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)