Hello,
I am using Garth speaker cables; silver wire, with some special braid on the ground line. I'm looking for some new cables because I have some residual tizzyness in my system, and I've suspected the silver as being the culprit. I have Oris horns with PM4AER drivers, 108 dB efficiency, and all vinyl/tube system. 3/4W parafeed SET. Its a very, very resolving system.I've had some luck recently with the small conductor theory and my IC's (thin wire twisted pair have ousted my Risch cables, but thats another story), and, having Allen Wright cable cookbook, I thought I'd try foil. I first tried copper shielding tape, and it was dark, and a little closed in. Very artificial. I looked in the archives here and found that ChrisVH discovered the same thing. I would liked to have tried silver foil next, but its so damn expensive. So, why not aluminum?
Its cheap and readily available, so its easy to experiment with, and I can recycle the rejects. It has the right geometry, and aluminum has extremely good oxidation properties. It very quickly forms a VERY thin layer of aluminum oxide, and doesn't form anything thicker than that, except in extreme conditions. I have a theory that the copper tape doesn't work because of the oxidation, but I don't know for sure. Anyhow, because of this oxidation property, I can use air as the dielectric, keeping costs down, and its the best dielectric (excepting vacuum). Teflon by the way, IS a wonderful dielectric, but you CAN hear it. Aluminum is also an excellant conductor (its used in your powerline cables to your house.) Copper is a better conductor (with silver being *slightly* better yet), but I'm finding that cables depend much more on factors other than conductivity. These are not passing a DC current after all.
So, to make this short, I cut up four 6 inch strips, and tried it. Success! It sounds really great. Or I should say, it doesn't seem to sound at all, it quietly gets out of the way. MUCH more detail than before, which was smeared out/covered up (by the thick solid core in the Garth no doubt). Very even, and now the system is much more sensitive to other things, such as placement. The best is the increase in microdynamic resolution. The music stops and starts on a dime, naturally. This is due to the air dielectric I believe. Even from top to bottom, and the silver tizzyness is gone. I can't detect any downsides yet. I thought of starting a business before I reported my results, and marketing these, but quickly realized that the corner super market can undersell me :) (hey, but what if my foil was .99999% pure? Oops, I forgot, aluminum in cans and foild IS .9999 pure (or something), thats the only way they can get it to draw into sheets without tearing). In short, I'm keeping them, they work wonderfully.
I do have an odd system, with my extremely low power requirements, so your results may vary. But its an easy experiment to try. I suggest cutting the end off a roll first with a hack saw, instead of unrolling and then cutting, as it should be easier. I just cut some holes in the end to fit the binding posts, so no solder joints here. I laid them out randomly across the floor. More experiments tonight with smaller sizes.
Dan
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Topic - Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - DrM 11:24:08 07/05/01 (28)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - I AGREE - Kurt Strain 01:13:55 07/10/01 (5)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - I AGREE - Chrome 14:11:51 07/10/01 (4)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - I AGREE - Kurt Strain 15:21:56 07/10/01 (3)
- paper - Chrome 17:12:23 07/10/01 (0)
- paper - Chrome 17:12:23 07/10/01 (0)
- dielectrics... - Chrome 17:08:02 07/10/01 (0)
- I have to agree, congrats Dr. M. - john dem 08:09:57 07/08/01 (1)
- Re: I have to agree, congrats Dr. M. - DrM 10:38:44 07/09/01 (0)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - tecnofossil 13:43:01 07/07/01 (0)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - Myles B. Astor 10:52:31 07/06/01 (1)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - DrM 11:20:26 07/06/01 (0)
- Followup - DrM 10:10:07 07/06/01 (4)
- Oh, and for making the foils - DrM 10:12:04 07/06/01 (3)
- Re: Oh, and for making the foils - tecnofossil 12:09:22 07/06/01 (2)
- Re: Oh, and for making the foils - DrM 12:16:23 07/06/01 (1)
- Or, Staying in the Kitchen (and budget) - badman 12:59:11 07/07/01 (0)
- Vibration, resonance, and coloration? - Steve W 23:04:18 07/05/01 (2)
- Re: Vibration, resonance, and coloration? - DrM 10:15:38 07/06/01 (0)
- Re: Vibration, resonance, and coloration? - Kurt Strain 00:23:44 07/06/01 (0)
- I think you should try a classy looking design - gold leaf - Kurt Strain 22:54:00 07/05/01 (2)
- Can any of the silver foil crowd compare the two? - DrM 17:05:57 07/06/01 (1)
- Re: Gold leaf foil experiments. . . ? - Edziu 19:40:19 07/12/01 (0)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - tecnofossil 21:26:21 07/05/01 (0)
- Re: Aluminum foil speaker cables: great results! - Davet 17:24:11 07/05/01 (0)
- Umm. . Is that safe? - Hantra 14:23:30 07/05/01 (0)
- Any insulation? - Jon L 12:13:15 07/05/01 (2)
- Hanging in the bare air baby! - DrM 12:20:44 07/05/01 (1)
- Re: Hanging in the bare air baby! - tvi 09:59:26 07/06/01 (0)