Drubin: Thanks for the kind words. As a side note, i'm one of those people that get killed by the doom and gloom of murky winter weather. Now that the weather is breaking and the sun is beginning to show it's head through the clouds, i'm coming back out of hibernation. That first part of waking up can be a real bear though ; )
As to optimally configuring these cables, twist them into a spiral pair and then place them in the center of small diameter foam insulation tubes that are used for plumbing insulation purposes. When you have to make bends or radiuses, simply cut the foam before and after the radius leaving the cable exposed and then re-install the foam when going proceeding back in a straight line. Do yourself a favour though and cut the foam to fit by itself, not while it is wrapped around the cabling. Knicking the dielectric enamel on the conductors could result in a short circuit on your amp, which would not be pretty.
This approach not only protects enamel coating of the cabling from damage, it also acts as an acoustic isolater to reduce the microphony of the cables due to their increased rigidity. On top of that, the soft foam that lacks density also absorbs the mechanical vibration from the cable microphonics that makes its way into the cables past the acoustic isolation of the foam.
Those that are worried about "de-nuding" their cables by adding additional material around it, forget about it. You've already got a layer of dielectric that is not only covering the conductor, but that dielectric actually contours all of the nooks and crannies along the surface. In this respect, this is why enamel is a poorer dielectric than teflon. Not only is it more dense, it actually flows into the crevices whereas the type of teflon used as a jacket simply rides on the outermost surface of the metal.
In this respect, the foam pipe wrap may be equal to a or less "damaging" as a dielectric to the conductors than the type, density and quantity of enamel being used as an insulator. The foam is very soft and lacking in density on top of not being form-fitted to the conductors. Besides all of that, the enamal acts as a dielectric barrier between the conductors and the foam, pretty much making it a moot point. Sean
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PS... Like i said above, what works optimally and what one prefers within the confines of their system might be completely different things. Proceed at your own risk.
