Cables designed with AR in mind

[ninohernes]

Hello all!

I have a new product to offer in addition to my normal recording services. I now hand assembling premium speaker cables. I offer a special cable specifically designed for AR speakers with 3 terminals, so that silly little jumper can be removed. I also offer standard speaker cables too. These are not your ordinary speaker cables. All of my cables use twisted pair 12 gauge conductors resulting in a 6 gauge cable! Bi-wire cables are also available. Visit www.srctape.com/cables for more details.

Since I am not really doing this for the money, I am doing it as a service to the community of AR users, I would be glad to tell you what I am using so you can make these cables.

I am using Gepco 4 conductor and 8 conductor pro audio speaker cable. This type of cable is normally used in live sound (I am a live sound engineer) and it dawned on me that it would make excellent home hifi speaker cable. I terminate it using Cardas silver solder, and gold plated spades and banana plugs.

[soundminded]

I find it impossible to understand what advantage these cables would offer over more conventional cables. Could you please explain not in subjective terms but in what electrical network parameters would be improved (ie how many ohms, millihenries, and microfarads would be reduced for a given length) and how this translates into improved speaker performance (ie reduced IM or THD of how many percent or flatter response by how many db, for which models, and at what frequencies.)

[ninohernes]

All I have done is created a semi bi wire cable for AR speakers with the jumper between terminal "2" and "T". Its just another positive lead.

Also these cables are thicker. I have a chart here of wire gauges showing their impedance per foot. We all know that the ideal speaker cable should have no resistance at all, but this is obviously impossible. However, by using heavier gauge wire we can try to get the number as low as possible. Use your power amplifier to drive your speakers, not your cables.

From the chart I mentioned above, 16 gauge wire is .00473 ohms per foot. For a 10 foot run of 16 gauge, it is .0473 ohms. Lets look at my cable. A 6 guage wire has an impedance of 0.000465 per foot. For a 10 foot run, that's .00292 ohms. A 10 foot run of 6 gauge is roughly half the impedance of a 1 foot run of 16 gauge wire!

[ninohernes]

I made a mistake above. The total impedance for a 10 foot run of 6 gauge wire is .00465 ohms, which is roughly equivilent to the impedance of a 1 foot run of 16 gauge wire.

Here is some more information.

If you look at ordinary "zip" cord, there are two conductors, individually isolated by a dielectric.

I take a four conductor cable, and twist the wires into two pairs. One pair for the positive, and one for the negitive. As you probably know, for low inductance we want to get the insulated conductors as close as possible, but this increaces capacitance. To decreace capacitance, we want the conductors as far apart as possible. I feel that I have found a good compromise. Since I have created independent twisted pairs for postive, and negitive, the positive and negitive wires NEVER TOUCH and are fairly far apart from each other in the main jacket, thus decreacing capacitance.

[soundminded]

So the impedence of ten feet of 16 gage wire is .04 ohms or roughly 1% of the impedence of an AR3/3a/LST/9 which would be reduced by 90% by your 6 gage wire. Of course if this is important, you could get a lot closer by just using inexpensive 12 gage low voltage exterior lighting wire. And for some strange reason, some people are buying heavy duty orange electrical extension cords at Home Depot saying that these also make excellent speaker wires. If you like bright orange in your house. ;>)