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RE: Distortion measurements Solid core vs Multi strand

You might get into trouble with the differences being too hard to measure if you limit the scope (no pun intended...) of the exercise.

IOW, it is easier to see the differences (and hear) them when the change is a bit more global- such as building an entire preamp or amp with a certain brand of resistor, rather than just one resistor changed in one spot.

One thing that led us to solid core was skin effect- which (depending on the circuit impedances) can get down below 80KHz if the wire gets too small. In theory the skin effect could manifest as a differing impedance depending on frequency. Never really chased it down though.

We did do a set of measurements using a TDR we leased way back in the early 1980s, that showed that there was more noise associated with stranded wire than solid core. Of course, the TDR was operating at RF frequencies, but if you think about how you might have more RFI in the circuit due to the choice of wire... we all know that RFI can affect the sound of a circuit. Again, inconclusive as we didn't chase that one down, but we did find that there is a correlation at audio frequencies with the measured characteristic impedance of the speaker cables we tested on the TDR. Although this is all circumstantial, they were real world measurements and do point to the possibility of a difference between solid core and stranded.

I think Billy is on the right path- we often hear things but struggle with the bench measurements to confirm what we hear- but if we put a mic in the same room where we hear the difference, and measure **that**, then we have some substance to work with.


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