Best speaker cable specs

[Ingenieur]

Like I said, this is a simple matter. No idea why you want to make it arcane.

DCR, as long as you’re not doing something stupid like some of those fancy cables in your charts. I don’t worry much about the characteristic impedance of component leads, either.

Use simple words, it's a simple matter.
'Arcane' lol

L is the controlling parameter

 

[Ingenieur]

Here are the specs to the best speaker cable. It is right in the name. World's Best speaker cable.

Amazon.com: 12 Foot - Coaxial Audiophile Speaker Cable Pair Custom Made by WORLDS BEST CABLES – Using Mogami 3082 Wire & Eminence Gold Plated Banana Plugs (2 Plugs on Each end) : Musical Instruments

Amazon.com: 12 Foot - Coaxial Audiophile Speaker Cable Pair Custom Made by WORLDS BEST CABLES – Using Mogami 3082 Wire & Eminence Gold Plated Banana Plugs (2 Plugs on Each end) : Musical Instruments

www.amazon.com

I'd say you can close the thread now.


View attachment 198627

That has a relatively high R, but low L
That would be a good choice

All cables need to have length considered.

 

[Gregm]

That has a relatively high R,

0.009 Ohm /m ?

All cables need to have length considered.

Agreed, but how many of us need more than 3-4 metres, i.e. a small multiple of the per metre measurements?

 

[Ingenieur]

0.009 Ohm /m ?

Agreed, but how many of us need more than 3-4 metres, i.e. a small multiple of the per metre measurements?

Relatively
2.8 Ohm/1000'
Not bad, a bit less than 14 AWG
A 15' run ~ 0.084 Ohm
10 W, 8 Ohm, 9 V, 1.1 A
Vdrop ~ 1%, pretty good actually

I needed 14 meters
In my case, 3%, but moot since constant with frequency

That is why the L is critical
My case 0.32 Ohm, Vdrop 4%

3 meters only 1%

 

[Gregm]

14m, eh! Gotcha

 

[Audiofire]

So which speaker cables are the best with regards to Resistance/Capacitance/Inductance/Other ?

Use a trustworthy brand, for example Cordial for those who live in continental Europe. Use pure copper wire for speakers, silver plating is not suitable for audio. Keep the conductors for each channel close together in order to get low inductance. This is what zip cord and power cables do, and they have been the de facto "speaker cable specs" so to speak for decades. The specs to worry about are 14 AWG to 10 AWG for speaker wire.

You can measure the diameter of the conductor in a speaker wire. You can then calculate the cross-sectional area from there. This number is the gauge that determines the other parameters. That is if you don't have a meter for making accurate measurements. Low resistance is most important, then low inductance, then low capacitance in that order of importance.

The information about how AWG corresponds to loudspeaker impedance as well as the resistance of cross-sectional areas is online.

 

[Spkrdctr]

266 posts and you guys have not decided which cable risers to use to maximize your cable specs! Bunch of newbies...... The risers should have been decided on first. I personally recommend using top shelf, nothing is better, good expensive Balsa wood. Just don't accidently step on the Balsa wood, it would not survive! I hope my advice helps in this deep discussion of cable specs. I have enjoyed reading the back and forth. Like an engineer cat fight! I say "well done" to all participants.

 

[jensgk]

266 posts and you guys have not decided which cable risers to use to maximize your cable specs! Bunch of newbies...... The risers should have been decided on first. I personally recommend using top shelf, nothing is better, good expensive Balsa wood. Just don't accidently step on the Balsa wood, it would not survive! I hope my advice helps in this deep discussion of cable specs. I have enjoyed reading the back and forth. Like an engineer cat fight! I say "well done" to all participants.

There is no reason to brag about not having read what this thread is about.

 

[Spkrdctr]

There is no reason to brag about not having read what this thread is about.

Well, you missed my humor. Oh well, it happens. On a serious note I was saying I did enjoy the back and forth discussion. The rest of it was just me being goofy (as usual).

 

[Audiofire]

There is no reason to brag about not having read what this thread is about.

People could give measurements of different speaker cables, but good brands should be close enough to the specifications they give. All you need to know is the cross-sectional area they give.

That is what this thread is about and no one seems to be worried beyond that except you, so go ahead and buy measurement instruments as well as a bunch of speaker cables and share the results if you are that worried.

 

[Angsty]

That has a relatively high R, but low L
That would be a good choice

All cables need to have length considered.

What exactly is the point of “coaxial” speaker cables?

 

[Angsty]

Belden 5T00UP - everything you need, nothing that you don’t.

You can save some money on shorter runs with 12 gauge cable instead. You can spend more money on BJC Ten White for a white jacket instead of a grey one.

https://catalog.belden.com/techdata/EN/5T00UP_techdata.pdf

 

[jensgk]

That is what this thread is about and no one seems to be worried beyond that except you, so go ahead and buy measurement instruments as well as a bunch of speaker cables and share the results if you are that worried.

I am not worried at all, don't know where you get that idea from? You didn't read the first post either?

 

[Audiofire]

I am not worried at all, don't know where you get that idea from? You didn't read the first post either?

I read the first couple of pages before replying, didn't read all the pages due to how there is not really anything to discuss about the thread topic.

If you want the audio components with the best specs, then you would probably also like the best speaker cables....

This is what you are worried about in the first post.

Audio components use electronics. That is nearly impossible to do without any compromise, but speaker wire is just a physical material with a certain gauge.

IEC 60228 basically tells you all that is required from the specs of a normal speaker cable.

 

[jensgk]

This is what you are worried about.

I am not worried, just curious. I don't use speaker cables, since I only have active speakers.

Audio components use electronics. That is nearly impossible to do without any compromise, but speaker wire is just a physical material with a certain gauge.

What a fantastic insight you share with us here. Thanks!!

The intention of this thread was originally:

1) Different speaker cables will have different electrical properties that can be measured, not necessarily with audio measurement instruments, but certainly with expensive physics/material science equipment.

2) Some of these properties will affect the transmission of electrical signals within the audio spectrum.

3) Very very few, if any, of these effects will be hearable, but that does not exclude me from being curious about, which cables affect the audio spectrum the least. Hearable or not.

4) Just like Amir is testing lots of equipment, that measures better than what is hearable. And the industry keeps making products that measure better than strictly necessary, because the improvements are not hearable.

5) If you don think that could be interesting, just find other things to do.

I am well aware that it was not well received here, but do not try to tell me what my original intentions with this thread were.

 

[Audiofire]

I am not worried, just curious. I don't use speaker cables, since I only have active speakers.

To worry is to think about a problem, your problem seems to be that there are not enough measurements of speaker cables. The resistance is the only relevant measurement for normal speaker cable, and this is already determined by the cross-sectional area given by trustworthy brands.

What a fantastic insight you share with us here. Thanks!!

The intention of this thread was originally:

1) Different speaker cables will have different electrical properties that can be measured, not necessarily with audio measurement instruments, but certainly with expensive physics/material science equipment.

2) Some of these properties will affect the transmission of electrical signals within the audio spectrum.

3) Very very few, if any, of these effects will be hearable, but that does not exclude me from being curious about, which cables affect the audio spectrum the least. Hearable or not.

4) Just like Amir is testing lots of equipment, that measures better than what is hearable. And the industry keeps making products that measure better than strictly necessary, because the improvements are not hearable.

5) If you don think that could be interesting, just find other things to do.

I am well aware that it was not well received here, but do not try to tell me what my original intentions with this thread were.

Actually a fantastic insight, because none of the normally designed speaker cables affect the audio spectrum. Speaker cables are also audio components, but they don't add distortion. Inductance and capacitance can be measured with LCR meters. Some brands give the inductance and capacitance of speaker cables, yet those parameters don't matter for a normal design.

There is not really more to discuss on the thread topic. The very first reply you got was all there is to discuss about this. That is the reason why your subsequent replies were not well received, notice that people often start joking or talk about other things when wrong or irrelevant science is introduced on this forum.

Resistance is king - go low. Two wire 12 AWG will be fine for many, many applications.

Try this article out for size. I doubt there is much he does not cover.

Speaker Wire

“If the speaker wire companies had not introduced wire having high capacitance, either out of ignorance or by intention, then there would have been no controversy like this and ordinary low resistance wire, which incidentally has very low capacitance, would have remained king from the beginning.”