Is There a Way to Lessen Vibration On Cables From Powered Speakers

Okay well here's one to try then, sandwich the whole length like that.

The salient point is stretch. Spring. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that spring. 

The tried and true method is to test for cheap or free. When I first heard about vibration control the idea seemed preposterous. But if there is anything to it then a phone book or bag of sugar on a component would make a difference you could hear. It did. Not much. Hardly any. Not the point. It proved the concept valid. However preposterous it seemed, nevertheless it did in fact work.  

One of the many advantages in doing things this way is you become a seriously good listener. Straining first to hear and then identify and evaluate the microscopically minor influence of a phone book means when you hear something really good you are not straining at all. You know it is really good. And right away, too!  

So the only time diminishing returns are a factor is when spending money on tweaks that don't work. 

Winner winner chicken dinner! Diminishing returns is a canard, a red herring, close enough for horseshoes and government work at best.  

When spent on tweaks that work there are things like Nobsound springs that are a huge improvement, and when you can significantly improve a $3k component with $30 springs that is hardly diminishing returns. The reason that lame old cliche is around is people try stuff that costs ten times Nobsound but are only slightly better. But then Townshend Pods are only slightly more than that and yet so much better they shatter the whole idea of diminishing returns. Moab on Podium outperforms Ulfberht on floor, and for less. That is hardly diminishing returns.  

The dealer who first started teaching me about all this, Stewart Marcantoni, once let me hear a system with twice the money in wire as components. Say again, the speaker cables, interconnects, and power conditioner all together cost twice the speakers, amp, pre-amp, and source. Twice. Not 50%. Not a little more. Twice. It was the best system I heard at that point in time, and for a good many years thereafter.  

These are not the bands you are looking for.

It is actually a lot better to have the speaker on springs or even better Podiums. Either of those is way better than anything firm or rigid as anything that couples like that brings ringing, smearing, and harmonics that color timbre and tone altering natural instrumental character. 

The trick with rubber bands is that just like springs they have to be sized to the load. My first ones were whatever I grabbed from the kitchen drawer. Once I heard it work then I experimented to find the right thickness and tension. Nowhere near as hard as it seems. Just stretch the rubber band lay the cable on it see how it bounces. Just like a spring it works best if the cable is heavy enough to stretch the band, because otherwise if the band is too strong it doesn't isolate much. But not so heavy it stretches it too much, because then it won't work as well and probably break all the time anyway.  

Do it right tecknik they will last a very long time. Mine are going on a year or so. They are after all rubber bands so not gonna last forever but easy and dirt cheap to replace because they are after all rubber bands. 

First get the angles and path figured out as best you're able. Then figure out how to suspend all the cables so they are free to bounce and move. Easiest way I know is to stretch a rubber band across something so the cable lays on it kind of like a hammock. Look at mine on my system page. Hard to get a camera angle but the cable lays on the rubber band not touching the ceramic insulator at all, and if you tap it will bounce freely. This works so well I have done demos where people can hear the effect from removing just one of these. Ceramic is probably best but people have gone as cheap as cardboard and still heard improvement.  

Remember, once you get the angles right like you did then free unrestrained movement (aka, isolation) is the key.

If it doesn't bend how does it get there in the first place?

I can tell you what that will sound like but it is a cheap experiment and that way you learn from experience. The more effective answer is route the cables in such a way that the vibration is crosswise rather than axial. In other words put a bend in them near the speaker. This will help prevent the majority of vibration from traveling as far.  

Put the speakers themselves on Townshend Podiums. This will reduce ringing in the speaker, which will reduce ringing in the wires. Use cable elevators with rubber bands or other similar means of isolating the cables.  

In spite of appearances the best approach is to allow them to move, but in a way that allows them to dissipate energy without transmitting it to other stuff, which always results in ringing to some degree or other.