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If Cables Are Not Tone Controls...

I can't count the times audiophiles have said "Cables are not tone controls".  But if we audition (remember that?) two sets of speaker cables and decide that one sounds "better" than the other, aren't we using it as a tone control?  You can call it whatever you want, but in reality we are deciding which cable contours the sound to our liking?  Or should we just buy the speaker cable with the lowest resistance, inductance and capacitance we can find and if it sounds like crap, change other components until it sounds good?  Then we're just using the other components we've swapped out as tone controls. Just asking.  
chayro

Showing 1 response by cakyol

cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
You answered your own question.

An ideal wire should have 0 resistance, 0 capacitance and 0 inductance.
But that does not exist.

So, try and find one with the lowest capacitance.  All things being equal, the capacitance of the wire is probably the most influential at audio frequencies.  If you want to be really fanatical about it, separate the normally dual speaker wire into individual ones and place them away from each other.

But, this is an exaggeration.  Human ear will not perceive any difference on wires shorter than about 50 - 60 feet.
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