ggraff
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1. Do different cables sound different? If so, why?
Absolutely, different cables sound different. Some sound better and some sound worse depending on the system. Wires are extremely system dependent. No one wire will sound best in every system.
The why is a long explanation so I hope I don't get too boring. All wires filter the signal; it's how they filter the signal that determines how a wire will sound.
The following is a generalized discussion of wire design but may not be applicable to a particular manufacturer's design. Three major factors will determine in large part the overall sound of the wire- capacitance, inductance, and skin effect. There are many other factors as well, such as the type of termination, the conductor material, the mass of the terminators, how the wire is terminated, the dielectric used, shielding, etc. I won't get into those factors here.
The wire's geometry will dictate in no small part how much capacitance, inductance and skin effect the wire will have. Wire geometry includes the type of conductor used (round wire, litz, or foil), the gauge/thickness of the conductors, the relationship of the conductors to each other (woven, twisted, parallel, etc), and ability to keep that relationship constant i.e. not introduce micro phonics. The geometry of the cable will trade-off inductance, capacitance and skin effect. How these trade-offs are made will dictate to a great extent the amount of filtering that occurs.
2. Wire Break-In
Every wire I have heard required break-in. According to George Cardas, just moving wires will require another mini-break-in. My personal experience is consistent with this. Most wires take between 50-150 hours of break-in, depending on the dielectric materials in the wire and the amount of current passing through the wire. Our experience with cable cookers has had mixed results. They seem to work OK on interconnects, but lacked a lot on speaker wires. Our hypothesis is that the cookers we have had only had resistance with no reactance. We have found that even using a cooker, we need to finish the break-in on the speaker wires (and to a lessor extent the interconnects) the old fashioned way of playing them loud.
3. Wire Maintenance
All terminals should be cleaned on a periodic basis. Even non-reactive metals like gold or rhodium require cleaning once and a while because the base metal of the connector tends to leach through. Connectors made of copper or flashed with silver need monthly maintenance to ensure the best performance. I use a jeweler's cloth with Blitz in it to clean silver. I then wipe the connector with alcohol to clean off the Blitz. For very tarnished connectors, Nevr Dull works well. I have mixed feeling about using a contact enhancer like CAIG. It works very well initially, but requires more maintenance.
I am sure I have missed a number of other items in this general topic, but hope that some of you find this useful.
My parting thought is that wires should be considered a major component, just like a DAC or pre-amp. It doesn't do any good to have a great piece of equipment if you do not also have a way to carry the signal as unmolested as possible. The best wires do very little harm to the signal.
gjg
Absolutely, different cables sound different. Some sound better and some sound worse depending on the system. Wires are extremely system dependent. No one wire will sound best in every system.
The why is a long explanation so I hope I don't get too boring. All wires filter the signal; it's how they filter the signal that determines how a wire will sound.
The following is a generalized discussion of wire design but may not be applicable to a particular manufacturer's design. Three major factors will determine in large part the overall sound of the wire- capacitance, inductance, and skin effect. There are many other factors as well, such as the type of termination, the conductor material, the mass of the terminators, how the wire is terminated, the dielectric used, shielding, etc. I won't get into those factors here.
The wire's geometry will dictate in no small part how much capacitance, inductance and skin effect the wire will have. Wire geometry includes the type of conductor used (round wire, litz, or foil), the gauge/thickness of the conductors, the relationship of the conductors to each other (woven, twisted, parallel, etc), and ability to keep that relationship constant i.e. not introduce micro phonics. The geometry of the cable will trade-off inductance, capacitance and skin effect. How these trade-offs are made will dictate to a great extent the amount of filtering that occurs.
2. Wire Break-In
Every wire I have heard required break-in. According to George Cardas, just moving wires will require another mini-break-in. My personal experience is consistent with this. Most wires take between 50-150 hours of break-in, depending on the dielectric materials in the wire and the amount of current passing through the wire. Our experience with cable cookers has had mixed results. They seem to work OK on interconnects, but lacked a lot on speaker wires. Our hypothesis is that the cookers we have had only had resistance with no reactance. We have found that even using a cooker, we need to finish the break-in on the speaker wires (and to a lessor extent the interconnects) the old fashioned way of playing them loud.
3. Wire Maintenance
All terminals should be cleaned on a periodic basis. Even non-reactive metals like gold or rhodium require cleaning once and a while because the base metal of the connector tends to leach through. Connectors made of copper or flashed with silver need monthly maintenance to ensure the best performance. I use a jeweler's cloth with Blitz in it to clean silver. I then wipe the connector with alcohol to clean off the Blitz. For very tarnished connectors, Nevr Dull works well. I have mixed feeling about using a contact enhancer like CAIG. It works very well initially, but requires more maintenance.
I am sure I have missed a number of other items in this general topic, but hope that some of you find this useful.
My parting thought is that wires should be considered a major component, just like a DAC or pre-amp. It doesn't do any good to have a great piece of equipment if you do not also have a way to carry the signal as unmolested as possible. The best wires do very little harm to the signal.
gjg