Do you think superconductors will make a difference to audio??

[escksu]

Just curious. Wondering if we try to use a superconductor speaker cable, will there be any audible difference??

Technically we can do that by using lead. Lead has a critical temp of 7.19k and liquid helium is 4k. Since lead is bcs type superconductor, it could be interesting to see how cooper pair electrons affect sound. And the transition between normal and super conductor.

 

[Vini darko]

https://www.elektrisola.com/conductor-materials/copper.html
Honestly copper is so good already. Maybe 0.1DB gain over 10 meters prehaps. I'm more interested in what super conductors can do for inductors such as voice coils and transformers.

 

[escksu]

https://www.elektrisola.com/conductor-materials/copper.html
Honestly copper is so good already. Maybe 0.1DB gain over 10 meters prehaps. I'm more interested in what super conductors can do for inductors such as voice coils and transformers.

OK, voice coils would be impossible since its not possible to cool the whole voice coil. But transformer should be possible since superconducting magnets are already in use today. I also curious to see what it can do.

 

[zelig]

If you want to pay for it someone will make it and sell it to you whether it makes a difference or not. They will tell you it makes a difference and What Hi-Fi? will agree.

 

[escksu]

If you want to pay for it someone will make it and sell it to you whether it makes a difference or not. They will tell you it makes a difference and What Hi-Fi? will agree.

But whats the difference and the science behind it? Thats what we are interested in.

 

[ZolaIII]

They might help but experience teaches me things will go into other direction of future miniaturisation. Besides it's not how current actual designs are not good. So for instance IGZO has an order of magnitude lower leakage and you can use that to get less noise or order of magnitude smaller node with same characteristics.

 

[Killingbeans]

Since lead is bcs type superconductor, it could be interesting to see how cooper pair electrons affect sound.

I don't think they would affect the sound in any way. A sound wave leaving a transducer/speaker driver is still just a sum of sine waves, no matter how the signal was transported electrically. The only benefit from superconductivity would be the conductivity itself.

Neither thermal noise nor resistivity as an unwanted filtering component is of any audible concern in the connectivity of a modern well-engineered audio system. It has lots of potential for electronics dealing with frequencies way, way above the audible band, but that's a whole different story

 

[phoenixdogfan]

OK, voice coils would be impossible since its not possible to cool the whole voice coil. But transformer should be possible since superconducting magnets are already in use today. I also curious to see what it can do.

All we need to do is develop a room temperature superconductor.

 

[briskly]

super conductors can do for inductors such as voice coils and transformers

A lot of effort to make a useless device in the former case. Electrodynamic motors move according to the Lorentz force, but B-field penetration into any superconductor is very weak, per the Meissner effect.
A superconducting transformer works at DC, but I have no idea how it is used in the real world.

 

[escksu]

A lot of effort to make a useless device in the former case. Electrodynamic motors move according to the Lorentz force, but B-field penetration into any superconductor is very weak, per the Meissner effect.
A superconducting transformer works at DC, but I have no idea how it is used in the real world.

Maybe it will be alot more efficient? I read that the resistance losses are only 1% so maybe there wont be much of a difference.

 

[escksu]

All we need to do is develop a room temperature superconductor.

If someone can do that, he will win the nobel prize and easily the richest man on the planet....

I would also say high voltage AC will become obsolete. We no longer need 66kv to reduce resistance loss over long distance. We can run 12v and 0 loss.

It will change the whole world

 

[DonH56]

I've actually worked with superconductors, for RF/microwave filters, and things like JJs and SQUIDs for making data converter and logic circuits. Long time ago. Sub-4K and "high-temp" 77K stuff.

As for audio, I guess it depends upon where it is applied. I am not sure the OP's direction; strictly cables, all components, ???

Take all of this as IMO. Cable resistance is pretty much a solved problem, being well below that of the speakers, and for moderate runs less than that of most power amplifiers. The noise and distortion contributions of the cable itself are deep, deep in the mud for consumer audio, well below audibility. Superconducting circuits could reduce clock noise and jitter for digital transmission, but again we already have copious examples of products with levels well below audibility. We could make super low noise radio front ends, but radio as a hi-fi medium is pretty much gone, with the exception of digital transmissions. Storage (memory) could be an interesting application but I have almost no experience with that. Ditto quantum coupling.

All superconductors (AFAIK) have a critical current limit, so I suspect voltages will stay high even if and when we get high-temp SC long-lines for power transmission. There were a bunch of research projects on that at one time but I don't know where they stand today (not my field). They were doing tests using coils of cables with liquid nitrogen jackets to see how much current (power) they could transmit. The cables were immersed in large vats looking like something out of a James Bond or mad scientist movie.

 

[Vasr]

So, would the Eco mode switch off the super-conductivity?

 

[digital_av]

As the room temperature superconductor news is all over the internet I think it's worth to ressurect this old thread. I'm wondering...will my end-game planar loudpseakers (that were delivered just last month) become less end-game once this superconductor makes its way into loudspeaker manufacturing?

 

[Lawhaus]

As the room temperature superconductor news is all over the internet I think it's worth to ressurect this old thread. I'm wondering...will my end-game planar loudpseakers (that were delivered just last month) become less end-game once this superconductor makes its way into loudspeaker manufacturing?

I can’t wait for Audioquest to add battery’s to cables to make them more than superconductive

 

[mhardy6647]

https://www.science.org/content/article/spectacular-superconductor-claim-making-news-here-s-why-experts-are-doubtful

 

[egellings]

https://www.elektrisola.com/conductor-materials/copper.html
Honestly copper is so good already. Maybe 0.1DB gain over 10 meters prehaps. I'm more interested in what super conductors can do for inductors such as voice coils and transformers.

The benefit would be small for living room systems. A zero-ohm speaker wire or a Cu one with maybe 50 to 100 milli-ohms DCR would be indistinguishable in sound quality. You'd still have the fine wire in voice coils contributing to DCR, and that of inductors in crossovers, too. Reactive components of impedance (C, L) would not be measurably influenced at all. For wiring large venues like stadiums, such a conductor would be beneficial.

 

[fpitas]

https://www.science.org/content/article/spectacular-superconductor-claim-making-news-here-s-why-experts-are-doubtful

Didn't see that coming

 

[DonH56]

As the room temperature superconductor news is all over the internet I think it's worth to ressurect this old thread. I'm wondering...will my end-game planar loudpseakers (that were delivered just last month) become less end-game once this superconductor makes its way into loudspeaker manufacturing?

Electrically, maybe.

Sonically, no.

And you're likely to be dead before it happens anyway.

 

[mhardy6647]

Didn't see that coming

Yeah.
No free lunch.