From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!orion!lime!houti!hogpc!houxz!houxi!whuxk!wjm
Newsgroups: net.audio
Title: connecting cables
Article-I.D.: whuxk.156
Posted: Wed Mar 16 08:55:42 1983
Received: Wed Mar 23 00:45:01 1983

Frankly, I agree with Mark Terriblile that the use of Litz wire in the
outer conductor of a coaxial patch cord is overkill.  However, the connecting
cables may be the weakest link in a high quality audio system, and in a
high - end system, the use of premium cables (running about $25-30/meter)
is probably worth it.  Certainly gold plated phono plugs are worthwhile
since the conventional ones can add considerable noise through rectification
of RF due to poor contact caused by corrosion.  Also, the lower capacitance
of these cables (generally due to their increased dielectric diameter)
can improve the frequency response f
some components (especially moving magnet phono cartridges).  In addition,
they generally have better shielding which will reduce noise, and RF
pickup (and make your system less susceptable to CB, etc interference).
I've dissected some "standard" cables and found that the shielding was not
anywhere near 100% of the cable area.
They also have lower losses than conventional cables, due to the use of
higher conductivity (and heavier gauge) copper for the conductors.
While in theory, the use of Litz wire should improve performance by
reducing skin effect, I'd have to be convinced that it provides significant
effects at 20KHz.
While wer
While we're on the subject of patch cords, I'd like to flame about the
use of light gauge cables for speaker wire.  In order to maintain the high
damping factor of a good power amp, one should use adequately heavy speaker
wire.  Certainly nothing smaller than 18 gauge should ever be used, and
for runs of more than 6 or 8 feet with a high power (> 100 W/ch) amp or
4 ohm loads, 16 or 14 gauge is preferable.  I don't think one has to use
these "special configuration" speaker wires, and some of them have been
known to do nasty things to finicky power amps - so if your amp has 
a reputation for having problems with "difficult" loads (like electrostatic
speakers), beware.   Personally, I use 14/2 SJ cord (the standard heavy-duty
black extension cord) which I bought at my friendly neighborhood hardware
store for speaker leads (even though a Hafler DH-220 can drive almost any load),
and I use the Audio Interface "Missing Link" cables (about $40/meter) for
interconnecting cables.
As for where high quality interconnections are most important, it depends on
the signal level - here is my priority list:
Most Critical  - phono to preamp
                 preamp to any signal processors (EQ, etc)
                 preamp to power amp
                 tape deck to/from preamp
Least Critical - tuner to preamp

I put the most stress on the low level phono circuit, then circuits which
all signals must pass through, and put the tuner last due to the relatively
poor quality of most FM stations to begin with (I won't even talk about AM).
                                                 Bill Mitchell
                                                 Bell Labs - Whippany
                                                 (whuxk!wjm)