What annoys me today in marketing and media that too often today then talking on hi-fi, science is replaced by bizarre belief structures and marketing fluff, leading to a decades-long stagnation of the audiophile domain. Science makes progress, pseudo-science doesn’t. Hi-fi world is filled by pseudoscience, dogma and fruitloopery to the extent that it resembles a fundamentalist religion. Loudspeaker performance hasn’t tangibly improved in forty years and vast sums are spent addressing the wrong problems.
Business for Engineers: Marketers Lie article points tout that marketing tells lies — falsehoods — things that serve to convey a false impression. Marketing’s purpose is to determining how the product will be branded, positioned, and sold. It seems that there too many snake oil rubbish products marketed in the name of hifi. It is irritating to watch the stupid people in the world be fooled.
In EEVblog #29 – Audiophile Audiophoolery video David L. Jones (from EEVBlog) cuts loose on the Golden Ear Audiophiles and all their Audiophoolery snake oil rubbish. The information presented in Dave’s unique non-scripted overly enthusiastic style! He’s an enthusiastic chap, but couldn’t agree more with many of the opinions he expressed: Directional cables, thousand dollar IEC power cables, and all that rubbish. Monster Cable gets mostered. Note what he says right at the end: “If you pay ridiculous money for these cable you will hear a difference, but don’t expect your friends to”. If you want to believe, you will.
My points on hifi-nonsense:
One of the tenets of audiophile systems is that they are assembled from components, allegedly so that the user can “choose” the best combination. This is pretty largely a myth. The main advantage of component systems is that the dealer can sell ridiculously expensive cables, hand-knitted by Peruvian virgins and soaked in snake oil, to connect it all up. Say goodbye to the noughties: Yesterday’s hi-fi biz is BUSTED, bro article asks are the days of floorstanders and separates numbered? If traditional two-channel audio does have a future, then it could be as the preserve of high resolution audio. Sony has taken the industry lead in High-Res Audio.
HIFI Cable Humbug and Snake oil etc. blog posting rightly points out that there is too much emphasis placed on spending huge sums of money on HIFI cables. Most of what is written about this subject is complete tripe. HIFI magazines promote myths about the benefits of all sorts of equipment. I am as amazed as the writer that that so called audiophiles and HIFI journalists can be fooled into thinking that very expensive speaker cables etc. improve performance. I generally agree – most of this expensive interconnect cable stuff is just plain overpriced.
I can agree that in analogue interconnect cables there are few cases where better cables can really result in cleaner sound, but usually getting any noticeable difference needs that the one you compare with was very bad yo start with (clearly too thin speaker wires with resistance, interconnect that picks interference etc..) or the equipment in the systems are so that they are overly-sensitive to cable characteristics (generally bad equipment designs can make for example cable capacitance affect 100 times or more than it should). Definitely too much snake oil. Good solid engineering is all that is required (like keep LCR low, Teflon or other good insulation, shielding if required, proper gauge for application and the distance traveled). Geometry is a factor but not in the same sense these yahoos preach and deceive.
In digital interconnect cables story is different than on those analogue interconnect cables. Generally in digital interconnect cables the communication either works, does not work or sometimes work unreliably. The digital cable either gets the bits to the other end or not, it does not magically alter the sound that goes through the cable. You need to have active electronics like digital signal processor to change the tone of the audio signal traveling on the digital cable, cable will just not do that.
But this digital interconnect cables characteristics has not stopped hifi marketers to make very expensive cable products that are marketed with unbelievable claims. Ethernet has come to audio world, so there are hifi Ethernet cables. How about 500 dollar Ethernet cable? That’s ridiculous. And it’s only 1.5 meters. Then how about $10,000 audiophile ethernet cable? Bias your dielectrics with the Dielectric-Bias ethernet cable from AudioQuest: “When insulation is unbiased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, a big problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio.” I see this as complete marketing crap speak. It seems that they’re made for gullible idiots. No professional would EVER waste money on those cables. Audioquest even produces iPhone sync cables in similar price ranges.
HIFI Cable insulators/supports (expensive blocks that keep cables few centimeters off the floor) are a product category I don’t get. They typically claim to offer incredible performance as well as appealing appearance. Conventional cable isolation theory holds that optimal cable performance can be achieved by elevating cables from the floor in an attempt to control vibrations and manage static fields. Typical cable elevators are made from electrically insulating materials such as wood, glass, plastic or ceramics. Most of these products claim superior performance based upon the materials or methods of elevation. I don’t get those claims.
Along with green magic markers on CDs and audio bricks is another item called the wire conditioner. The claim is that unused wires do not sound the same as wires that have been used for a period of time. I don’t get this product category. And I don’t believe claims in the line like “Natural Quartz crystals along with proprietary materials cause a molecular restructuring of the media, which reduces stress, and significantly improves its mechanical, acoustic, electric, and optical characteristics.” All sounds like just pure marketing with no real benefits.
CD no evil, hear no evil. But the key thing about the CD was that it represented an obvious leap from earlier recording media that simply weren’t good enough for delivery of post-produced material to the consumer to one that was. Once you have made that leap, there is no requirement to go further. The 16 bits of CD were effectively extended to 18 bits by the development of noise shaping, which allows over 100dB signal to noise ratio. That falls a bit short of the 140dB maximum range of human hearing, but that has never been a real goal. If you improve the digital media, the sound quality limiting problem became the transducers; the headphones and the speakers.
We need to talk about SPEAKERS: Soz, ‘audiophiles’, only IT will break the sound barrier article says that today’s loudspeakers are nowhere near as good as they could be, due in no small measure to the presence of “traditional” audiophile products. that today’s loudspeakers are nowhere near as good as they could be, due in no small measure to the presence of “traditional” audiophile products. I can agree with this. Loudspeaker performance hasn’t tangibly improved in forty years and vast sums are spent addressing the wrong problems.
We need to talk about SPEAKERS: Soz, ‘audiophiles’, only IT will break the sound barrier article makes good points on design, DSPs and the debunking of traditional hi-fi. Science makes progress, pseudo-science doesn’t. Legacy loudspeakers are omni-directional at low frequencies, but as frequency rises, the radiation becomes more directional until at the highest frequencies the sound only emerges directly forwards. Thus to enjoy the full frequency range, the listener has to sit in the so-called sweet spot. As a result legacy loudspeakers with sweet spots need extensive room treatment to soak up the deficient off-axis sound. New tools that can change speaker system designs in the future are omni-directional speakers and DSP-based room correction. It’s a scenario ripe for “disruption”.
Computers have become an integrated part of many audio setups. Back in the day integrated audio solutions in PCs had trouble earning respect. Ode To Sound Blaster: Are Discrete Audio Cards Still Worth the Investment? posting tells that it’s been 25 years since the first Sound Blaster card was introduced (a pretty remarkable feat considering the diminished reliance on discrete audio in PCs) and many enthusiasts still consider a sound card an essential piece to the PC building puzzle. It seems that in general onboard sound is finally “Good Enough”, and has been “Good Enough” for a long time now. For most users it is hard to justify the high price of special sound card on PC anymore. There are still some PCs with bad sound hardware on motherboard and buttload of cheap USB adapters with very poor performance. However, what if you want the best sound possible, the lowest noise possible, and don’t really game or use the various audio enhancements? You just want a plain-vanilla sound card, but with the highest quality audio (products typically made for music makers). You can find some really good USB solutions that will blow on-board audio out of the water for about $100 or so.
Although solid-state technology overwhelmingly dominates today’s world of electronics, vacuum tubes are holding out in two small but vibrant areas. Some people like the sound of tubes. The Cool Sound of Tubes article says that a commercially viable number of people find that they prefer the sound produced by tubed equipment in three areas: musical-instrument (MI) amplifiers (mainly guitar amps), some processing devices used in recording studios, and a small but growing percentage of high-fidelity equipment at the high end of the audiophile market. Keep those filaments lit, Design your own Vacuum Tube Audio Equipment article claims that vacuum tubes do sound better than transistors (before you hate in the comments check out this scholarly article on the topic). The difficulty is cost; tube gear is very expensive because it uses lots of copper, iron, often point-to-point wired by hand, and requires a heavy metal chassis to support all of these parts. With this high cost and relative simplicity of circuitry (compared to modern electronics) comes good justification for building your own gear. Maybe this is one of the last frontiers of do-it-yourself that is actually worth doing.
1,557 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thinking Outside the (Speaker) Box – Does stereo Ruin Sound?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDcf184730E
Lets take a look at visualizing what we do to sound when we mix and ponder some possible better ways.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/the-sound-of-speaker-cables-an-analysis/
https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0714/oxygen_free_copper_wire_hype.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 DUMB THINGS Audiophiles Believe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSqb8SOB3oI
5 Reasons Your HiFi SUCKS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEimLXYxIhs
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thinking Outside the (Speaker) Box – Does stereo Ruin Sound?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDcf184730E
00:00 Intro
00:12 Doing things wrong
00:47 We mix
01:21 Visualizing Sound
02:44 Unified Time Aligned Sound
04:03 Fundamental Concept Of Stereo
04:31 What if we don’t?
05:06 Recreating
06:27 What stereo can’t do
07:26 Sound Flowers
08:28 Re-radiating is not the same
09:11 The right way is wrong
11:07 Application and desired outcome
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pretty much all copper cable made in the last 25+ years for cables is such that it would match the OFC (oxygen free copper) definition or is pretty close to it. You just don’t find copper with lots of oxygen on cabled nowadays.
I see no point in spending large premiums for OFC branding compared to copper on normal zip cords.
There are also cable made of copper-clad aluminum (CCA). It has considerably higher resistance and is more fragile than copper cables. Could work if you used thicker cables, don’t move the wires much and can make somewhat less reliable connections. I have not done 1-1 testing if CCA would sound worse than copper or not.
I would stay away from CCA unless you can get huge cost savings with it that outweighs the disadvantages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In my subjective opinion, speaker cables do not possess an “absolute sound” of their own. What you are primarily hearing is the time domain interaction between amplifier, speaker cable, crossover networks, and the drivers.
in home hi-fi lengths, typical gauge speaker cable (e.g. zip cord) has zero audible interaction with those other elements. That’s also true of the amplifier, tube amps excepted. In other words, what you’re hearing is the amp (frequency response, distortion characteristics) and, separately, the speaker (crossover + drivers + geometry + cabinet), and separately again, the room. The cable doesn’t come into it. It’s completely irrelevant. Supposed audible differences in cable are imagined, and no blind ABX testing has ever shown otherwise
Tomi Engdahl says:
Every copper cable is OFC ( Oxigen Free Copper ), cause every copper cable ( not mixed with other stuff ), has 99,9, what ever, copper…
Google… production process of copper.
And you will see two things.
1. Even the cable in the wall, for your 110 / 230 V power is OFC.
2. It is a genius marketing strategy of the hifi vodoo guys, to make marketing with a normal factory process. To make this or that cable, very special
End
Tomi Engdahl says:
My vote is for low resistance (large diameter) copper. A good power amp can push a lot of clean power through a fat copper cable, and be used by a good speaker to create great sounding music. Put your money in those components instead. Some claim they hear a difference, but few have actually AB blind tested it, and in those real scientific tests, nobody claimed that one really sounded better, just that they heard a difference.
Smoke & mirrors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 12 gauge zip style speaker cable from Home Depot or Parts Express is all you need. Gene from Audioholics measured it and it’s as good as anything out there.
Just buy a spool of ofc and connectors. Cheap, effective, and you can tell audiophile fools you used it. Don’t go crazy on gauge either, 14 gauge is probably fine.
For extra points, buy some sleeving and heat shrink it on. You’ll have $100 looking cables for cheap at whatever length you want.
Oxygen free (or low oxygen) copper cable isn’t that expensive. The expense tends to come from the cables people make and sell by putting boutique connectors on either end and wrapping the cable in special braided sheaths so you can’t see that it’s good old copper cable inside! I remember oxygen-free copper being the favored material in the 1990s. Now it’s silver or silver-coated copper. Audio-heads like to talk about cables as they are something you can see and change easily and you’re very unlikely to damage anything by doing so. It’s inside your equipment that most of the difference is realized, but so few people are into messing about with what’s in the box. So the marketing money tends to favor cables as a “thing”.
If you have high powered amplifiers use as thick a cable you can, you have current enough to make a small welding from some amps. The cheap cables made of aluminum core and cobber layer , dont go there
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DIYAudio/permalink/5776596315739500/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.planetanalog.com/measurement-system-for-the-characterization-of-hi-fi-audio-cables/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linear and Nonlinear Loudspeaker Characterization
http://guillaume.perrin74.free.fr/ChalmersMT2012/Papers/LSP%20Non%20Linearity/(Non)LinearLoudspeakerCharact.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/cable-design-and-the-speed-of-sound-part-one/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/speaker-cables-dont-influence-harmonic-distortion.320870/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Resistor non-linearity – there’s more to ohm than meets the eye
https://convexoptimization.com/TOOLS/SimonVishay.pdf
A good craftsman uses his skills not only in the design of his project, the use of tools and specialized
knowledge but also has insight into the best parts for his goals.
In building audio circuitry, we may use computer modeling of the circuits under consideration, the
latest test gear to measure the actual performance, and other modern tools to build our gear. But
when we design a circuit we try to select the best components available for the task. The most com-
mon component is of course the resistor.
The basic test principle is that Ohms law is linear. One ohm plus one ohm equals 2 ohms. If there is
something causing distortion it will not be linear.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_system_measurements
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cables and the Amplifier/Speaker Interface
https://www.opusklassiek.nl/audiotechniek/cables.htm
This article is adapted from a paper which I wrote and presented to the Audio Engineering Society 10 years ago, and which was later published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (Vol. 28, No.5. May 1980). My original paper discussed the issue of cables used for connecting power amplifiers to loudspeakers. In the intervening years, an entire industry for the manufacture of special cables has grown up around this issue. I have therefore added comments to expand the notions presented in the original paper and to bring it more up to date. The paper has also been edited slightly to make it clearer to persons not entirely familiar with some of the electrical engineering terms used. The substance of the paper, however, is based on electromagnetic theory and no amount of advertising in the past 10 years has changed that base.
Loudspeakers seem to be connected to power amplifiers with greatly varying degrees of care. The professional generally selects wiring of appropriate size and type for the given application, while many others are quite casual about such matters. Recently, however, considerable attention has been drawn to the issue of loudspeaker cables by the appearance of numerous ‘special’ cables with properties that allegedly improve the quality of the sound delivered by the loudspeaker. While most of these claims are no more than pure fantasy, there is just enough edge of truth showing to make a hard look at loudspeaker cables seem appropriate.
In this article, loudspeaker cables are investigated to determine whether or not their transmission line behaviour is significant for audio frequencies. Conclusions are reached regarding the validity of lumped equivalent representations of short transmission lines. Certain critical frequencies are calculated and measured to estimate the effect that the cable will have on the amplifier and the loudspeaker load. The problems caused by the resistance of the crossover, level pads, and any fuses in the circuit are considered briefly.
The parameters which describe the cable electrically are series resistance, series inductance, shunt conductance, and shunt capacitance. These parameters can be determined by direct measurement and/or by calculation from elementary formulas. They depend entirely on the geometry of the cable and the nature of the conductors and the insulation used.
Conductors of copper, silver, or similar high-conductivity materials – regardless of the method of drawing the wire – behave similarly. The electrical properties of cables are not significantly affected, at audio frequencies, by the type of insulation used. The mechanical properties of the cable, however, may be more desirable with use of certain insulators and construction techniques.
Note that the larger the physical size of the wire, the smaller its gauge number, and that each change of three wire gauge sizes doubles or halves the wire’s cross-sectional area. The nature of the insulation, and whether or not the wire is ‘tinned’ have little effect on the electrical parameters of the cable at audio frequencies.
Cables as Transmission Lines
When considering cables as transmission lines, thoughts come to mind of characteristic impedance, termination, matching, reflections, and frequency dispersion. All of these are valid concepts, but they are not usually considered for very short transmission lines. And indeed, any reasonable length loudspeaker cable is a very short line. The wavelength of a 20 kHz signal is about 10 miles (16 km). Thus, a 10-meter cable is 1/1,500 of a wavelength. Any fluctuations in the signal caused by reflections at the ends of this cable will take place at a frequency of 30 MHz. Or, to look at it another way, 1,500 iterations toward the final voltage distribution in the cable will take place every cycle at 20 kHz. One must conclude that there are absolutely no audio frequency effects related to these reflections for cables of any reasonable length.
It is fortunate that reflections in loudspeaker cables are irrelevant, since they are never matched at either the amplifier or the loudspeaker ends. In practice, both the source and the load are quite complex and frequency dependent. Nevertheless, it is interesting to take a look at the characteristic impedance of a typical loudspeaker cable, which is also quite complex.
It would appear that reducing series inductance, as some special cables do, does not make much sense from a transmission-line viewpoint. When cables are considered as lumped element circuits, however, there are some good reasons to decrease all of the elements as much as possible; this will be discussed below. First, it is interesting to calculate the dispersion for some typical loudspeaker cables. Since all loudspeaker cables show some amount of loss and some dispersion, a vital question to be answered is: How much?
To determine the difference in the arrival times of the high frequencies compared to the low frequencies, we need to find the group velocity of the transmitted signal.
Dispersion characteristics for selected cables are shown in Table III for frequencies of 100 Hz and 10 kHz. From the Table, it is apparent that for a 10-meter cable, the delay differences are only a fraction of a microsecond – except for the braided construction, which is a little worse. In any case, the delay time, or frequency dispersion, is certainly not a problem for loudspeaker cables of any reasonable length.
Before going on to the lumped parameter treatment of short lines, we should make one additional general observation about transmission lines. A line will look much like a shunt capacitance when it is loaded with an impedance much higher than its characteristic impedance, and it will look like a series inductance when loaded by an impedance much lower than its characteristic impedance. Almost all loudspeaker cables are loaded according to the latter criterion. In general, playing numbers games with the high-frequency value of characteristic impedance for short cables at audio frequencies is largely useless.
Cables as Lumped Lines
It should be clear that treating loudspeaker cables as transmission lines, while interesting, is not of much direct design value. The loads are complex, the lines very short, and the frequencies too low to allow easy ideal treatment. Exact treatment is more complex than is warranted. In this section, loudspeaker cables will be treated as wire pairs that can be represented as lumped element equivalent circuits.
There are at least two major interactions to consider in the system shown in Fig. 1. One is the interaction of the amplifier with the total load, including the cable; the other is the interaction of the loudspeaker with the amplifier, including the cable. Since the system is so tightly coupled, some consideration to the nature of Zo and ZL must be given.
First consider the amplifier end of the high-fidelity system.
An ideal amplifier would be a voltage source with a Zo of zero. In fact, many high-quality amplifiers come very close to this ideal. At low and middle frequencies, the output resistance of an amplifier will typically be less than 0.05 ohm, with a rise to 0.2 ohm at the very highest frequencies. The output will usually be slightly inductive. Often a series inductance of 2 mH will be used to isolate the amplifier feedback loop from capacitive loads. This inductance is 0.25 ohm reactive at 20 kHz. A good amplifier should be stable for any load, including capacitive loads.
Since even the worst of the cables is only 0.2 μF for 10 meters, such a cable should not cause a good amplifier to become unstable or to ring. It would take 35 μF to resonate 2 μH at 20 kHz. Thus, amplifier/cable interaction problems in the audio band are not likely. However, it is known that some amplifiers will not tolerate even slightly capacitive loads. This is an amplifier design problem, not a cable problem, and should be dealt with at that level. It is easy to test amplifiers for load sensitivity problems, and those amps that are not satisfactory should be eliminated.
With a good amplifier in place, the remaining electrical problems are related to how the loudspeaker loads the cable and interacts with it.
While the values of the series resistance and inductance for the cable are easily measured, well known, and well behaved, such is not true of the load. The simplest equivalent circuit for a loudspeaker will be a series resistor/inductor combination. But real loudspeakers consist of crossover networks with inductors, capacitors, resistors, transformers, and voice-coils, all in some complex combination. Fortunately, it is not necessary to consider all possible combinations but only some limiting, worst cases. At low frequencies, most loudspeakers become mainly resistive, and some have a rather low value of resistance. Often the lowest value is below the rated impedance. Let us assume that this value never gets lower than one-half the rated impedance. If the loudspeaker becomes inductive at higher frequencies, as most cone-type drivers do, there should be no problems worse than the low-frequency problems.
It is possible, however, with capacitive tweeters, ribbons, or some more unusual tweeters to have low- impedance effects in the loudspeaker at the high frequencies. It will therefore be wise to investigate resistive, capacitive, and inductive loads at about one-half the rated impedance at the high-frequency end of the spectrum as well. The low-frequency end of the spectrum will be taken as 20 Hz and the high-frequency end as 20 kHz.
It appears that, as common sense would tell us, one should not try to drive a loudspeaker of very low impedance at great distances, or that one should use higher impedance loudspeakers if long cables are necessary. With most normal listening room situations, the cables will be short enough so that no audio frequency problems arise from the loudspeaker cables. It is interesting to note that changing to larger wire has little effect on the high-frequency resonance or fall-off frequencies. Those frequencies are controlled by the series inductance. Thus: there is some rationale for using cables that have low series inductance. Standard coaxial construction of the cable seems to give all of the advantages of low series inductance without the serious disadvantages of high shunt capacitance.
Since most loudspeakers have their lowest impedance at low frequencies, there are some advantages in using physically larger wire, with its lower series resistance.
A large number of cables with resistive, capacitive, and real loudspeaker loads were measured using sensitive, broad-band, difference amplifier techniques. Resistive loads were more difficult to drive than typical loudspeakers. Capacitive loads were slightly more difficult still. Electrical problems of any kind (that is, phase shift, attenuation, dispersion, etc.) with 10-meter cables driving normal loudspeakers were just barely measurable using these refined measurement techniques. Absolutely no audible problems could be heard.
Loudspeaker Considerations
When discussing wires used to connect amplifiers to loudspeakers, it would be wise to consider the residual effect of the wiring within the loudspeaker itself. At low frequencies, the worst offender is the series resistance of the low-pass crossover filter-in addition to the voice-coil resistance, of course. After all, 20 meters of Nr. 18 wire in an inductor introduces just as much resistance as 10 meters of Nr. 18 connecting cable from the amp to the speaker and back again. With essentially all loudspeakers that have internal crossovers and/or level-control pads, the internal resistance and inductance totally swamp out any possible small effects due to the connecting cable. These internal resistances of the crossovers and pads in a typical loudspeaker generally obviate the usefulness of the high damping factor of a typical amplifier. The only way to get the amplifier signal directly to the voice-coil is to use crossovers ahead of the amplifiers and multiple amplifiers. In very high-quality systems, elimination of the internal passive crossovers is a step that might be taken to obtain improvement of the sound.
Therefore, very good advice for improving a system and essentially eliminating cable concerns is to place the amplifiers at the loudspeaker and eliminate the crossovers by multi-amplifying the system with electronic crossovers.
Fusing the Output Circuit
All of the above problems have been concerned with linear circuit elements. Ideally, the fuses used in the output circuit would be linear resistors as well. However, since they have to get hot, and melt, to burn out, they are actually non-linear elements in the output circuit. If fuses are to be useful, they must blow out when the system is used at some specified power level over the maximum desired. Typically, a fuse will increase in resistance to about three or four times its cold value just short of burnout. At 60% of full load, it will increase to about twice its cold value. The calculations and measurements of this section still show some possible problems with distortion caused by these changes in the fuse during normal program reproduction.
Conclusion
It has been shown that loudspeaker cables need not be treated as transmission lines. It has also been shown that, in fact, transmission-line theory can give misleading results for very short lines, and that short lines should be treated as lumped lines. On the other hand, with poor choice of load and with longer cables, there may be some defects in phase or frequency response or some resonances introduced in the extreme upper audio frequency range.
It is clear that normal cables are suitable, and essentially perfect, compared to other defects in the transmission system – not the least of which is the loudspeaker crossover network and level-pad arrangement. The use of special cables, including normal coaxial cable, is not warranted except in a few extraordinary applications. And in those particular applications, short runs of cable would be a better solution.
I would recommend the following for consideration:
- Choose a cable that has reasonably low resistance-say, less than 5% of the lowest resistance of the loudspeaker at any frequency.
- Choose a twisted pair of wires to reduce or eliminate any possible crosstalk between wire pairs or from parallel power cords.
- Make connections on each end with proper spade lugs or screw terminals which can be firmly tightened.
- Additionally, it is a good idea with any cable – be it for loudspeakers or other interconnections – to look for a mechanically sound connector. Too many connectors are mechanically unreliable, with possibly one of the worst being the common RCA phono connector used on consumer equipment. Professional equipment uses XLR or BNC connectors, for good reason. Gold-plating is quite common today and certainly does no harm.
- Recognize that while the sonic effects of cables have not been scientifically verified, it does no harm to use good-quality, more or less normal, cables. These are commonly available at modest cost, and their application gives psychological, and perhaps psycho acoustical, satisfaction, which is of some value.
Nawoord van Ruud Janssen
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audio Interconnect and Speaker Cable Myths and Facts Revealed
https://www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/speaker-cable-and-audio-interconnects
The audio industry has its share of marketing nonsense, especially when dealing with the topic of speaker cables and audio interconnects. In this interview, Hugo Rivera (VP Marketing of Audioholics) asks Gene DellaSala (President of Audioholics.com) to discuss some of these common myths and to also give general advice when shopping for audio cables. We discuss everything from speaker cables to audio interconnects.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audio Interconnect and Speaker Cable Myths and Facts.
https://www.acousticfields.com/audio-interconnect-and-speaker-cable-myths-and-facts/
https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=e5450cdd4a74ce0dc3f066818&id=461352c4fa&e=6b315f6875
Tomi Engdahl says:
Myths and Snake OIL
https://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/technical-papers/myths-and-snake-oil
A number of audio cable manufacturers have sprung-up over the last few years that are intent on proliferating myths about the technical aspects of interconnects, power cords and speaker cables. Since the staff at Empirical Audio is technical-based, we would like to dispel some of these myths for our customers here.
Power noise and Power Cords
There are a lot of expensive high-tech power cords being sold in the marketplace these days. Many of these claim to improve the delivery of AC to components by: Shielding the conductors, providing very fine stranded conductors and other magical treatments. Also, some audio power outlets are made of exotic materials and have heavy-duty contacts.
The reality is that a power cord made from 12-14 gauge solid copper is pretty good. The problem with this is that this wire is not UL approved for cords and is very inflexible indeed. Most electrical Romex runs to the outlet in question are 20-40 feet in length. The power cord adds an additional 6 feet or so, so this is a small percentage of the entire run. It turns out that typical “rubber” stranded copper power cords have significantly higher inductance than the Romex in the wall, even at the same wire gauge, so these are not recommended. Empirically, stranded rubber cords have been demonstrated to limit transient high-power currents (dynamics) compared to solid copper conductors when supplying power to typical audio power amplifiers.
It is fairly easy to build a serviceable cable that will minimize power cord inductance. A simple 3-conductor twisted cable from 12 AWG solid THHN from Home Depot yields a very high quality power cord, although it is so stiff that it must be bent to the desired shape. It is actually superior to the Romex in the wall because the twisting and close proximity of the insulated conductors will reduce the inductance by magnetic coupling between the conductors.
Unfortunately, most components do not have power supplies with sufficient energy storage and fast enough response times so as to not benefit from low-inductance cords. If the power supply in a given component has enough energy storage built-in with a low-inductance path to provide current to the electronics, then an improved power cord will have little or no effect. It is therefore primarily under-designed and inferior power supplies in audio components that will benefit from improved power cords. From experience, however, we have found that virtually all power amps benefit from a low-inductance power cord.
Power Cord Shielding
Shielding a power cable is unadvisable. It will add significant capacitance to the cable with minimal positive benefit.
Empirical testing has shown that standard shielded 14 gauge stranded power cord sounds less dynamic than unshielded 14 gauge stranded cord when used with audio components that benefit from improved cords.
Unfortunately, some of the commercially available shielded cords appear to make some systems sound better, but are actually “tone controls” for taming badly matched or designed components. There is some benefit to shielding if you are trying to protect unshielded nearby unshielded interconnects from the fields generated by the cord itself.
Better Power Outlets
Superior power outlets are another matter. Outlets that come stock in a home are usually cheap ones with push-in wire connections and 15 amp contacts. These are relatively resistive contacts. It is advisable to upgrade these to the screw-on wire types with 20 amp contacts. Hospital-grade accomplishes this, albeit at higher cost. Other improvements include high-copper-content outlets with silver or gold plated contacts.
It is always advisable to run dedicated heavy-gauge (8-12AWG) copper runs to power amplifier outlets, particularly in new construction.
Litz-Wire
Litz-Wire is created when a larger gauge solid or stranded conductor is split into a number of smaller gauge conductors, each being insulated. This configuration improves skin-effect. Skin effect means that current density of the high frequencies is greater on the surface of the conductor than in the center. When a conductor is too large, the current density tends to be essentially uniform from DC to mid frequencies, but skin-effect occurs at high frequencies.
Skin-effect has been shown empirically to occur in both interconnects and speaker cables.
RF resonances and “pollution”
Some cable manufacturers would have you believe that RF can easily sneak into interconnects, speaker cables and power cords. Here is the reality:
Interconnect Shielding
Even in high-RF urban environments, shielding of interconnects is prudent, but not usually necessary. The shielding need only have coverage such that the shortest wavelength is attenuated by 50 dB or so. If the offending RF is television or radio, the size of the openings in the cable’s shield need only be about ¼” in diameter, which is a very sparse shield. If the offending RF is cell phones and other 800+ MHz RF, then holes in the 1/8″ range should be sufficient. Most common shields are much more dense than this, having a minimum of 90% coverage. Shields add capacitance to the interconnect, so they should be used only when absolutely necessary. A 90% coverage shield should be more than adequate for audio interconnects, unless you live next to a transmitter. Most folks can successfully use an unshielded cable, such as Kimber without any audible noise being picked-up.
Interconnect RF Resonances
RF resonances are possible on a shielded cable where the shield is not connected at one end. This has nothing to do with the shield coverage, but with the length of the “stub” antenna that is created by the un-terminated shield. If the length of the un-terminated shield is equal to ½ or ¼ wavelength of a nearby RF transmission, a small AC voltage may develop over the length of the shield. If the component driving the cable has a high enough output impedance, the shield voltage could be induced onto the conductors in the cable, which are a similar in length between the discontinuities of the RCA connectors at each end. To eliminate this possibility, a high-frequency capacitor can bridge the gap at the un-terminated end of the shield, behaving as a short at RF frequencies, but an open circuit at the highest audio frequencies.
Speaker Cable Shielding
Shielding of speaker cables is a waste of money and will probably compromise their performance. Speaker cables are driven by extremely low impedance drivers in the amplifier to a very low impedance speaker load. In this low-impedance environment, coupling of low-level high-frequency magnetic or electrical fields will be miniscule and insignificant. Shielding speaker cable can also cause an adverse performance impact by increasing the capacitance of the cable. Better not to do it.
Power Cord Shielding
Shielding of power cables serves no useful purpose. Shielding will add significant capacitance to the cable with minimal positive benefit.
Use of Ferrites to stop RF
Several companies offer clamp-on and slide-on Ferrites. Some audio manufacturers claim that their Ferrites stop RF currents from being “picked-up” by power cords and other audio analog and digital cables. Ferrites are routinely used on computer internal and external cables to block RF. What is really happening here is that these are blocking radiated emissions from the computer so that the computer will pass FCC and foreign emission standards (CISPR, CSA). Their purpose is NOT to prevent RF from being “picked-up” by the signal wires.
These Ferrites will “round-off” the signal edges, removing much of the high-frequency content. The energy that Ferrites absorb is turned into heat as they are lossy elements.
Ferrites on Interconnects
What happens when you put one of these devices on your interconnect? It adds inductance to the cable causing it to be a low-pass filter (passes only lower frequencies). The problem is: if it is a large ferrite, or the composition is not correct, it can roll-off the high audio frequencies. Bad idea. Better to get a shielded cable if RF is suspected to be a problem. Some very small Ferrite beads, however, can be useful in taming some unshielded cables, such as the Kimber PBJ, but the ferrite should be installed on one conductor, not clamped across both.
Ferrites on Speaker Cables
What happens when Ferrites are installed on speaker cables? This is a more interesting question. Ferrites, with the right composition and size can be helpful for optimizing a speaker/cable/amplifier combination. I would avoid using the large clamp-on Ferrites used for EMI (Electro-Magnetic-Interference), since these generally add too much inductance.
The reason that Ferrites can improve the performance of speaker cables lies in their ability to add inductance and loss to the cable.
Power Filtering and Conditioning
Much attention has been given recently to both power filters and power conditioners. In general, the power line voltage should be sufficiently filtered by the input transformer and filter capacitors in a well-designed audio component so that an AC filter will be of little benefit.
AC Power Filters
Power line filtering may protect a component from damage from a lightening strike (because it contains Thyristors), but in general, power filters will insert inductance in series with the power feed, which may limit transient current when the component needs it. Limiting transient current can become audible by limiting dynamics. This should be audible only with component’s with poorly designed power supplies. Unfortunately, many superior audio components have inferior power supplies. These components will likely suffer limited dynamics when a power-line filter is used with them.
Active Power Conditioners
Active power conditioners are another matter. These can clean-up even the low-frequency distortion in the power voltage waveform, making the power conversion in the component’s transformer more efficient. They may also change the phase of the current in an optimal way. Reviewers have noted that 80-90 Hz is an improvement over 60 Hz in most audio components.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cables – A myth?
https://www.stereophile.com/content/cables-myth-1
April 1, 2009 – 8:29pm
worf
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Cables – A myth?
As I was researching which cable to get for my new speakers, I came across this article, http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm quite interesting, have a read, it’s a bit long but worth the effort, especially if you’re bored at work, anyway, my conclusion – I’m sticking with the cables that came with my Swan Diva 6.2, here’s his conclusion -
We have been told by advertising that the exotic speaker wires offer fabulous advantages over ordinary lamp cord. It would seem reasonable that using this same wire for lamps would also enhance their performance. In the same vein as wire literature, you can have your lamp reproduce light with the full spectrum color fidelity of natural daylight, finally allowing you see light the way it should be seen and bring out the natural performance of your lamp. It could offer greater warmth, detail, brilliance, definition and speed by providing wider bandwidth and reduced skin effect. It can provide a distortion free illumination that reduces eye strain, resulting in clearer vision and optimal color perception. It can allow you to work for longer periods of time with less visual distraction or fatigue. Just imagine what it might do for your electric razor or microwave, etc.!
April 2, 2009 – 5:46pm
mrlowry
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Re: Cables – A myth?
Please forgive us worf but this and similar “evidence” has been presented a million times here.
One of the things that I don’t get about the strict objectivists is they deny anything that can’t be measured as if it can’t exist. Don’t they realize that the first step to scientific understanding is many times anecdotal observation which is then followed to a new scientific understanding? Just because we can’t measure something doesn’t mean it is non-existant, it just means we don’t yet have a method to quantify it. Newton didn’t discover gravity he only found a way to quantify and describe it. Gravity existed long before him.
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Re: Cables – A myth?
There is a lot of rubbish talked about cables and the differences between them. I do know that there are significant differences between speaker cables, these are clearly audible in decent quality system. I do think however that the reason for these differences is still in the black magic phase, i believe a $5 cable can sound as good as a $5000 cable i just dont know which version of each. Once you have settled on a system and are very familiar with its sound try some different speaker cables, i guarantee you will be amazed at the differences. Blind testing in a dealer with unfamiliar kit and surroundings will not prove anything.
If someone could ever quantify the electrical chartacteristics of cables and how they affect sound they would be a rich person, of course it might be like the guy who invents the 100 MPG car he disappears mysteriously one night while at a Exxon Mobil conference !!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Speaker Wire
A History
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
For many years, wires that were used to connect speaker systems were often zip or line cord. The longer the run was, the heavier the wire that was used. There were no special speaker wires–just plain old copper wire–solid or stranded. The emergence of high tech speaker wire has raised some fundamental questions about the benefits of these new and sometimes extremely expensive wires.
Resistance in the speaker circuit is the key factor that determines loudspeaker performance. The loudspeaker circuit includes the connecting wire between the amplifier terminals and the speaker terminals, the amplifier internal impedance and the impedance of the speaker system. There’s also contact resistance at the connecting terminals of the amplifier and speaker system. The contact resistance of clean connectors and the internal impedance of good quality amplifiers is normally small. The controlling factors that remain are the speaker system impedance and the speaker wire resistance.
The DC resistance of a typical 8-ohm speaker system is about 7 ohms. This resistance is due to the wire in the woofer voice coil. It may be a total shock to some people to know that a typical 8-ohm four layer woofer voice coil contains about 120 feet of number 28 solid copper wire. This wire is all in the circuit with the speaker system hookup wire. It’s also much longer than a normal run of hookup wire from the amplifier to the speaker. Even a mid range speaker can have about 30 feet of number 33 solid copper wire and a tweeter can have 20 feet of number 35 solid copper wire.
Suppose you have a system with adequately heavy speaker wire but the connections have gone bad over time. Simply removing and cleaning the wires and terminals and reconnecting them can make an audible difference. Incidentally, this is what can happen if the old wire is replaced with a new “miracle” speaker wire. By disturbing the terminals this can “accidentally” improve the contacts when the new wire with its clean surface is installed. A difference can be heard but not because of the new wire. The same change can be heard by simply cleaning the old wire/terminal contacts and reconnecting them.
Ah, you say gold plating takes care of all that. That isn’t always true, particularly if the wire is tinned with solder, which is at least 50% tin, and the connecting post is gold plated.
Here’s what J. J. Whitley, Research Associate at AMP Incorporated (a well-known connector manufacturer) has to say about mating tin-plated contacts with gold. “In most cases, lubricated tin contacts can be mated with gold-plated contacts. This combination works as long as the conditions of contact force and stability for tin contacts are met.”
“There is one major exception–where the service conditions involve wet or humid environments. Under these conditions, the gold-tin bimetallic junction is subject to galvanic corrosion. Generous application of protective lubrication is one way to alleviate this problem.”
It would seem logical that instead of connecting the output wires inside the power amplifier to the output terminals, the wires should be wrapped and soldered directly to the speaker wires. Then, in turn, the other end of the speaker wires should be wrapped and soldered directly to the speakers, or crossover network. This is not practical, of course, unless the amplifier and speaker are integrated in the same cabinet.
Cable Resistance Too High?
What happens when the resistance gets too high? First, there is power lost in the wire and the speaker will not play as loud. More important, as the resistance in series with the speaker increases, it makes the amplifier look more like a current source. This means the speaker frequency response will tend to follow the rise and fall of its impedance curve. The greater the impedance variation, the more noticeable the response changes will be. If the speaker has constant impedance versus frequency, the only change will be reduced output.
Amplifier Stability and Amplifier Performance
Several speaker wire manufacturers make wire that has high capacitance yet almost none of them publish exactly what the capacitance actually is. Capacitance is of concern not so much that it could cause a possible high frequency rolloff but that it can affect the amplifier feedback and cause the leading edge of transients to overshoot. This in turn can make an audible difference in the system sound. It can make the sound brighter, which some audiophiles mistake as greater detail.
Conclusions
The degree of influence when using high capacitance wire depends on three factors.
1. The total capacitance of the wire used (capacitance per foot times the number of feet).
2. The complex impedance of the speaker being used.
3. The stability of the amplifier being used to drive the speaker.
When there is an audible difference in speaker wire due to wire capacitance, it can be interpreted as an improvement when one wire appears to have more clarity but is actually altering the sound and departing from accuracy. Perhaps this change in sound then paves the way to sell more wire. Further, perhaps the wire companies already know this and what will sell. 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.
Twelve gauge Romex has a capacity of only 15pf/foot. Fifty feet has a total capacitance of only 750 pf, which is the same as 000750 microfarads (mfd).
Twelve gauge line cord has a capacitance of only 18 pf/foot and 50 feet has a total capacitance of only 900 pf, which is the same as .000900 microfarads (mfd).
Although some expensive wires can have low resistance, several have a high capacitance of 100 to 300 picofarads (pf) per foot. These can introduce a significant amount of capacitive load, particularly for longer lengths. For a 50 foot length, this adds up to 5000 to 15,000 pf, which is the same as .005 to .015 microfarads (mfd).
Unfortunately, in addition to sounding different with a small amount of overshoot, a few unstable or borderline amplifiers can even go into oscillation. Low power oscillation, even if ultrasonic, will further affect the listening performance of a system and could lead to an apparent mysterious burnout of a tweeter. Oscillation at full power could cause an amplifier and/or speaker system to burn out.
However, there is another side to the story and not all amplifiers show instability or overshoot when burdened with high capacitance wire.
Cable resistance too Low
What if you use wire heavier than the minimum size recommended in the table? There is no audible improvement but there can be a considerable increase in cost. On the other hand, it would be a conservative choice, particularly for in-the-wall installation where you might someday be using lower impedance speakers and would need to replace the existing wire with heavier wire.
What about “oxygen free” wire?
Oxygen-free copper (OFC) or Oxygen-free high thermal conductivity (OFHC) copper generally refer to a group of wrought high conductivity copper alloys that have been electrolytically refined to reduce the level of oxygen to .001% or below. Perhaps, it should be more accurately called oxygen reduced copper.
C11000 is the most common copper. It is universal for electrical applications. Electrolytic-Tough-Pitch (ETP) has a minimum conductivity rating of 100% IACS and is required to be 99.9% pure. It has 0.02% to 0.04% oxygen content (typical). Most C11000 sold today will meet or exceed the 101% IACS specification. For the purposes of purity percentage, silver (Ag) content is counted as copper (Cu).
C 10200 is known as Oxygen-Free (OF). Its conductivity rating is no better than the more common C11000 grade mentioned above. However, it has a 0.001% oxygen content, 99.95% purity and minimum 100% IACS conductivity. For the purposes of purity percentage, silver (Ag) content is counted as copper (Cu).
C10100 is known as Oxygen-Free Electronic (OFE). This is a 99.99% pure copper with 0.0005% oxygen content. It achieves a minimum 101% IACS conductivity rating. Silver (Ag) here is considered an impurity in the OFE chemical specification. This copper is finished to a final form in a carefully regulated, oxygen-free environment. It is also the most expensive of the three grades.
Many owners of high-end audio and video equipment value “oxygen free” copper. Behind this demand is the belief that it will have enhanced conductivity or other electrical properties that are significantly advantageous to audio signal transmission. However, as indicated above, most C11000 common copper sold today meets or exceeds the 101% IACS conductivity and overlaps C10200 “oxygen free” that has a minimum of 100% IACS conductivity. In practice, there is no significant difference in conductivity between all three of the grades as far as audio use is concerned. It can be considered to be ordinary copper wire as far as the recommended lengths of copper wire in the table.
What about Silver Wire and Conductivity?
Conductivity is a measure of the ability of a substance to conduct electricity. When the resistance is low, the conductivity is high. Copper is the standard by which electrical materials are rated and conductivity ratings are expressed as a relative measurement to copper. These ratings will frequently be expressed such as “28 IACS”. IACS is the abbreviation for International Annealed Copper Standard and the number preceding “IACS” is the percentage of conductivity a material has relative to copper, which is considered to be 100% conductive. This does not, of course, mean that copper has no resistance, but rather that it is the standard by which other materials are compared.
The percentages of tin, aluminum, nickel, zinc and phosphorus that make up alloys such as brasses and bronzes are relatively small but they degrade the electrical conductivity of the resulting alloy much more than their compositional percentage would indicate.
Size for size, however, copper is exceeded only by silver among the materials commonly used for electrical applications. Silver is more expensive but there is no listening difference, provided the resistance is low enough.
Aluminum Speaker Wire
Oh my. What next? Now it looks like copper clad aluminum (CCA) speaker wire is next. The conductivity of aluminum is less than copper by about 61%. To get the same resistance as copper, a thicker aluminum wire is needed. A thin layer of copper is on the outside and aluminum is on the inside. This is like having two resistors in parallel. The equivalent resistance compared to plain copper wire depends on the proportion of the smaller cross sectional area of the copper and the larger cross section of the aluminum.
Why is this being done? Likely it is because the price of copper is still increasing.
Aluminum wire is nothing new for the power companies. Surprising as it might be, aluminum conductors reinforced with steel (known as ACSR) are primarily used for medium and high voltage overhead lines and may also be used for some overhead services to individual customers. Aluminum conductors are used as it has the advantage of lower resistivity per weight than copper, as well as being cheaper.
There was a problem with aluminum house wiring prior to 1972 because of improper installation techniques resulting in poor contact with other devices. Today, copper wire is still the preferred choice in homes.
How do you know what you are buying these days? Unless a speaker wire company tells you are buying copper clad aluminum wire and what the equivalent resistance compared to plain copper is, then it is buyer beware.
Is there any listening difference with copper clad wire compared to ordinary copper wire, resistance being equal—no. However, it could be an opportunity to make some ridiculous claims about listening improvements.
What about Wires Longer Than 50 Feet?
Besides losses due to cable resistance, longer cables begin to exhibit a significant reactive component of capacitance and inductance regardless of the wire size. Measurements I have made show that response in the 10 kHz to 20 kHz region is affected by a small amount. Then why are differences in extended wire lengths not heard? There are at least two reasons. Both are related to our hearing ability.
An article was published in Audio, July 1994 titled “Speaker cables: Measurements Vs Psycho-acoustic data” by Edgar Villchur. The psycho-acoustic data shows that for pure tones at 16kHz the smallest average detectable difference in level is 3.05 dB. He also indicates: “It can be predicted that at a given level the just noticeable difference will be increased by a significantly greater amount by the masking effect of musical sound below 10 kHz.”
However, as we age, our sensitivity to high frequencies decreases dramatically. The chart is from Modern Sound Reproduction by Harry F. Olson. It shows the average hearing loss Vs age for men and women at frequencies from 250 Hz to 8000 Hz. This means that for a man at age 35, sensitivity is down about 11 dB at 8000 Hz. For a woman at that age, sensitivity is down only about 5 dB. We can infer that sensitivity is down a whole lot more at 20kHz.
So for these two reasons this measurable high frequency wire loss in the 10 to 20kHz region is not audible for moderately long wires like 50 feet. Longer runs may still not be audible for some people, provided the wire resistance is kept low enough.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.lessloss.com/docs/high-end-audio-interconnect-cable.pdf
https://www.ranecommercial.com/legacy/note110.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
An electrical study of single-ended analog interconnect cables
https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jece/papers/Vol.%2016%20Issue%206/Ser-1/E1606014053.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cables, Interconnects & Other Stuff – The Truth
https://sound-au.com/cables.htm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parody:
Psychology Today said patients with AES (Audio Ego Syndrome) develop a case of the bullshits 87% of the time. You nailed it.
3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the population.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Well-recorded digital can sound better than “vinyl”…but typically it doesn’t if it’s highly processed for lowest common denominator (LCD) replay, as is most pop music for earbuds, cars, & boomboxes. But with high quality replay, over-processing artifacts are clearly audible. So vinyl in its heyday was mastered for highest quality in the groove. If these disks sound bad, it’s usually a replay problem: improper alignment, tonearm-cantilever resonance, cartridge loading, preamp EQ, stylus tip shape, and more. With digital, there are “no user-serviceable adjustments inside.” However with vinyl, consumers and installers are invited “inside,” perhaps with a reference book such as “Better Sound from your Phonograph 2nd edition,” out now.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DIYAudio/permalink/5852437364822061/
Actually the 33rpm records were originally marketed for long playing, not high fidelity sound.
Depends also on the track location.
There’s plenty of badly conceived and produced music out there from folks who simply had bad taste and expressed it.
The tradition continues to digital.
Music is as strange and varied as the folks who make it.
Re-mastered hi-res flac recordings by the top companies are hard to beat.
No snap, crackle or pop of vinyl.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/rca-cables-gone-bad.27792/
It’s not crazy, replace the cables. Do not spend a lot of money; the advantages of expensive cables are dubious. Also it is a process of elimination. You cannot rule out a faulty connector on your DAC or amps. Replace the cables and see if things improve over the next few days and weeks.
Oxidation, a cold solder joint failing after having been functioning by pure luck for years, mechanical stress. That’s my guesses.
It can happen with a “high resistance” connection when a contact is corroded or bent or when a wire comes unsoldered, but usually wiggling the cable or connection will make it better or worse and it should be easy to diagnose. …It is unusual that the sound didn’t occasionally cut-out completely on one side.
Sometimes when you have a marginal connection cranking-up the volume will temporarily “bring it back” (if you are increasing the signal through the bad connection).
It could also be a bad connection somewhere else and moving things around may have fixed it. Intermittent problems are often caused by bad cables/connectors and it could be a bad connection inside the amp or preamp or inside the speaker, etc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How To Tell Signs If RCA Cables are Going Bad?
https://moneyexpertsteam.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-to-tell-signs-if-rca-cables-are.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-any-problem-with-using-a-regular-RCA-audio-cable-in-place-of-a-subwoofer-cable
Is there any problem with using a regular RCA audio cable in place of a subwoofer cable?
As long as both are fitted with RCA plug ends, then a subwoofer cable and an RCA are simply two versions of a coax cable. That is to say, a bit like the rings on a tree, there’s a central signal connection core surrounded by some insulator material, then a ‘ring’ of some type of shielding conductor, then an outer covering of insulator which would be like the bark of a tree.
Both connection leads will work. The quality of either though is debatable.
RCA leads tend to be fairly poor if they’re the thin type similar to those supplied free with some audio visual gear. The main drawback is very poor shielding. Longer RCA leads are prone to picking up a bit of interference that can appear as hum. There’s also the chance that the lead is a bit more lossy.
I have seen sub leads that were just as poor even if they were thicker. Middle quality leads will do okay so long as there are no source of interference (EMI) near by.
Higher quality sub leads will deal effectively with EMI (electomechanical interference) in all be.ut the most severe circumstances.
Does a subwoofer need a special cable, or can you use a standard RCA cable?
If you are connecting your subwoofer via an RCA cable, you are of course connecting a line level signal to the subwoofer. So it’s exactly the same as any other line level connection… only even less demanding. The typical range of a subwoofer is 20–200Hz or less, so you’re sending a very low bandwidth, very low frequency signal. You could probably use a pair of coat hangers! You don’t care about impedance, you don’t realistically care about cable loss, as both of those are high frequency effects over standard RCA cables.
Except for one problem: noise! Your subwoofer is very happy to amplify any leakage of 50–60Hz line power for all to hear. So you really don’t want a cheap cable, since that pretty much guarantees bad shielding.
You will find cables sold as subwoofer cables. They work just dandy if well made. Are they special? Probably not, other than to ensure you a good shield, but any good RCA cable would as well. What “subwoofer cable” tells you for sure is that your single RCA — as opposed to the stereo pair used for most other things — is not a cable for CVBS video or S/PDIF digital audio, both of which require impedance matched cables and high frequency response.
Bottom line: use your ears. If the plain old RCA cable you have connected sends an audio signal to your subwoofer and it sounds good, no hum, you’re golden! Otherwise, maybe you need a better cable. But listen carefully: is that really a 50Hz or 60Hz hum, or something else. Since you have a powered subwoofer, you could be getting a ground loop between your main unit and your subwoofer amplifier.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do RCA Cables Make a Difference?
https://homestudioconnection.com/do-rca-cables-make-a-difference/
RCA cables have been around since the 1930s and many pieces of modern audio equipment still have RCA connections. So do RCA cables make a difference when compared to other cables that we now have access to and what are the problems they face?
RCA cables do make a difference due to them being high-level signal cables that are analog. Due to this, they are susceptible to noise and interference and the only way to overcome this is to use high-quality RCA cables, keep them short, and away from other audio equipment. Luckily they are not used for recording purposes but rather for playback of audio.
Do RCA Cables Make a Difference?
Written by Devlon Jarrod Hornein cables
RCA cables have been around since the 1930s and many pieces of modern audio equipment still have RCA connections. So do RCA cables make a difference when compared to other cables that we now have access to and what are the problems they face?
RCA cables do make a difference due to them being high-level signal cables that are analog. Due to this, they are susceptible to noise and interference and the only way to overcome this is to use high-quality RCA cables, keep them short, and away from other audio equipment. Luckily they are not used for recording purposes but rather for playback of audio.
We’ll detail everything you possibly need to know about RCA cables and how they will impact your AV equipment or recording in your studio covering all the major aspects of them. We’ll even give you our best RCA cable pick if you are in the market and looking to purchase one.
What are RCA cables?
RCA cables are also known as phono connectors, are typically recognized by their yellow, red, and white colors. They are a form of electrical connector which is considered to be analog. The RCA name is taken from the Radio Corporation of America is a company that introduced the design back in the 1930s.
RCA cables, as well as sending audio signals, can send video signals via the yellow wire, but for purposes of this site and article, we will be disregarding the yellow connection, and we will focus on the red and white connection points.
What are RCA cables used for?
The connection types are primarily phono connection types, and this means mono to a degree. The red audio wire typically indicates the right audio channel, while the white wire is prompted to be the left audio channel. The audio signal that passes down each wire will not be stereo but once received at the source, the output may be blended to create a stereo mix.
Do RCA Cables Make a Difference?
Written by Devlon Jarrod Hornein cables
RCA cables have been around since the 1930s and many pieces of modern audio equipment still have RCA connections. So do RCA cables make a difference when compared to other cables that we now have access to and what are the problems they face?
RCA cables do make a difference due to them being high-level signal cables that are analog. Due to this, they are susceptible to noise and interference and the only way to overcome this is to use high-quality RCA cables, keep them short, and away from other audio equipment. Luckily they are not used for recording purposes but rather for playback of audio.
We’ll detail everything you possibly need to know about RCA cables and how they will impact your AV equipment or recording in your studio covering all the major aspects of them. We’ll even give you our best RCA cable pick if you are in the market and looking to purchase one.
What are RCA cables?
RCA cables are also known as phono connectors, are typically recognized by their yellow, red, and white colors. They are a form of electrical connector which is considered to be analog. The RCA name is taken from the Radio Corporation of America is a company that introduced the design back in the 1930s.
RCA cables, as well as sending audio signals, can send video signals via the yellow wire, but for purposes of this site and article, we will be disregarding the yellow connection, and we will focus on the red and white connection points.
What are RCA cables used for?
The connection types are primarily phono connection types, and this means mono to a degree. The red audio wire typically indicates the right audio channel, while the white wire is prompted to be the left audio channel. The audio signal that passes down each wire will not be stereo but once received at the source, the output may be blended to create a stereo mix.
What uses RCA cables?
RCA cables used to be the primary connection cable that all audio and video devices used from the 1930’2 up until the invention of USB, HDMI, Bluetooth, and optical cables. Most AV equipment still has RCA connection points because they have not completely been phased out due to the obscene number of devices and equipment that still use them to function.
Do you record with RCA cables?
For the most part, you will not be using RCA cables to record. They are typically used to send the left and right audio channels of a mix to some equipment for playback purposes. This is the only saving grace of an RCA cable. You must remember that for recording purposes, you will, if not always, use a line jack cable (which is not ideal) or an XLR cable which is the best possible cable for recording.
Do RCA Cables Make a Difference?
Written by Devlon Jarrod Hornein cables
RCA cables have been around since the 1930s and many pieces of modern audio equipment still have RCA connections. So do RCA cables make a difference when compared to other cables that we now have access to and what are the problems they face?
RCA cables do make a difference due to them being high-level signal cables that are analog. Due to this, they are susceptible to noise and interference and the only way to overcome this is to use high-quality RCA cables, keep them short, and away from other audio equipment. Luckily they are not used for recording purposes but rather for playback of audio.
We’ll detail everything you possibly need to know about RCA cables and how they will impact your AV equipment or recording in your studio covering all the major aspects of them. We’ll even give you our best RCA cable pick if you are in the market and looking to purchase one.
What are RCA cables?
RCA cables are also known as phono connectors, are typically recognized by their yellow, red, and white colors. They are a form of electrical connector which is considered to be analog. The RCA name is taken from the Radio Corporation of America is a company that introduced the design back in the 1930s.
RCA cables, as well as sending audio signals, can send video signals via the yellow wire, but for purposes of this site and article, we will be disregarding the yellow connection, and we will focus on the red and white connection points.
What are RCA cables used for?
The connection types are primarily phono connection types, and this means mono to a degree. The red audio wire typically indicates the right audio channel, while the white wire is prompted to be the left audio channel. The audio signal that passes down each wire will not be stereo but once received at the source, the output may be blended to create a stereo mix.
What uses RCA cables?
RCA cables used to be the primary connection cable that all audio and video devices used from the 1930’2 up until the invention of USB, HDMI, Bluetooth, and optical cables. Most AV equipment still has RCA connection points because they have not completely been phased out due to the obscene number of devices and equipment that still use them to function.
For our purposes in the studio, everything from an amplifier to a CD player to a sound card can all have an RCA connection depending on how old your equipment is and how much you have paid for it. Typically most audio equipment will have an RCA connection point for backward compatibility of other devices, but this will mean you will have to pay more for it.
Do you record with RCA cables?
For the most part, you will not be using RCA cables to record. They are typically used to send the left and right audio channels of a mix to some equipment for playback purposes. This is the only saving grace of an RCA cable. You must remember that for recording purposes, you will, if not always, use a line jack cable (which is not ideal) or an XLR cable which is the best possible cable for recording.
If you want to know more about XLR and Jack cables, then check out my articles here, where I go over them in-depth, explaining everything you could possibly need to know about those two types of cables and how they are suited for recording purposes.
Do RCA cables make a difference in terms of performance?
We have to understand that RCA cables are designed on old technology, and because they are susceptible to lots of interference and noise, they are not the greatest quality audio cable. RCA cables, for this reason, are said to be high-level signals and, for some purposes, are not the greatest quality of cable you should be using in the studio. So in terms of this, they do make a difference but a bad difference.
Cables that are considered high-level signals are not great for audio in any circumstances, as we said, because of their susceptibility to noise and interference. Luckily, we discovered that they would not be used for recordings but rather to send the audio channels to a device allowing playback of the audio.
But even in this regard, if you are playing audio back from, let’s say, a turntable or a CD player, and you are connecting it up to the mixer or amplifier using RCA connections, the sound quality can be hindered.
Do RCA Cables Make a Difference?
Written by Devlon Jarrod Hornein cables
RCA cables have been around since the 1930s and many pieces of modern audio equipment still have RCA connections. So do RCA cables make a difference when compared to other cables that we now have access to and what are the problems they face?
RCA cables do make a difference due to them being high-level signal cables that are analog. Due to this, they are susceptible to noise and interference and the only way to overcome this is to use high-quality RCA cables, keep them short, and away from other audio equipment. Luckily they are not used for recording purposes but rather for playback of audio.
We’ll detail everything you possibly need to know about RCA cables and how they will impact your AV equipment or recording in your studio covering all the major aspects of them. We’ll even give you our best RCA cable pick if you are in the market and looking to purchase one.
What are RCA cables?
RCA cables are also known as phono connectors, are typically recognized by their yellow, red, and white colors. They are a form of electrical connector which is considered to be analog. The RCA name is taken from the Radio Corporation of America is a company that introduced the design back in the 1930s.
RCA cables, as well as sending audio signals, can send video signals via the yellow wire, but for purposes of this site and article, we will be disregarding the yellow connection, and we will focus on the red and white connection points.
What are RCA cables used for?
The connection types are primarily phono connection types, and this means mono to a degree. The red audio wire typically indicates the right audio channel, while the white wire is prompted to be the left audio channel. The audio signal that passes down each wire will not be stereo but once received at the source, the output may be blended to create a stereo mix.
What uses RCA cables?
RCA cables used to be the primary connection cable that all audio and video devices used from the 1930’2 up until the invention of USB, HDMI, Bluetooth, and optical cables. Most AV equipment still has RCA connection points because they have not completely been phased out due to the obscene number of devices and equipment that still use them to function.
For our purposes in the studio, everything from an amplifier to a CD player to a sound card can all have an RCA connection depending on how old your equipment is and how much you have paid for it. Typically most audio equipment will have an RCA connection point for backward compatibility of other devices, but this will mean you will have to pay more for it.
Do you record with RCA cables?
For the most part, you will not be using RCA cables to record. They are typically used to send the left and right audio channels of a mix to some equipment for playback purposes. This is the only saving grace of an RCA cable. You must remember that for recording purposes, you will, if not always, use a line jack cable (which is not ideal) or an XLR cable which is the best possible cable for recording.
If you want to know more about XLR and Jack cables, then check out my articles here, where I go over them in-depth, explaining everything you could possibly need to know about those two types of cables and how they are suited for recording purposes.
Do RCA cables make a difference in terms of performance?
We have to understand that RCA cables are designed on old technology, and because they are susceptible to lots of interference and noise, they are not the greatest quality audio cable. RCA cables, for this reason, are said to be high-level signals and, for some purposes, are not the greatest quality of cable you should be using in the studio. So in terms of this, they do make a difference but a bad difference.
Cables that are considered high-level signals are not great for audio in any circumstances, as we said, because of their susceptibility to noise and interference. Luckily, we discovered that they would not be used for recordings but rather to send the audio channels to a device allowing playback of the audio.
But even in this regard, if you are playing audio back from, let’s say, a turntable or a CD player, and you are connecting it up to the mixer or amplifier using RCA connections, the sound quality can be hindered.
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What can cause problems with an RCA cable?
We discovered now that RCA cables would hinder performance in audio playback because they are considered high-level signal cables but let’s look further at the various situations that can cause an RCA cable to be more susceptible to noise and interference, creating a very unpleasant audio playback experience.
Gain can cause problems with an RCA cable
Cable length can cause problems with an RCA cable
You will find this problem also relating to Jack cables because they are also considered high-level signal cables (also known as hot cables or hot signals). When the length of a high-level cable (in our case, an RCA cable extends past a certain length, there is generally a certain amount of noise and interference you just can not get rid of. Due to this, it is best to keep your RCA cables short.
Other equipment can cause problems with an RCA cable
If your RCA cable is not shielded and you have other audio equipment surrounding it, then the cable can pick up noise and interference. The best thing to do with all electronic equipment is to have it shielded (in essence, have it in a faraday case), but this is not always possible. Try to keep your RCA cables as far from any other electronic equipment as possible.
Other wires can cause problems with an RCA cable
As with other audio equipment, RCA cables can also pick up noise and interference from other cables running alongside it or across it, especially if both cables are high-level signal cables and have no shielding.
The quality of an RCA cable can cause problems
This plays a big part in the amount of noise and interference your RCA cable will be susceptible to. Some RCA cables made with quality material and shielding can have little to no noise or interference if managed correctly and can even run past a length of 100 feet. Lesser quality cables are always a no-no, especially if you are running a studio. The quality of your cables can make or break your recordings and your listening experience. Be sure always to use the best quality RCA cables you can.
Conclusion
We discovered that RCA cables do indeed make a difference when it comes to listening to audio. Although not specifically designed for recording, RCA cables are used on modern and old audio equipment to send the left and right mono audio signals, and you will most probably use them to link up AV equipment like turntables, mixers, amplifiers, and CD players.
RCA cables are analog and also high-level signal cables, and due to that, their performance is not so great because of the large degree to which they are susceptible to noise and interference. For the most part when you can choose to use a different form of input/output and then a different type of cable (XLR or digital) if you should always do so.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.techdim.com/how-to-fix-bad-rca-connection/
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/why-do-good-rca-cables-go-bad.420069/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paul Reed Smith has his say on the tonewood debate: “I’ve heard that tonewoods don’t make any difference. It’s just not true”
By Matt Owen published 2 days ago
The guitar-building mastermind shares an anecdote involving violin makers to hammer home his point that tonewoods do in fact play a pivotal role in a guitar’s sound
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/paul-reed-smith-tonewood-debate
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCM5102 Audio DAC – A quick look at Aliexpress’ best!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VualiZkPlw0
keep getting requests to make an Audio DAC board for use in DIY Monitor Controllers for project recording studio’s. As the product definer at TI/BurrBrown, I worked on the PCM5xxx series of DAC’s, which in this case, fits the need quite nicely!
First things first, see how cheap they are on Aliexpress, and see how I can improve on a basic module from China.
This one is pretty good, but there are certainly areas for improvement! Comments below!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Separating speaker cable conductors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MhRJb_Z8io
If the speaker’s cables are like lamp cords does it help to separate the two conductors?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Over time I have built or maintained a lot of recording studios and broadcast radio studios and been involved in a lot of live sound applications. I maintain that in my extended career in the pro audio industry that I have never “heard” a good signal cable but I have certainly “heard” a bunch of bad ones.
You can certainly “hear” a cable if the source device has a high impedance, but the what you are hearing is the result of the source impedance and not the cable. For example, you can definitely hear the difference between cables connecting a MM phono cartridge to a pre-amplifier but you are unlikely to hear any difference between the same selection of cables between a CD player and a pre-amplifier. It always comes down to understanding the application.
Speaker cables are a different problem as relatively high currents are involved and most amplifier output stages interact with the speaker load to some degree. You can certainly hear the effects of an overly long cable and therefore it is a good idea to keep these cables short. Proper speaker cables are multi-stranded and capable of high currents for a reason.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sell em to “high end audio” guys for 10 times what you put onto them… even if the design doesn’t really increase fidelity, they will think that they do…
Tomi Engdahl says:
Total waste of time and effort. Total.
You’ll need to measure cables with the same device or the results won’t be useful. Kinda figure a cable genius would know that, but here we are.
It’s not a bad idea, it’s just not your idea. Complete rip off of in-akustik. If you want to try to make the cables cheaper, cool – just don’t try to present it as your own idea.
https://www.in-akustik.de/en/about-us/made-in-germany/
Much too complicated. That amount of time I rather use to listen to music.
if you can tell the difference between cables in blind ABX testing, then there is a serious problem with your system!
Huge amount of custom cad? After all, it’s two elements, a circle with a hole and a beam with a narrowing. A complete contradiction in this project is a complete break with the main goal, i.e. making a “better” cable. Looks took over, and the actual specs are worse than a generic symmetrical cable for a few bucks, there’s no doubt about it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audiophile logic – the more it costs, the better it sounds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Most expensive cables seem to be a lie to make stupid people spend money they shouldn’t have. In most cases the mains cables have no noticeable effect. In some rare cases the is noticeable effect when changing cable, you don’t need huge expensive cable to get that improvement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
sound is easy
it always sounds like shit anyways
Tomi Engdahl says:
*switches out cable and proceeds to turn it up higher than the previous volume.
“Woah that sounds better!”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/in-power-transmission-why-inductance-l-increases-with-increased-spacing.884810/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://gearspace.com/board/new-product-alert/1390508-ghost-cable.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Douglas Self is a proponent of low bias current which he claims offers minimal crossover distortion as the crossover switching occurs at the uW to mW level. Others set the Class A to B transition point to around 1 W or more where the crossover switching occurs at higher output device current. Yet others prefer Pure Class A thus mitigating crossover switching distortion altogether. Based on your experience: 1) Which is best for sound quality? and 2) Do we really care what is happening to the amplified signal at the 1 to 10 mW levels?
Tomi Engdahl says:
There is no proper answer. Sound quality is NEVER based on one parameter. In my experience far more critical is the ratio of amplifier damping factor to the effective BL of the loudspeaker driver. If I have a driver with high BL, it can sound “strangulated” with a high damping factor amplifier. If I have a low BL driver, the high damping factor amplifiers help to create precision.
Reading the audio press, we are “manipulated” into believing that “wasteful” (pure class A) is always better than “efficient” (Class D for instance). This is the very type of BS designed to sell equipment, not create better listening habits.
The single worst parameter in almost all of the systems that I have ever heard is LOUDSPEAKER PLACEMENT. The second worst parameter is gain control – one source being generally much louder than another. The third worst parameter is the room – many times that could be better arranged for sound quality. After that comes source material quality (the actual recording – not the media).
If all of these things were optimized them perhaps any discussion about amplifier distortion or class could be entertained.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do you know what is the worst thing for an audiophile? ..
Blind listening!
– Double blind tests…
they all get really defensive and hand-wavey when you bring up double blind listening tests.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Certainly a very good cable but when I see the interior of its very high-end devices and it is simple electrical wires to the transformer then what is its use for show. A good network filter 230v AC is much better.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You thought that was expensive?
https://www.analogueseduction.net/mains-cables/ODINgold1.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.pocnetwork.net/technology-news/the-most-expensive-hdmi-cable-in-existance/
Tomi Engdahl says:
You’ll never beat this for snake oil audiophoolery. £4200 for a 13 amp fuse.
https://www.futureshop.co.uk/quantum-science-audio-silver-extreme-level-uk-mains-fuse