48 Pounds of Speaker Cable

Speedskater

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Sep 30, 2010
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It appears that each speaker cable has only one conductor. That means high to very high loop inductance, so some loudspeakers could have high frequency roll-off.
 

miniguy

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Dec 18, 2013
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San Diego area
It appears that each speaker cable has only one conductor. That means high to very high loop inductance, so some loudspeakers could have high frequency roll-off.

Apparently not so. I talked to the designer and he said his calculation showed vanishingly low inductance.
 

Speedskater

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2010
941
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Cleveland Ohio
Apparently not so. I talked to the designer and he said his calculation showed vanishingly low inductance.

Then either both conductors are in one cable or he didn't measure loop inductance.

It's easy to get confused between wire and loop inductance. A flat wire has much lower wire inductance than a round wire of the same cross-section area, that's why flat wires are better for 'ground' wires. But for loudspeaker cables, the closer the two conductors are to each other the lower the loop inductance. In effect the conductors cancel some of the wire inductance of the other conductor. The lower the inductance the better the high frequency response.
 
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cjf

Well-Known Member
Nov 19, 2012
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I think the look on the Cats face in pic#1 says it all without even saying a word :D
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I guess 48 lbs for 42 feet of cable isn't THAT bad is it? :D
 

Joe Cohen

Industry Expert
Jun 10, 2012
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The electrical properties of a ribbon conductor are not the same as those of a round wire. A wide ribbon can be seen to behave similarly to a litz conductor where thousands of adjacent conductors cancel each other’s inductance. An extremely low Q circuit results with negligible roll-off. Given that there are four ribbons in each cable assembly, the effect is multiplied.
 

Argonaut

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Jul 30, 2013
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So are the four ribbons? 2 plus and 2 minus

Correct, same as Magnan Sig.




 

JackD201

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Apr 20, 2010
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Joe Cohen

Industry Expert
Jun 10, 2012
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So are the four ribbons? 2 plus and 2 minus or to they all connect to one amp terminal?

4 Ribbons connect to one terminal. The aggregate gauge is around 0. If your model were correct, then the cable should function as a crossover component and the roll off would be anywhere between 796 and 3183 Hz depending on the impedance of the speaker. This is, of course, not the case. I invite you to come and audition a system outfitted with this cable when you are in the S.F. Bay Area.
 

Pb Blimp

Well-Known Member
Oct 30, 2017
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USA
Nordost uses a similar approach and have 0.125?H/ft inductance. Plus/minus conductors are adjacent but are in a flat (litz like) arrangement to minimize skin effect and do not rely on side by side +/- round wire configuration for reduction in loop inductance. Oh and they certainly do not roll off highs.

Lg-Valhalla 2-Speaker Cable-Spades_550-lightbox.jpg
 

Speedskater

Well-Known Member
Sep 30, 2010
941
15
368
Cleveland Ohio
In the Nordost loudspeaker cables, the Plus & Minus conductors are permanently molded close to each other (looking at the closest strands). So they may have reasonable loop inductance (I'll have to find the old equation book).
 

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