[Boatanchors] Speaker wire - a history

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K0DAN" <k0dan at comcast.net>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 8:55 AM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Speaker wire - a history


>A must-read for the aspiring audiophool!
>
> ------------------------
>
> Speaker wire - a history. Truths, testing & marketing 
> sales pitches.
>
> http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

    A very long time ago I sold professional sound and 
broadcast equipment. My company sold some magic speaker wire 
called Kimber Kable. I thought it was total nonesense but 
got curious. I set up two speakers, I think KEF but  am not 
sure after all this time, with about a 25 foot run of wire 
to each. I used typical No.18 zip cord to one and Kimber 
Kable to the other. The difference was not subtle, the 
Kimber Kable was definitely better.  I measured the loop 
resistance and discovered why; the Kimber Kable was about 
No.12 and the resistance much lower.  I am not sure why this 
made a difference but think it had to do with damping the 
impedance variations around the cross-over frequencies.  I 
think the idea is to minimize the resistance of the 
connection to the speaker.  These were, by memory, 8 ohm 
speakers. The wire was just plain wire made by one of the 
regular manufacturers and re-branded.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com