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RE: EXPIALADOSUSHLY PUT!

Posted by JURB (A) on July 7, 2016 at 01:56:24

In Reply to: EXPIALADOSUSHLY PUT! posted by Tweaker456 on July 6, 2016 at 21:39:59:

One letter wrong :

SUPERCALIFRAGALISTALLY

should be :

SUPERCALIFREGALISTALLY

Anyway, to the topic at hand which I am sure has almost been discussed to death, I would not use 18 usually. Generally I am top dog at a shop but an ex-boss taught me a lesson about that. I had a nice bench setup, a patch bay the brought out the speaker wires from the bench am and used A & B speaker terminals robbed off a totally fried amp so I could test amps or speakers, I also had the whole thing wired, the tape monitor as well as phono inputs.

We were arguing this exact point, and by that I don't mean yelling or any of that, but I said it shouldn't make much difference. He hands me a bag with some cheap speaker wire, maybe is was 18 and said to strip the ends and insert it where my usual short jumpers were from the amp to the speakers. Now mind you these were not the greatest speakers in the world but I did hear quite a difference. I believe it was a 50 foot package.

But then since you got two of them that is 100 feet.

The resistances of different wire gauges is shown at :

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/wirega.html

Let's just say the wires were 50 feet, mainly because some people like me avoid cutting wires because the system might get moved in the future so it is folded up somewhere. That means 100 feet. It shows 18 as being 6.385 ohms per 1,000 feet so that means you are looking at 0.6385 ohms.

If your amplifier has a damping factor of 100, that means its output impedance is 0.08 ohms. Also bear in mind that a speakers impedance varies and can go down to very much below 8 ohms. My old Boston Acoustics had woofers with a 3.2 ohm DC resistance. Sealed system (A-150) and rated response down to 20 Hz. They called that 8 ohms but obviously it wasn't.

The only speakers that could possibly have a flat impedance curve, mmm now that I think of - none. Even planars or ESLs won't, though the ESLs will more likely be mainly capacitive.

So at 0.6385 ohms, that damping factor is reduced to about 12. That adds to the DC resistance of the woofer coil and lets it loose so to speak. It also impresses the impedance curve on the frequency response inversely. These things are rated by voltage folks, flat response within 0.5 dB is gone.

It is a different story with tube amps, most of which have much lower damping factors. I think people who like tube sound better actually like that looseness which, in a way it could be said it lets the speaker sound come out.

I am currently using 14, but on a very short run. I got a clunker Pioneer BFC SA-1270 with a fairly low damping factor and a Phase Linear with a damping factor of 1,000, the highest I have ever seen. I can definitely hear a difference and my ears aren't all that great. Most of the hearing loss in in the high range but I can still hear the bass quite well. And distortion, I cannot stand distortion. Not in integrated program material, on an electric guitar fine but I want the rest of it clean. Neither amp has a problem with that but I thought I would mention it.

But the difference in sound is there and I can hear it. And they design solid state amps to have a fairly high damping factor. And it does not require a ridiculous amount of feedback. It doesn't even require high bias, the Phase Linear outputs are class B, the drivers actually do the work up to maybe a half watt or so. Now they are biased kinda hard.

If anyone really wants to amplify the difference, set your stuff up with short speaker wires and get some power resistors, non-inductive. Cut a wire and put a 1 ohm i series with it, you will hear a difference. That lowers the damping factor to 8. then take an 8 ohm and do the same, that will lower your damping factor to 1. You will REALLY hear it then.

And that's the difference.

And, I am no slouch at technology and I think you should use solid wire for speakers. Like 14 or even 12 gauge Romex. Stranded wire was invented for one thing - to be able to be flexed repeatedly and not fatigue and break. These gold plated fine welding wire cable wound by silkworms in a secret laboratory in Antarctica are not necessary. In fact welding cable was developed because they know it was gong to be moved around all the time. There are only so many places in a given room that are sonically right for your speakers. Once you find it they usually stay put.

Another thing is most Romex now has a third conductor fro ground, if you are running a bridged amp you can connect the ground wire to chassis or Earth ground. It should not affect the capacitance but should reduce the radiation. If it is running right near your turntable it might make a bit of difference. I am not saying much, but we ARE splitting hairs here.

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