A contrarian's view of inductance in SCs


Inductance is another way of saying magnetic field produced by a moving charge. Mutual inductance is what happens when another is brought into close proximity of the first.

From what I gathered by my system, and the science papers I've read, I believe pairing speaker leads to, "rounding the corners," so to speak. Everything becomes more homogenized.

I was curious why that would be, so I looked up inductance on the net. Here are a few science excerpts concerning inductance from Wikipedia. The emphasis is mine:

"Mutual inductance is the concept that the change in current in one inductor can induce a voltage in another nearby inductor. It is important as the mechanism by which transformers work,

*but it can also cause unwanted coupling between conductors in a circuit*."

and this:

"For high frequencies the electrical current flows in the conductor surface (skin effect), and depending on the geometry it sometimes is necessary to distinguish low and high frequency inductances. This is the purpose of the constant Y: Y=0 when the current is uniformly distributed over the surface of the wire (skin effect), Y=1/4 when the current is uniformly distributed over the cross section of the wire.

*If conductors approach each other then in the high frequency case an additional screening current flows in their surface and the expressions containing Y get invalid.*"

Despite the bad grammar, I think you folks get the idea. The bulk of the article is comprised of high order mathematics. The above is just a perfunctory summary.

Please don't come in and say I have to hear various cables before I can make such a sweeping generality. I have heard a good variety of cables from the ridiculously cheap to insanely expensive. None have measured up to the separate run ribbon SCs on my system.

The science behind this fascinates me. Science does not know the real nature of an audio signal. It is probably part particle and part wave form, just like light. It is traveling a smidgeon less fast than light.

One thing that science teaches us about the very very small is you can't even observe it without influencing it's behavior. Now, we are asked by cable manufacturers, and their fans to believe we need to bind that mysterious and fragile music signal to a foreign magnetic force - mutual inductance. Why?
muralman1

Showing 5 responses by tgrisham

I twisted the positive and the negative together, approximately 4 twists per foot.
I understand little about the electrical properties of wire. These wires are difficult to make contact throughout their entire length. It is easiest when they are new. It seems even their close proximity to each other makes a difference in sound. As I understand fields, the fields generated are a function of their distance apart. Whatver the reason, it seems to make a difference, at least it did at the time. Although it could have been the atmospheric hiss from the Van Allen Belts. Who knows?
I have only a small example. I have run my Speltz anti-cable speaker wires both separated and twisted. There is an audible difference, subtle but unmistakeable. In my rig and in my room I preferred the twisted for the upper frequency module and separated for the bass module. In essence, there is something to the effect one cable has on the other. It's all about what sounds best to you.
I can't speak to whether or not the anti-cables are diminished , because I don't perceive that in my system. Because most all other wires are in close proximity to each other, wouldn't most speaker wires be perceived as exciting the HF? Could it be that designers of speakers and electronics voice their equipment with standard parallel speaker wires? Could it be that separate wires actually are slightly rolled off, thus compensating for brighter electronics? Of course, I am just posing questions for fun. After all is said, its only what sounds good to you. Who knows, I may go downstairs, untwist the wires and listen again. There are so many factors involved, and so few absolutes.
Not heresy at all! I do believe that there is a theoretical advantage of separate ribbon wires, vs solid core wires. I have not heard them side by side. I still believe that solid copper wire is good, especially considering that there are terminals and internal speaker wire that are often inferior to the expensive wire we purchase. Although silver wire and silver coated copper wire may sound different in different systems, it is the synergy of the amplifier-wire-speaker that is important. I don't believe that wire can transform a system, only make it worse. The better the connectors and the more pure the wire, the less the signal from amplifier to speaker changes. Just a belief on my part, not fact.