New Copper.
Keeping on a metallic theme.
I ordered new wires for the speaker hook ups. I had been using a medium gauge wire and am going to a heavier gauge with nice end spade connectors. (Cut and solder myself of course)
I am not a fan of the "woven by virgins" speaker cable scams. Those many products are just ways to separate people from their money. I admit wires make a difference under specific conditions, but if you are spending three and four figures on this stuff there are better places to throw money. Say using it to light your fireplace.
All wires behave according to physics. They have three characteristics that fully define their behavior. One is resistance which is how hard it is for the electrons to travel down the wire. The Second is Inductance, which is more complicated, and is how the current traveling down the wire induces a magnetic field which in turn induces another current in an adjacent conductor. Third is capacitance where the electric field between two conductive surfaces causes the relative charges to react.
Inductance will inhibit high frequencies in parallel to the signal. Capacitance will short high frequencies across so effectively also inhibits high frequencies, but we are talking large fractions of megaHerz.
High resistance inhibits low frequencies as power is consumed in the cable that should go to the speaker.
Fancy speaker cables sometimes put actual inductors and capacitors in boxes at one end or another of a cable to "compensate" for whatever effects occur in the product. That is just tuning so some audible effect occurs that is of course always better.
At least one company weaves cables in a nice plait so that inductance is cancelled out. Others will physically separate the two conductors to reduce capacitance. True alchemists will talk about skin effect and produce cables with wire sizes proportioned by the Fibonacci sequence or golden ratio as that must be better. For high frequencies some such things can be necessary, but not for audio. Full stop.
The thing that a heavy gauge or large wire diameter does is reduce resistance. It is by far the most important factor if you have a stable amplifier. Fine wires conduct OK, but resistance is higher and can have a significant impact Bass response especially.
Also in terms of round trip for the signal there are dozens to hundreds of feet of relatively fine wire in the speakers themselves. Just a reminder there.
The rules are different for low level interconnects, but not much. I had a high end interconnect (Audioquest) running from my preamplifier to my amplifiers. I used to have the amps right beside the speakers, so I needed over 15 feet of interconnect. When I made replacements by braiding four fine wires that were just as long as I needed for the amp placed close to the preamp they sounded much better. But when I cut the long cables short and compared them they then sounded the same as my craft project. The Audioquest was a heavy gauge shielded two conductor. The self made were light and braided. The issue was length not type of construction.
Speaker wires can be very long. My current set are about 20 feet. They have about 0.1 Ohm of resistance round trip. My ARC Amp has a low damping factor so I think bumping the gauge will help it a bit. I avoided doing this before as it is a pain to run wires in my house as one channel goes under the floor. I also have a terminal strip connector on the amp where my FA amp had three way terminals and I put the naked tinned wire through it. So I am going to spade connectors at both ends. Keeps it simple.
In other news I played a big symphony the other night with the ARC 60. Generally really good. Detail was lovely though there were some rough parts that may have been wear on the record. (it is pretty old recorded in 1967 and pressed in 1971 in the UK) If you know Saint Saens Symphony #3 its big and has a pipe organ. Great piece! It was an experience!
I still have doubts about tube power as in my experience horsepower helps orchestras. BUT that only occurs in certain recordings which are not compressed in the master. I got a Telarc CD that may do the trick. Telarc hates compression and CDs got all that dynamic range to play with. Running that mother tonight. Carl Orff Carmina Burana.
Funny I find for pop and rock, even played loud, power is less of an issue probably due to processing and compression.
One benefit of tube amps with output transformers they cannot pass DC so speakers have less to fear from clipping if that happens.
Cheers and keep listening!
