No one actually knows how to lculate what speaker cable they need


It goes back to cable manufaturars, mostly provide no relevant data! to sales and the users. None will answer this!
Whay do you think that you own now the optimal cable to your setup?
I think I've figured it out. 


b4icu
Mr. geoffkait
Please don’t worry about any direction of the AC current. They are both well. No other area in electricity (from consumer to space) ever dealth with such a thing as directivity in condutors. In audio, it did. Not because it is any different nor more important (than medical life supporting equipment), but because that crowd is willing to buy that story and pay for it a lot.
There is no such thing, except in audio. Sales guys who take us as NAIVE as it gets.
By the way, if you drink EVIAN mineral water, you might be one of them...
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People are free to believe what they wish to believe. But I wouldn’t expect audiophiles as a group, who demonstrate a good amount of skepticism, to necessarily automatically buy into any hog swallop that might be tossed their way, but I also suspect skeptics like yourself are outweighed by the great numbers of audiophiles who do hear directionality and have for twenty years. Time to wake up and smell the coffee! ☕️

Mr. geoffkait
That directional power cord ,that you have mentioned before, if instead of using it on my audio gear, I'll connect it to my coffee machine, would it make a better coffee?

I think that to be an audiophile, I need to use both, my ears and what's in between. This is how I came out with this idea, how to calculate speaker cables.

For some reason, there are too many weird stories going on with audio and audiophiles, that no other hobby does (like photography, that use optics and camera):

Directional wires, Cryogenic treat, Skin effect in the audio band, Burn In to wires!, Bi wired, Silver over cooper and more. All that for a wire? Is that a hidden camera program or for real?

So sayeth The Iron Sheik.  Pro wrestling at its worst? You mean there’s a best?
No one actually knows how to calculate what speaker cable they need.
If listening specifications and comparing data information on all audio equipment was the final solution, many good companies would go out of business. Tube equipment and turntables would be extinct. Specs are important, but audio is listening (to what the end user is happy with). That said, for me a well made, proper gauge cable is all that is needed. 
I've mentioned before (but really, you simply can't get enough of these fascinating tales) that my current speaker cable was chosen because Bill Low, who just happened to be standing behind me at a shop when I was talking about bi-wire cables with a sales dude, personally handed me a set and said, "use these." He said some interesting things like his personal hifi rig is in his bedroom (!), and that some sort of magnetic interference issue was obviated by the separate runs of wire in his Rocket cables. My "Marshall McLuhan" hifi moment. And the cables get the juice to the speakers with aplomb.
Confident and self assured cables meandering with a notable strut is apparently a good thing. (sorry...)
This is NOT in any way addressed to GK. I understand you have your own relationship to engineering and unique undertandings.
b4icu you seem to have a partial handle on some aspects of signal transmission physics, perhaps this link might be partly useful
http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_verdadcables.htm
If not, no problem. Most engineers understand that damping factor is swamped by the nature of driver, uniformly low amp output impedance, little effected by typical lengths of speaker wire.
Best wishes.

Why would you say: " No one actually knows how to calculate what speaker cable they need", when I just said I do?
Audio, as many other things is based on science. Not just listening and likes. All that knowledge that been put into the equipment is coming from calculation and monticules design.

Not by audiophiles that tried all possible options and ended up with one they like most.

This fact, of "No one actually knows how to calculate what speaker cable they need" is very sad. I'm in this hobby for 45 years, and it's time to change that.

During that long period of time, many firms took advantage of our ignorance, telling tells of ferry tails for tons of money, spent for their benefit, rather than ours.

 


My relationship to engineering is that I am one. And my understandings are by no means unique. Actually, my understandings are rather with the majority of high end audiophiles. Better luck next time. 

Mr. ganainm

I’d read the long article. It is not providing an answer, of what speakers cables I need to my system. It mostly tackles phenomena that are minor or do not exist at all with speaker cables.

I can NOT take that information that your article provides, and go shopping for my new speaker cables. 

The article may look impressing to a none engineering skilled eye. For an engineer (mostly analog) It will be on the edge of ridicules or absurd.

What I’m saying, is that I can do such a calculation and provide the accurate data of what cable I need. As that been repeated and the results were profound and consistence, I can tell that it works.


Mr. geoffkait
The fact you are an engineer, should help you understand better than others, what I'm saying. I'm sorry that you can't do that.
I assume that there are also plenty of good and talented engineers with those cable firms, that also never solved it.

Instead, they came up with all kind of ferry tails.

“If I could explain it to the average person they wouldn’t have given me the Nobel prize.” 
Mr. geoffkait

Thanks, but no thanks. It is not a Nobel price thing. The fact that others didn’t came up with that before, is their shame, not my triumph.

Now it’s for you to pick a side.

I know that the butter on this bread slice is more with the cryogenic treat, the skin effect, the directional wire, the silver and all that stuff. Unfortunately, you haven’t offered them the Nobel Price! Did you? 

They did well. They offered you crap and were taking your money. That worth a nobel price.

I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears you don’t even know what wire directionality is. How can I in good conscience argue with you any longer?
" How can I in good conscience argue with you any longer?"
Be he came here to argue geoff, me thinks science is different in his part of the world.
B4icu 

How about you post the formula you supposedly invented? I don't think you have one that could withstand any scrutiny. 
Mr.  kosst_amojan
Why should I give you the formula?
Post it on the web is giving it away to all. I don't think that you would do it, or any body else would do it.
I gave some the final results, after they told me what equipment it connects and the length they need.
This is as far I'm willing to go.
"Whay do you think that you own now the optimal cable to your setup?"
The sound comes out of the speakers.


What is this thread about? Four sentences out of which three are statements which seem to imply some undisputable facts. The fourth one is the question above which is either suspiciously easy to answer, or is too vague to answer.

If there is some formula, what is the harm of giving it away? Is this some marketing scheme?
So now what....
Myself being a mechanical engineer, I mostly have no clue what you guys, being talented electrical engineers, are talking about. However, fortunately or unfortunately, as the debate -even amongst the most talented electrical engineers- continues, I will have to try out cables, and let my ears decide which ones I like the most. I will have no technical explanation on why a certain cable sounds better to my opinion...but for me, I'm fine with that. That's also what I like about this hobby, there is no clear 1+1=2 solution. I would not even like that...
Mr.  glupson

In a market that is loaded with schemes, awkward tells of directional wires, skin effect and many more, cables that goes for thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, you really think that giving away this formula is a brilliant idea, to satisfy your personal need to know?

Did you ask for the formula from other sources, that are in the industry and tell those awkward tells of directional wires, skin effect and many more?

Most, had buy the story (with the cable) without the formula! Because there is no formula for those tells. The only formula they have is marketing and cash flow.

Mr. han_n

Would you use the same method when you are driving your car to an unfamiliar place? Just drive and drive without any particular direction, till you find it (or not). Willing to pay the money and time?
Well, most would just use a GPS NAV device, enter detonation and pick the fastest or shortest way to get there. That's seems to make more sense to me, than just driving without directions.

As with GPS NAV, with a formula and science, you can get the right and optimal cable on your first attempt. It will save you the time and money chasing that till end of times.

Because even if you are there (not knowing) you may continue the journey to find a better one, that do not exist.

Good luck and enjoy, your blind folded search.

I hope that when it will get to a cure for a disease, you will find more effectives ways to get it. It may also be an eye opener for other things in life, you try to solve.



@b4icu
You seem to misunderstand my point, all I'm saying here is that even amongst you guys -I do not doubt the intelligence of any of you in this discussion, in fact I'm often impressed- there is a disagreement, so for somebody like me it will be difficult to come to a simple conclusion.
So if I would be using a GPS NAV, whilst obviously it would not be clear in giving me directions how to find the best route, I may switch it off, and find my way the old fashioned way. Don't worry, I have done that for over 40 years or so, and it is not impossible. Currently I do not know if I have the best possible system at home, or may be that I have paid too much for that, I'm fine with that too. I have the satisfaction I'm looking for, so I'm okay.  
Mr.  han_n
I can help you. Please tell me what amp. and speakers you have, what is the required length of the speaker cables to connect them, and what is the cable (gauge) you are using now.
I'll do that calculation for you.

@b4icu
Power amp is CH precision M1, speaker system is Gryphon Pendragon, cable length 3 meter, cable is Kharma reference type, bi-amped, however all connected to the same binding posts, so that will possibly total AWG 4/0 or more. Next year I will add another M1, so may be that counts as well??
Anytime someone says silver is 9% more conductive than copper should be a tell. It’s a tell that he has a broken calculator.
@b4icu

Sorry, I meant the cable type is for bi-wiring, meaning directly after the amp output cable spades (factory terminated) the cable is split into two, so at the speaker terminals it could feed into two pair of terminals per speaker. Luckily the terminals used for the Gryphon Pendragons are really very big, so they can accommodate 2 spades in one terminal, That way I have double the wire gauge. Any use, I don’t know, I already had these cables anyway, and I’m quite happy with the overall performance of my set-up.
b4icu,

"...you really think that giving away this formula is a brilliant idea, to satisfy your personal need to know?"
I do not think it is a brilliant idea but I also see no harm, unless a person is starting a business with that formula. Of course, there is no desperate need to disclose it either way, the world will go on. I am not arguing about validity of questioning and establishing the formula, but the topic and intention of the original post is less than clear. It got even less clear over the ensuing posts.

Those people who do buy stories and expensive cables may be happy, too. The value of those cables perceived by you and me may be different than value of those cables perceived by them. It works for them, if for nothing else then because the cable came with a story. Many products are marketed like that and buyers are not only happy but proud, too.

The tone of your posts suggests that you dislike expensive cable manufacturers approach and stories they attach to their products. You imply you, to say it simplified, have a formula that is far superior to their stories. As a neutral observer, I would say that putting your facts/formula out would go much further in debunking the myths than just saying "they are bad and I figured it all out". It would simply give more credibility to your statements.

I have no personal need to know the formula or any theory behind wires, but I do hope that han_n does find your calculations useful. It would definitely be much-needed first step in some meaningful direction.

By the way, out of sheer curiosity, how did you guess that I am "Mr" and not "Mrs"?
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b4icu:

If you have such a "formula," which implies a quantitative, calculated solution based on quantifiable input factors and the means, instrumentation or otherwise to verifiably measure such quantitative variables, what are the factors that are measured and used to calculate the optimal speaker cable features?

I’ll bet you have absolutely NO such measurable factors and no such instrumentation and are simply blowing smoke up all of our proverbial exit chimneys.

Quantifiable, calculations, formulas, measurable? Yeah, uh huh, right.
Yes, it goes like:

amplifier + speaker = cable, which in turn means:

speaker = cable - amplifier
or
amplifier = cable - speaker

obviously, neither speaker nor amplifier can be a negative quantity, which means that cable > speaker and cable > amplifier.


"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bs", has worked well for high end cable companies.
You do know there’s such a thing as being overly skeptical, don’t you? It’s gullible’s ugly sister. 🤪
tobor007:

Dazzling lights flash, bells chime, trumpets blast, money-as-confetti flies every where, rock stars emerge from giant cakes, the ghost of J. Gordon Holt appears and personally shakes everyones hand.
Hey, how come we never get complaints from folks who buy expensive high end cables? Only from those who can’t afford them. 🤔
Geoff: Skepticism is absolute and invariable, so no possibility of it being "overly."
And what defines an expensive high end cable? What price point please? I just may have purchased one or two sets in the past and I need to make sure what side of the "end" I fall on.

The reason we don't see complaints from people who spent money on expensive high end cables is that they are too embarrased to admit that they wasted money on a wish, a prayer and gossamer.
Note that on 9/28 I provided my amps and speakers, as the OP requested, and the OP didn't provide a response let alone the optimum cable.

I call sham, fraud, hoax.
A real skeptic has curiosity and investigates and tries to get to the bottom of things. A real skeptic can sometimes change his mind, you know, based on experience or evidence. An overly skeptical person, on the other hand, ✋refuses to change his mind for any reason, even in the face of contradicting evidence. I.e., his mind 🧠 is closed on the subject. Capish? That’s where the P word comes from, you know, the word that’s been uh, outlawed. 
Mr.  han_n
The amp has no data on it's DF. I sent an e-mail to find that out.
I need that to do the calculation.
Regarding your bi-Wire, it is not a good idea. Bi amp and Bi wire: yes.
A single wire equal to the gauge of the bi wire combined, would do better than the bi wire. So this aproach is of no practical benefit. Did you say 4/0 AWG?
How much did they cost and who made them?
Mr.  stevecham
I'm sorry you had nothing meaningful to contribute to this conversation. The thing is very simple. I can provide you with the data you need, of what cable would serve your system best.
Upon, you are welcome to try it and see for yourself.
What if that would sound much better than what you have now?
You should try it, rather than kick and shout sitting on the floor saying you don't want it.

b4icu
"
I'm sorry you had nothing meaningful to contribute to this conversation"

That is not his fault, responsibility, or deficiency the problem is that this thread is moronic in nature, substance, and topic because the claim, assertion and conviction of the OP can be shown to be confused, disoriented and mistaken as its basis, claim, and fundamental premise is flawed and defective.
Mr.  geoffkait
What about finding yourself something useful to do? 
All you contribute, are notes that has nothing to do with the subject. You can not chalange me on technical arguments, so you push it to none relevant subjects.
What do you gain of it, except getting a bad reputation?

" What do you gain of it, except getting a bad reputation?"
Well, at least it took geoff 11,000+ posts in 6+ years.
You have reached that goal in 10 days & 65 posts, Congratulations!