, though each matters at radio frequencies.[2] [edit] ResistanceResistance is by far the most important specification of speaker wire. Low-resistance speaker wire allows more of the amplifier's power to energize the loudspeaker's voice coil. The shorter the cable and the greater the conductor's cross-sectional area, the lower its resistance. Depending on the hearing ability of the listener, this resistance begins to have an audible effect when the resistance exceeds 5% of the speaker's impedance. A speaker wire’s impedance takes into account the wire’s resistance, the wire’s path, and the dielectric properties of local insulators. The latter two factors also determine the wire's frequency response. The lower the impedance of the speaker, the greater a significance the speaker wire's resistance will have. [edit] Wire gaugeThicker wires reduce resistance. The resistance of 16-gauge or heavier speaker connection cable has no detectable effect in runs of 50 feet (15 meters) or less in standard domestic loudspeaker connections for a typical 8 ohm speaker.[3] As speaker resistance drops, lower gauge (heavier) wire is needed to prevent degradation to damping factor—a measure of the amplifier's control over the position of the voice coil. Insulation thickness or type also has no audible effect as long as the insulation is of good quality and does not chemically react with the wire itself (poor-quality insulation has occasionally been found to accelerate oxidation of the copper conductor, increasing resistance over time). High-power in-car audio systems using 2-ohm speaker circuits require thicker wire than 4 to 8-ohm home audio applications. Most consumer applications use two conductor wire. A common rule of thumb is that the resistance of the speaker wire should not exceed 5% of the rated impedance of the system. The table below shows recommended lengths based on this guideline: Maximum wire lengths for two conductor copper wire[3] Wire size 2 Ω load 4 Ω load 6 Ω load 8 Ω load 22 AWG (0.326 mm2) 3 ft (0.9 m) 6 ft (1.8 m) 9 ft (2.7 m) 12 ft (3.6 m) 20 AWG (0.518 mm2) 5 ft (1.5 m) 10 ft (3 m) 15 ft (4.5 m) 20 ft (6 m) 18 AWG (0.823 mm2) 8 ft (2.4 m) 16 ft (4.9 m) 24 ft (7.3 m) 32 ft (9.7 m) 16 AWG (1.31 mm2) 12 ft (3.6 m) 24 ft (7.3 m) 36 ft (11 m) 48 ft (15 m) 14 AWG (2.08 mm2) 20 ft (6.1 m) 40 ft (12 m) 60 ft (18 m)* 80 ft (24 m)* 12 AWG (3.31 mm2) 30 ft (9.1 m) 60 ft (18 m)* 90 ft (27 m)* 120 ft (36 m)* 10 AWG (5.26 mm2) 50 ft (15 m) 100 ft (30 m)* 150 ft (46 m)* 200 ft (61 m)* * While in theory heavier wire can have longer runs, recommended household audio lengths should not exceed 50 feet (15 m).[3]
yawn goodnight
rofl.gif
.
 

Crossie

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Yes it does affect sound quality. I have tried my system with and without speaker wire and it is much better when I use speaker wire.

Simples!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
The scientific answer to the OPs question has to be yes, since all wires will have different impedence characteristics so will change the signal in different ways. Whether you can hear the difference is another matter altogether.
 

Sliced Bread

Well-known member
Yes.

I don't think that there are many who believe that analogue cables do not make a difference. The debate tends to focus around digital cables.

The question really is, do you really have to spend a fortune. IMO, probably not, but it takes that bit more research and experimenting to find the right one for you.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Personally, I think it makes a difference. I didnt expect it to when I started my hifi journey, and only really found out AFTER I had actually bought the pre amp, power amp and so on.

But I heard differences with both interconnects and speaker cable. I ended up with some pretty expensive Cardas cable due to that!
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Gusboll said:
Crossie said:
Yes it does affect sound quality. I have tried my system with and without speaker wire and it is much better when I use speaker wire.

Simples!

What Hi-Fi post of the year contender!

Agreed...
 

paradiziac

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Tim MP said:
I see people spending silly amounts of money on such poducts. When I listen I can't help thinking that its in their minds not the in the OFC cabling, there was no noticble difference. If you are spending £100 - £200 on cables to connect your speakers you should be able to hear a noticble difference.

:wall:

Nice of you to be concerned that folks might be wasting their hard earned cash.

But what's wrong with folks happlily paying money for the pleasure of "deluding" themselves?

Maybe the companies peddling bits of wire at inflated prices with mumbo-jumbo are--gasp--evil capitalists making profits. But no-one is forced to buy. What if people like the satisfaction of owning a good looking piece of wire that cost a lot of money and helps to convince them their system sounds better?

If YOU can't hear a difference, great--you saved yourself some money to spend on components, or even--music!
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Well I am one person who does, apparently, spend silly amounts of money on cables. My speaker cable was £800, direct from Max himself. My Transparent Ultra MM interconnect RRP was around £2k, I got it for about half that I think off Ebay. I recently swapped it during a demo for the MM2 version (newer technology) and I could hear a subtle difference, may be just as much difference as changing the CD player or amp, perhaps spending a few thousand more on that. I'm certainly into the laws of dimishing returns.

As paradiziac says, if you don't believe you can hear a difference, save your mopney. For those of us that choose to spend "silly" amounts for whatever reason, that's our perogative :grin:

In the context of my system, spending 2 grand on an interconnect and speaker cable is roughly 10% of the RRP of the entire system. So not that silly then :?
 
T

the record spot

Guest
If someone wants to go ahead and spend the money, it's their money in the end. Whether or not I think they want their head examining is neither here nor there. I've made my choices with regard to speaker wires and interconnects and I'm happy with them, but there is a clear market out there that wants to buy premium products and they should have the choice of products to do so.

I've no doubt a similar logic applies to other high end products - watches being a good example. I'm sure Longines, Tag Heuer and the rest all tell the time brilliantly, but so does a Sekonda...
 

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