Are there any constants in speaker wire designs?

PaperW8, not so long ago I was doing shootout of several power cords. When I put Kimber PK14 on a my DAC, all the music suddenly became sort of IN FOCUS. I can not find a better word to describe this. So it is not BS. And there is no equipment to measure "music focus". I know I could probably do this in blind test, but its so hard to organize this.. I mean, what go to other room and leave my wife to switch cables,do on/off/on all the quipment, etc..

Kijanki, that might be system dependant. I will only believe in "NORDOST is lean" stuff if at least 7 of 10 OWNERS would say so. In my system Nordost are FULL BODIED (quite an opposite ah?). Switching SC to 8TC makes me sleep, KCAG sometimes irritatingly "rings" and NORDOST.. they sound just right. And the reviewers... sometimes they have just not enought time, or not the most suitable equipment etc.. When I was buying nordost, I have read almost anything I could find, and now after couple years, when I really can say I know how the nordost house of sound looks like, I msut say, that there was one superb review in which reviewer NAILED IT DOWN right. But I forgot the link to it...

stranded cables sound soft in my system. Round solid wires have great detail and clarity, but roll off the ends. Thin, wide ribbon sounds far the best on my system.

"You are correct about skin effect. Skin effect is a phenomenon that you tend to see at microwave frequencies."

This is incorrect. At microwave frequencies skin depth is in order of um. At audio frequency of 20kHz largest copper wire that has still the same resistance for DC as AC is gauge 18. Please check skin depth calculator here:

http://daycounter.com/Calculators/SkinEffect/Skin-Effect-Calculator.phtml

Skin effect is very pronounced at video frequencies. That's why cables are made of cheap metal silver plated (signal travels on the surface).

Skin effect allows for shielding. Interconnect for instance cannot be possibly protected from electromagnetic pickup of high frequency signals by non-magnetic shield. What really happens is that shield passes these high frequencies and they are induced in the cable, but because of skin effect they travel on the outside of the cable - shield. Internally field is zero as long as wire is symmetrical. Without skin effect aluminum foil or copper braid would not shield higher frequencies (would protect only for capacitive pick-up). Shielding is very complicated. Shield is carrying externally induced high frequencies on its outside while at the same time common mode high frequency signal noise travels on the inside of the same shield. At lower frequencies shield does not protect at all but wire is to short to become effective antenna (starts at 1/10 of wavelength)

Audio cables are much more complicated than just RLC. If I remember correctly Muralman1 uses in his design cable different metals for signal and Ground wires. You cannot explain in terms of RLC how different metals change the sound.

PaperW8, I mentioned the inductance / capacitance issue with speakers because, as you probably know, some manufacturers are purposely designing cables to have abnormally high values of one characteristic or the other. Some high capacitance cables have even been known to destablize some poorly designed amps, not to mention causing high frequency roll-offs that people with overly bright speakers seem to be drawn to. Nonetheless, I think you and I are on the same page.

Mjordanas, I'm sorry, but changing a power cord is extraordinarily unlikely to change the way a DAC works, especially in a way that is beneficial. Focus would imply a measurable reduction in noise or distortion, which is beyond the capability of a completely passive conductor.

Kijanki: it is a true statement that signals attenuate within a conductor as you get farther away from the surface of the conductor into the interior. I didn't mean to suggest that skin effect doesn't at frequencies below microwave but that it is at higher frequencies where it becomes a bigger deal.

You mentioned skin effect as being significant with video signals. Video signals operate in the MHz range, which is below what is typically considered the microwave frequency range. I do agree with your suggestion that skin effect can be significant for frequencies in the MHz range. At video frequencies the skin depth is very thin, so the silver plating can be economically applied at thicknesses greater than the skin depth. Silver plating is a less effective cost-saving strategy for audio frequencies because the skin depths at audio frequencies are much larger.

There is a relevant figure of merit called the 1% depth of penetration. The 1% depth figure indicates that point at which the signal magnitude is about 1% of it's surface value. It is about 4.6 times the skin depth.

In general, skin effect is significant when the skin depth is small compared to the size of the conductor. At audio frequencies, the skin depth is going to be on the order of 20 mils, so I would think that for significant skin effect, you're probably looking at conductors that are on the order of at least 0.1 inch. That would be more like AWG 10.

There are other effects that are significant when thinking about signal propagation through a conductor (you had me going to my old textbooks to look this stuff up). For example, as the magnitude of the signal decreases the relative phase of the signal also changes. I believe that at the skin depth, the signal is about 180 degrees out of phase with respect to the signal at the surface. Also, when you have multiple conductors, there are proximity effects where the electromagnetic fields of the conductors interact and can effectively reduce the skin depth. Skin effect also increases the impedance of the conductor to signal propagation, although I am unfamiliar with the formula that was cited in the web link that you posted (I took a look at it and it looks to be a pretty good link). However, the skin depth calculator is correct, so I will assume that the AC/DC resistance ratio presented is correct as well.

Is any of this stuff audible, significant or even detectable at audio frequencies? It's impossible for me to say without data, so I tend to not tell people that they aren't hearing what they say they are hearing. I question how significant this stuff is at audio frequencies and because of the amount of hyperbole that has so come to characterize the audio biz, I am skeptical of claims that rely upon nothing but buzzwords. The thing is, if I spent big money on cables, I would have a vested interest in convincing myself that there really is a big difference because I would have a commitment to feeling that I haven't wasted my money. It would be nice to see some real data on this stuff. In my mind, it would make all this talk of "focus" and the like, a lot more credible. As I stated, the amount of hype and questionable "audiophile reviews" just hurts the credibility of the industry in my mind.