Alpha Core Goertz

FWIW...I run a biwire setup with the top end being AC MI-2's & the bottom braided Cat5...both are high capacitance/low inductance cables. Amp is a McCormack DNA-1. No zobels...no issues. I'll be switching out the Cat 5 cables in favor of a second set of AC MI-2's..don't plan on adding zobels. I don't think the capacitance will be much different between the Cat5's & the MI-2s...actually it'll probably be a bit less.

I have no issues with zobels & would use them if they were needed. When I asked Steve McCormack about the need for zobels in the DNA1 he said, "Hmmm...not sure if you'll need them. Try the cables & if you need zobels you'll know right away as the you'll hear a squeal." I installed the cables & very gently fired things up...no issues & that was a year ago.

I guess that I could have probably trimmed the wide cables down to a thinner gauge and attached them perhaps with no problem. But I'm using a vintage Mac 225 tube amp all the outputs are very closely set together.

Unsound, it is a normal design practice to put a network at the output of an amplifier. In effect, it accomplishes the same thing as adding a zobel, i.e. keeping the amp stable into reactive loads. There are designers who feel that this network effects the sound of the amp in ways they find undesirable. Some designers leave them out for this reason.

The question for the owner of one of these amps is, do I find speaker cables that the amp can drive or do I bandaid the design with a zobel, effectively putting back what the designer avoided in the first place.

My solution is to use an amp that doesn't need help in this area. Were I to choose an amp like the one you describe, I'd also choose cables that the amp was compatible with.

YMMV

The zobels needed for some amps with Alpha-Core Goertz (or other designs with similar characteristics for that matter) is due to feedback from the speakers. Placing the zobels at the speaker terminals easily and unobstrusively resolves this dilemna. I'm not alone in finding the Alpha-Core Goertz speaker cables to be particularly compatible with the wide-bandwidth Threshold amps. In no way am I arguing that it's not the amps that neccesitate the use of zobels, only that there is a very easy solution that accomplishes the desired end result, and it does so with out any compromise. If needed, there is no sound reason not use zobels.

If needed, there is no sound reason not use zobels.

Indeed, a very good reason to do so is to avoid oscillation fm the amp.
Nice pun, btw (intended or not):)