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To continue the incessant questioning - to space speaker wire or not?

Posted by Japesgalore (A) on October 5, 2008 at 15:26:00

I have a habit of starting threads with a question or two but rarely follow up with a remark, let alone a thankyou. I draw out whatever useful information I can find and move on my merry way. So, as to to not come across as selfish, I'd just like to commend all you who actually take the time to reply, sometimes in surprising detail, to whatever random, whimsical notions I may put up on here - it's something I rarely ever do. Really, I'm gleaning a whole ton of knowledge, and I'm very greatful.... but just keep up the good work;)

Now, my next angle on these speaker cables is to get enamelled wire with extra cotton insulation. It does relate to the previous thread but I want these questions to be visible to more people, rather than buried in the midst of this: http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=tweaks&m=158717

Should I twist up 4 16awg conductors in a starquad configuration or go for some sort of spaced configuration - probably two larger conductors spiralled around a cotton core? I'd rather not hear the naysaying on solid core speaker wire because there are PLENTY of people out their singing its praises. I'm definitely going to try it, the question is how.

The contradictions seem to come out in what some knowledgable(seeming) people are saying about the issues of inductance and capacitance. The way I see it, keeping the conductors apart reduces capacitance but increases inductance, but which is more critical? Some have claimed that keeping the wire apart sounds better because of improved capacitiance AND inductance - surely these people are the less knowledgable ones?

Ah, ok, just checked the short blurb on Paul Speltz's Anticables website about inductance: http://www.anticables.com/technical.html It seems the choice is all ours as to how we want to align our conductors - there is no better or worse, right? So, my 'condition' is that I have a pretty forward sound, with a bit of glare in certain upper frequencies, and slightly flabby, disconnected bass. All in all, everything seems to be a little tipped up. I'm using a valve cd player and hybrid amp (ss with valve pre) from Jolida and Dynaudio Audience 52SE speakers. My current speaker cables are TNT Tipple-Ts using some non-descript CAT5s that probably have pvc conductor insulation. I want to keep everything else constant, for the time being, especially as I think that I could do a lot better in the speaker cable department.

I'd say the extention in the high frequencies is about right so I don't want to veer too much from the sound I have. I want to help tame that glare, especially at higher volumes, and get me more of that good ol' bass. Are there experiences out there that could relate? To sum up: to space, or not to space?

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