Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable?

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Posted by Jon Risch on April 25, 2001 at 20:12:53

In Reply to: Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? posted by Scott H. Pultz on April 24, 2001 at 19:32:27:

With audio cables, it is not just flat FR and low resistance.

While it would seem that since this is a subwoofer, that HF's and cable inductance does not matter, and then all one should concern themselves is with how low is low enough for the resistance. But there is more to the story.

Even though a subwoofer signal feed is primarily low frequencies, there is a lot of current flow to first start the woofer in motion, and then to stop it from overshooting once it gets going.
This current flow wants to happen RIGHT NOW, but if the cable inductance is high, then it will be impeded somewhat. This moves the concern for inductance back into the equation, perhaps not all the way, but still there to some extent.

Then there are the dielectric issues, and bass seems to need a good clean dielectric to prevent bass woolyness, and overly strong tubby bass. Since the cable resistance and inductance are on top of this dielectric related effect, it is hard to separate them from one another sonically.

As for a 30 foot run, this is a long way, even for subwoffer frequencies, and the cable should be of a low resistance to assure a decent damping factor. How tight the bass is, is very subjective, and depends on many things, and not all of them are under your control. It is very likely that the designer of the subwoofer did not intend the speaker to be driven through 30 feet of 16 ga. cable, and using a larger cable can not hurt anything, so why not get some 12 ga., and see if it helps the sound?

For a higher quality option, see - Easy coaxial based speaker cables:
http://www.AudioAsylum.com/audio/cables/messages/7637.html

These are only 14 ga., but the inductance is lower than zip cords, and the dielectric being foamed PE is better than the PVC in zip cords.
They also tend to self-shield for such a long run, and this may also help.

Jon Risch

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Scott H. Pultz 13:03:01 04/23/01 (16)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Corndog71 17:50:36 04/23/01 (7)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - SamM 14:03:43 04/27/01 (0)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Scott H. Pultz 18:42:51 04/23/01 (5)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - audioengr 19:17:32 04/24/01 (3)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Scott H. Pultz 19:32:27 04/24/01 (1)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Jon Risch 20:12:53 04/25/01 (0)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Scott H. Pultz 19:28:58 04/24/01 (0)

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - GPB 11:05:50 04/24/01 (0)

for that distance, i'd opt for 12 or 10 gauge wires<nt> - kuma 13:21:22 04/23/01 (7)

Re: for that distance, i'd opt for 12 or 10 gauge wires<nt> - Scott H. Pultz 16:11:31 04/23/01 (6)

Re: for that distance, i'd opt for 12 or 10 gauge wires<nt> - kuma 21:58:06 04/23/01 (0)

Re: for that distance, i'd opt for 12 or 10 gauge wires<nt> - Jack DuMoulin 21:34:41 04/23/01 (4)

30 feet of 12 or 14? ludicrous - badman 21:07:32 04/24/01 (2)

Then, what to use? - Murf 12:12:11 04/26/01 (1)

Re: Then, what to use? - badman 20:53:05 04/26/01 (0)

I only paid $240 for my speaker cables (nt) - Corndog71 03:23:24 04/24/01 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: Should I be using fatter speaker cable? - Jon Risch 20:12:53 04/25/01 (0)

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