No one actually knows how to lculate what speaker cable they need


It goes back to cable manufaturars, mostly provide no relevant data! to sales and the users. None will answer this!
Whay do you think that you own now the optimal cable to your setup?
I think I've figured it out. 


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I would like to make myself clear about the speaker cables:

Speaker cables were never tackled by the audio industry properly. They've been over looked or got a magic approach, rather an engineering approach. Bad for all of us.

The roll of speaker cables is to connect the amplifier and the speakers. But not only. It is also to extend the DF of the amplifier. The higher is the DF the better. However, the speaker cables needs to be also better (lower impedance). There is a relation between the two. This relation can be calculated, as per the cable's length and their gauge.

Any approach that goes with an empiric "try and error" is mostly of people who do not understand the technical side of this subject. Others have a business oriented interest to keep the crowd in the dark and feed it with confusion. The less the customers know or understand, the better it is for their business. They can tell fairy tales and sale their products well. Some audiophiles are so deep and badly embedded in that crap, that it will take a brain surgery to get rid of that.

For those who think that those wire tales of gauge vs. length on the web are helpful, or that they can keep the "try and error" approach, with no particular formula to get closer or zoom in toward a desire result, rather than try to understand and use some science and sense - this conversation was not for them.

For those who may accept that there is a physical (electrical) relation and it can be calculated and implemented, it may be a significant way to improve their sound. Unfortunately, most speaker cables are of 14-12 AWG and with some length from 8' to 24'. For the length, by increase the length from 8' to 16', in order to keep the same resistance of a cable, the cable's cross-section needs to double. For 24' length it needs to triple and so on.

The electronic point of view, of looking at the electrical current loop of an amplifier, speaker and cables, the speaker cables are an extension of the amplifier. Actually it is an extension of its DF or output resistor. When using that for the analysis, the speaker has almost no significance, as what its impedance is. It has significance for the amplifier, as of what power it needs to drive: low impedance and low efficiency requires more powerful amplification. Those usually come with higher (and better) DF. That calls for a thicker and lower resistance speaker cable. For most, at a time they are ready to accept the extra expanse on amplification, the speaker cables are way over looked. It is a sad decision as the optimal performance of that system is now limited and held back by the poor speaker cable.

People that were using 12-14 gauges, 12' long cables, when replacing it with the right cable as for their equipment (0 gauge and just 8' long for DF=500) the sound had improved significantly. This particular example reflects an improvement of x25. It is a tremendous sonic difference.

Sometimes, you hear that say, that at a certain level ($) of a sound equipment, you need to double the budget to get as much as 10% improvement. This is a classic case of a better amplifier with even better DF, without taking in consideration the speaker cables. Now it all the sudden has a mathematical explanation, to support the say.

 


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Vtl 250 mono blocks,  speaker is Gradient 1.3  they are 4 feet away from amp,  thank you
All this is eye-of-newt-and-toe-of-frog. Get good, rationally-engineered, not-too-expensive cables (I use Blue Jeans), and keep them matched in length and reasonably short.