User Manual

CABLE THEORY

Page 3

De-tinting this last pane will seem to make a bigger difference than de-tinting any of the previous panes.

We are naturally more impressed by the elimination of the red tint than by the previous reduction in the

tint’s density. If you didn’t want to hear trafc on the str eet, reducing the trafc from three cars per min-

ute to none at all would be more impressive than reducing the ow from nine per minute to six. People

are more sensitive to the presence of a phenomenon (the red or the cars) than to the quantity.

This type of surprise result, where we expected 1+1=2 and we think we got 1+1=3, is often called “syn-

ergy.” In truth, the “synergistic” aspect of this improvement would have been the same no matter which

pane of glass happened to be the last one cleaned not much magic or synergy in that.

Sometimes we are faced with empirical data that we simply don’t understand. However, such a lack of

understanding doesn’t mean the phenomenon is magical or incomprehensible. A visual analogy might

be; just because something is too far away to see doesn’t mean that the distance in-between is innite.

Our limitations might seem innite, but that doesn’t mean that a phenomenon we don’t understand takes

place on the same scale. A more rigorous application of logic and scientic method might prevent all the

brouhaha we get about magical combinations.

Assembling or upgrading a system to cost-effectively maximize performance requires a broad perspec-

tive and a trustworthy evaluation methodology. Combined productively, these ingredients make the

process predictable and enjoyable. (Please see “Evaluation Methodology” at the end of this booklet.)

The Challenge Of Speaker (High Current) Cable Design

While there are many physical, electrical and magnetic phenomena responsible for distortion in cables,

there are really only a few basic mechanisms which account for the majority of the performance varia-

tions between cables. After considering the following information and evaluating even a small variety of

different cable types, you can acquire the ability to look at a cable’s design and know pretty well whether

it deserves your further attention. Please don’t close your mind to new possibilities, just develop an

educated skepticism.

Skin-Effect is one of the most fundamental problems in cables. It is useful to think of a metal conductor

as a rail-guide. Electric potential is transferred as current inside a metal conductor and as a magnetic

eld outside the conductor. One cannot exist without the other. The only place that both magnetic eld

and current density are 100% is at the surface of a conductor. The magnetic eld outside a conductor

diminishes at distances away from the conductor, density is 100% only at the surface of the conduc-

tor. Something similar is true inside the conductor. Skin-effect means that current density diminishes at

distances away from the surface on the inside.

There is some disagreement as to whether skin-effect is relevant at audio frequencies. The argument

concerns whether skin-effect causes damage other than simply power loss. Since the 3dB down point

(50% power loss) for a certain size strand might be at 50,000Hz, not everyone understands the mecha-

nism by which skin-effect is a problem at audio frequencies (20-20,000Hz). However, the problems are

very real and very audible. This is because well before skin-effect causes a substantial power loss, it

causes changes in resistance and inductance. Skin-effect causes different frequencies to encounter

different electrical values at different distances from the surface of a conductor.

If a single strand is too large, skin-effect will cause each frequency component of an audio signal to

behave differently. Each frequency component will exhibit a unique current density prole. The result