connect 2 different wire gauge to pos and neg speaker terminal

@chalmersiv - although you will still hear music the sound quality between the two different combinations you mention may be different

If you step up to a higher quality ground wire then the quality will not be impacted

I currently use a high quality 16 gauge silver plated Mil-spec wire for the signal and a reasonable quality 13 gauge (2 x 16 gauge) for the neutral. The sound is extremely good, but that is due in large part to the geometry of the cable rather than the quality of the conductors used.

See:
http://image99.net/blog/files/d048bbacfce9bcad4a025be804771d9a-76.html

I have experimented with different combinations of conductor and having a thicker gauge neutral seems to provide a better sounding cable.

Although it would be nice to get away with cable from Lowes, there is no substitute for a conductor made from a reasonably high quality copper

I have also experimented with Romex, 12 gauge Extension cord (from Home Depot), Kimber Kable and the wire in the link above, using various geometries. The cables in the link above provides the best sound quality to date, surpassing all of the various store bought cables I have tried to date

Hope that helps - Steve

Good comments by Steve (Williewonka). I would add that if the + and - conductors referred to in the OP are not in close proximity, and preferably twisted together in some manner, the inductance of the cable will be considerably increased. If the impedance of the speakers is low at high frequencies (as it is, for example, in the case of many electrostatics), and/or if the cable length is long (inductance is proportional to length, for a given cable type), that may result in perceptible rolloff of the upper treble, and dull or sluggish sounding transients.

Also, in terms of wire quality I would consider the negative conductor to be no less important than the positive conductor. After all, they are conducting the same current, just in opposite directions at any given instant. A conceivable exception to that, however, is that the amplifier might be more susceptible to RFI/EMI picked up by the cable and introduced into its feedback loop (if it has one) from the positive conductor than from the negative conductor.

Regards,
-- Al

@almarg - you raise a point that has puzzled me for a very long time

  After all, they are conducting the same current, just in opposite directions at any given instant

Granted, the current may be flowing in the opposite direction in the signal conductor, but can the same be said of the neutral?

Is the neutral actually the opposite of of the signal?

When you consider - the neutral conductor in IC's are actually connected to the -ve side of the circuit(s) in the connected components and it's only the signal conductor actually "carrying" the alternating signal, things start to look a little different from the "return path" approach most people are familiar with.

 Granted - you do have to have to connect both  signal and neutral to both components to "complete the circuit", but is the neutral actually transferring energy that reflects the signal, i.e. except for its opposite polarity?

All of my cables now use different quality conductors, mainly because I have tried using the same conductor for signal and neutral  and found it provided no discernible advantage.

Having said that the quality of the neutral conductor I use is quite high

EXAMPLE: in my IC's I use a solid silver signal conductor and a quality copper neutral conductor of approximately twice the gauge of the silver.

Using a copper signal & copper neutral results in a less dynamic sound than the Silver Signal - copper neutral IC,
But using a silver neutral with a silver signal provided no benefit over the silver signal and copper neutral IC.


Also, when I think about speaker cables, the "energy" in the signal conductor must be very different from the neutral side simply because by the time the signal gets through the speaker voice coil, most of it has been converted into the movement of the driver, so the neutral must be quite different - doesn't it?

As I said - it has perplexed me for a very long time - even more so since I experimented with cables and experienced my observations.

Any help understanding this would be appreciated

Cheers - Steve

Hi Steve,

You raise good questions, which get into some complexities that are not obvious.

"The signal," and the energy that it conveys, is conducted through neither of the conductors. It is conducted in the form of an electromagnetic wave, which propagates at a substantial fraction of the speed of light in a vacuum, and propagates through the dielectric which surrounds the conductors. The exact propagation speed is dependent primarily on what is known as the "dielectric constant" of the particular insulation.

Putting aside reflection effects that can occur mainly at RF frequencies as a result of impedance mismatches, and assuming that the load is essentially resistive, that energy propagates in just one direction, from the source of the signal to the load. However, that propagation of the signal and its energy is intimately related to movement of electrons within both of the conductors, which takes place in both directions (the direction alternating in each of the two conductors, assuming we’re not dealing with DC), and which takes place at an ***extremely*** slow velocity that is referred to as "drift velocity." In the case of electrical signals that are conducted via wires (as opposed, for example, to being radiated through the air or a vacuum), the extremely slow movement of electrons within the conductors and the near light speed movement of the signal and its energy are intimately related, as I said, and one would not occur without the other.

A way to visualize it is that at the instant a signal voltage is applied to the source end of a cable, a **very** slow movement of electrons will occur into one of the two conductors at that end of the cable, and out of the other of the two conductors at that end of the cable, corresponding to the +/- polarity of the signal at that instant. At the other end of the cable, and at all points in between, there will be a similar slow movement of **different** electrons, with the response of those electrons being delayed from the response of the electrons at the source end of the cable by the amount of time it takes "the signal" to traverse the corresponding cable length (at near light speed).

What can be referred to as "the current," as opposed to "the signal," can be considered as corresponding to the number of electrons traversing a given cross-section of a conductor in a given amount of time. One ampere of current, for example, corresponds to one coulomb per second, where one coulomb corresponds to the amount of charge possessed by about 6.2 x 10^18 electrons.

So assuming that only two paths exist between the source and the load, namely the two conductors in a single cable, "the current" being conducted by both conductors in response to an applied signal is in fact identical, except that when it is moving in one direction in one conductor it is moving in the other direction in the other conductor. And in the case of audio signals, or any kind of signal other than DC, the directions in the two conductors alternate between each half-cycle of the waveform.

So with the slight possible exception I mentioned earlier about RFI/EMI pickup, in the case of a speaker cable the two conductors are of equal importance. In the case of a line-level analog interconnect, on the other hand, IMO the "ground" or "return" conductor should if anything be considered to be **more** important than the "signal" or "hot" conductor. The reason being that the characteristics of the return conductor may affect susceptibility to ground loop-related high frequency noise or low frequency hum, depending on the internal grounding configuration and other aspects of the designs of the particular components that are being connected.

So given the foregoing it hopefully becomes clear that your statement that...

... when I think about speaker cables, the "energy" in the signal conductor must be very different from the neutral side simply because by the time the signal gets through the speaker voice coil, most of it has been converted into the movement of the driver, so the neutral must be quite different - doesn’t it?

... is not a correct statement because the transfer of energy to the load goes hand-in-hand with current (movement of charge carriers, i.e., electrons) in **both** conductors. With that movement being equally important in the two conductors, and (putting aside the possible ground loop and RFI/EMI effects I’ve mentioned) being identical in the two conductors aside from being in opposite directions at any instant of time.

Hopefully that clarifies more than it confuses :-)

Best regards,
-- Al

...and I'm just happy to see a rational discussion about speaker wires that aren't 'esoteric'. *S*  Please carry on....