Canare 4S11 Star Quad cables for speaker

Sfar said it best. So easy to work with, and a great price/benefit ratio.

Borrowing the quote from above:

"When conventionally wired, star quad speaker cable has the advantage of reducing the EM field around the cable, which will tend to diminish the effect of the signal in the speaker cable upon nearby interconnects--though this is not, in most applications, a significant concern."

Is that quote attributing EMI reduction to the starquad inner conductor geometry? Can someone explain why this would be true or direct me to a proper explanation?

I can accept that statement when the starquad is wired for balanced signals. I have trouble accepting that the starquad geometery has a significant effect on EMI when the cable is wired with the four center conductors as signal and the shield as return/ground as I have seen done for speaker cable applications. I would expect the quality of the shield to be the characteristic that influences EMI susceptibility in a single ended cable.

I just want to know if I'm missing something with respect to the governing field theory. I already know it's decent wire for speaker cables.

Mcmiller, this explanation of the advantage of star quad geometry is from the Canare website:

Speaker cable must accommodate relatively high signal levels, typically tens to hundreds of watts of RMS power. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) can radiate from these speaker lines directly into adjacent low voltage cables (i.e. microphone, video lines, etc.). Canare solves this problem by using a 4-conductor “Star Quad” configuration in all of our 4S Series speaker cables. Because every conductor is located the same distance from the center, the opposing magnetic fields are cancelled out. Attenuation of magnetic field radiation is superior when compared to a standard 2-conductor speaker wire.

Here is a link to the Canare webpage from which I copied this statement. It also includes two diagrams.

Thanks, that makes sense. I was thinking of the starquad shielded mic cable design and how I've seen some people use that for cheap speaker cables.

The spiral wrapped starquad geometry when properly configured ( staggered polarity i.e. + - + - ) helps to lower the nominal impedance of the cable. This not only increases power transfer, but also broadens bandwidth and improves transient response.

Compared to a twisted pair, a star quad offers an appr 40 dB reduction in RFI / EMI radiation and susceptability. I don't have the figures as to how much "better" a starquad is in comparison to a standard side by side "zip cord" type design in these regards, but i would have to assume that it would be a staggering figure to say the least. I base this "assumption" on the fact that a twisted pair is far superior to zip cord and the starquad blows the twisted pair away.

Having said that, it's not fabulous cable, but it is much better than just about anything else that you're going to get for anywhere near the money. Sean
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