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Western Electric WE16GA versus Ordinary Cable (Any cable for that matter)

Does speaker cable matter at 100w

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 12 100.0%
  • Don't know

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .

Killingbeans

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But the thing is that zip cord most likely doesn't have high enough capacitance to need the compensation from a Zobel network ;)

As far as I understand, using a Zobel network in this way doesn't really have anything to do with performance. It's just protection against fringe situations causing amplifier instability.

In other words: Zip cord on its own would be all the performance you can ask for.
 
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DonH56

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But the thing is that zip cord most likely doesn't have high enough capacitance to need the compensation of a Zobel network ;)

As far as I understand, using a Zobel network in this way doesn't really have anything to do with performance. It's just protection against fringe situations causing amplifier instability.
The RC snubber is not for compensation, it is to suppress RFI from getting into the output and back to the input through the feedback network where it can be rectified and amplified. Many amplifiers include RFI filters internally so it may not be needed/helpful. I have not had to add one in years, but then again no longer have my HAM station set up. I installed a number of them in the late 1970/1980's CB craze -- too many "linears" (generally sweep-tube amplifiers of questionable design) spraying RFI like crazy. Not sure if amplifier designs got more resistant or it just reflects the reduction in CB/HAM operators.

FWIWFM - Don
 

fpitas

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But the thing is that zip cord most likely doesn't have high enough capacitance to need the compensation from a Zobel network ;)

As far as I understand, using a Zobel network in this way doesn't really have anything to do with performance. It's just protection against fringe situations causing amplifier instability.

In other words: Zip cord on its own would be all the performance you can ask for.
Most likely. Still, I like not upsetting the amplifier at all. I splurged a dollar for the networks.
 

fpitas

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The RC snubber is not for compensation, it is to suppress RFI from getting into the output and back to the input through the feedback network where it can be rectified and amplified. Many amplifiers include RFI filters internally so it may not be needed/helpful. I have not had to add one in years, but then again no longer have my HAM station set up. I installed a number of them in the late 1970/1980's CB craze -- too many "linears" (generally sweep-tube amplifiers of questionable design) spraying RFI like crazy. Not sure if amplifier designs got more resistant or it just reflects the reduction in CB/HAM operators.

FWIWFM - Don
It can affect the amplifier stability, too. The wire looks like a tuned line hanging on the amp output. If the feedback loop still has gain where it's tuned, you can get trouble.
 

DonH56

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It can affect the amplifier stability, too. The wire looks like a tuned line hanging on the amp output. If the feedback loop still has gain where it's tuned, you can get trouble.
Yah, but I can only think of a time or two in decades of audio where that was an issue, at least for me. The only time that really stands out was Cobra Cables (woven strands doing a speaker-wire Litz impression) and a marginally stable class D amp into a nasty speaker load back in the 1980's at a Chicago CES. One *zip* and the amp died. There may have been another time or two, but at least in my experience, the snubber was for RFI and not amplifier stability. The speaker's impedance tended to swamp the wire's. That said, you may have run into more unstable amps than I... :) I was not a fan of the super wideband amp craze (e.g. HK, Spectral).
 

fpitas

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Yah, but I can only think of a time or two in decades of audio where that was an issue, at least for me. The only time that really stands out was Cobra Cables (woven strands doing a speaker-wire Litz impression) and a marginally stable class D amp into a nasty speaker load back in the 1980's at a Chicago CES. One *zip* and the amp died. There may have been another time or two, but at least in my experience, the snubber was for RFI and not amplifier stability. The speaker's impedance tended to swamp the wire's. That said, you may have run into more unstable amps than I... :) I was not a fan of the super wideband amp craze (e.g. HK, Spectral).
Yes, the super wideband amps, and those keeping full loop gain past 20kHz to minimize TIM. I agree it's usually not a problem. I only mentioned it because this thread is obsessing about speaker cables.
 

T&T

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From a non believer...until I tried WE16GA was like adding a Dac in top of a Dac, I remember my first time...wdf... I was missing, I prefer Belden for interconnects, but for Speakers wire Western Electric, so is Cooper Tinned cable no Cooper or Tin is a mix, also have a cloth and plastic insulation not sure how help with the sound.
 

Philbo King

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I'll be up front and totally honest here,I am a cable denier.Just so you know where my vote is going.

Does it matter if I use zip cord for speaker cables?
Zip cord is great. As long as the wire resistance is a small fraction (like 10% or less, lower fraction is better) of speaker impedance, and can handle the current... That is easily calculated for any given wire length and gauge from wire gauge tables.
 
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SIY

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From a non believer...until I tried WE16GA was like adding a Dac in top of a Dac, I remember my first time...wdf... I was missing, I prefer Belden for interconnects, but for Speakers wire Western Electric, so is Cooper Tinned cable no Cooper or Tin is a mix, also have a cloth and plastic insulation not sure how help with the sound.
It's always useful to remember Poe's Law.
 

egellings

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There are a bazillion threads on this. No, as long as they are large enough for the job. "Large enough" is more complex than just a single number, but rules of thumb abound. Roger Russell's (RIP) site has a good overview: http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

From an Ebay advert for WE16GA: "The bottom line this mix of Cooper with tin metals is better conductor than any Cooper and this have the best of both world. " A quick search shows the resistivity of copper is about 1.7e-8, silver is 1.6e-8 (a hair better), and tin is 1.1e-7 (about 6.5 times worse than copper), all in ohm-m. So very wrong, assuming "cooper" is copper and not some new material I've never heard of. Wish I could just make up facts like that.

For the record, gold is 2.4e-8 ohm-m, so a little worse than copper or silver (and yet much better than tin), but resists oxidation ("rust") so is often used as an external coating for connectors. Gold is not a better conductor than copper despite the occasional marketing blurbs.

Blah - Don
The amount of resistance is a normal living room length of speaker wire is so low that those minor differences won't matter much.
 
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