Would you change your amp selection knowing...?

Would speaker cables that use separate jackets for the + and - speaker have zero (no) capacitance?

Unsound, thank you kindly for the gracious response.  Cycles2, separating the two conductors as you describe will result in capacitance being very low, although not zero.  However, it will cause inductance to be considerably higher than if the conductors were in close proximity.  And in a speaker cable inductance is much more likely to be a significant factor than capacitance, aside from the situation that has been discussed in which cable capacitance is ultra-high and the amplifier is sensitive to that.

High inductance is particularly likely to have significant sonic consequences if speaker impedance at high frequencies is low (such as in the case of most electrostatic speakers) and cable length is long.  That is because the impedance presented by an inductance is directly proportional to frequency, and cable inductance is directly proportional to length.

Regards,
-- Al
 

I saw this thread and recalled a review of the Schiit Vidar amp when it first came out.  I think it was the computer audiophile site, and when the reviewer tried his 9 gauge cables, the amp started having issues.  

The reviewer sent the amp back to Schiit, they did some investigating and decided to make a change to the amp as a result.  Personally I don't see the need to ever employ 9 gauge speaker cables in any of my systems, but there you go.

@ghosthouse - I don’t profess to be an expert or anywhere near that, since I have only been "tinkering" with the effects of cable design and geometries for about the past 4 years,

WRT...

I wonder if their, "...barring a really odd design, which may introduce various undesirable effects...." is tacit acknowledgement of the oscillation risk you raise

In short - yes, I believe so to.

But I would interpret "odd design" to be a reference to the diealectric attributes of the insulation used, and cable geometry, because they too are a factor in the capacitance of the cable.


But there are a couple of points in the text you posted that I believe should be expanded upon, e.g. ...

The first point...

speaker cables are, for all practical purposes, immune from interference from EMI or RFI,

When EMI/RFI is introduced into the conversation it is generally with respect to external EMI/RFI influences.

However, I believe the Proximity Effect, which is EMI/RFI between the conductors within a cable has a far greater impact than people are led to believe.

From that perspective, speaker cables are probably affected the most due to the higher voltages and current they are subject too..

An "experiment" that I tried - which I believe demostrates the impact of the Proximity Effect in speaker cables - like the D352...

I listened to the D352 as is - then I seperated the two conductors and allowed about 2" of space between the conductors.

The impact of simply seperating the two conductors was a significant improvement in sound quality across the board,...

- better bass control and depth
- improved image
- improved clarity
- improved dynamics

The second point...

The answer to keeping conductivity high is simple: the larger the wire, the lower the resistance, and the higher the conductivity.

I feel this is also not the entire story - so let’s disect it a little further.

According to the International Annealed Copper Standard - IACS

1. Silver (Pure) 105%
2. Copper 100%
3. Gold (Pure) 70%
4. Aluminum 61%
5. Brass 28%
6. Zinc 27%
7. Nickel 22%

And - If you delve a little deeper, you will find it is the valance electrons in an atom that conduct "electricity"
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/j298b/what_makes_copper_silver_and_gold_so_much_more/?s...

QUOTE from the link above:

As atoms get larger however, more and more electrons are between the nucleus and valence shell, shielding the outermost electrons from the nucleus’ influence. This is why silver is a better conductor than copper, it is a larger atom with a more strongly shielded nucleus.

But since the valence electrons in silver are less influenced by the nucleous it takes far less force to have them switch between atoms.

The net resuilt of all this science
- not only is silver a better conductor - i.e. from a resistance perspective)
- it is a FASTER conductor.due to the shielded valence electrons

So - it is not JUST the size of the cable, but the material the conductor is made from.

FYI: in my tinkering with cables, I have tried cables of of various sizes and cables that are just copper and cables that are silver coated copper.

Personally I liked the speed and details of the siver coated cables.

The larger gauge did seem to convey deeper more well controlled bass frequencies than lighter gauge i.e. with cables that used a simple cable geometry.

HOWEVER - all that changed once I made cables with a HELIX cable geometry.

The HELIX Cable provided better performance across the board, especially improved bass depth and control,
However, it did so using lighter gauge conductors

In my case...
- I was using a 10 gauge Van den Hul D352 speaker cable (silver plated)
- I now use a cable with
--- a 16 gauge Silver plated signal conductor and
--- a 13 guage tinned neutral conductor

SO...
- selecting a heavier gauge cable is a simplistic approach.
- I believe selecting cable with a well designed geometry is a far better solution.

One such cable is the QED Silver Spiral.
- please note that I have not personally tried this cable,
- BUT the geometry of this cable is similar to my own HELIX design and should make this cable a very good performer.
- I have also heard from others that seem to like this cable very much

It is my belief that most large cable manufacturers are aware of the cable capacitance issue and they may not publish the capacitance values because...
- the capacitance of their cables do NOT pose a problem.
- also, they fear it may just "muddy the waters" for many consumers.

Hats off to companies like CARDAS and Van den Hul, for ensuring capacitance values for their cables are published.

Yes - it would ne nice if ALL cable companies posted full cable attributes

But - l beileve it is up to the manufacturer of the amplifiers likely to be affected by the wrong cable choice, to make their consumers aware of this issue, like NAIM does

Apologies for the long post - Steve

@williewonka

Thanks for taking time to reply. No need to apologize for the length. Appreciate your efforts to be thorough. Still digesting, though on the initial read-through you've provided worthwhile elaboration on BJC's comments.  Performance not simply a function of conductivity as influenced by gauge, but metallurgy, and geometry too.  I think your idea of separating to reduce locally generated "intra cable" interference is practiced by mftrs. producing "flat" cables like Wireworld and Mapleshade (others too, no doubt).  Thanks again.