Twisted speaker wire - any good?

Lockport -- Sun, 08/26/2007 - 21:58

Hello to all. This is my first post. :shock: I recently acquired a pair of Adcom GFA-565 mono blocks and am about to acquire a pair of Polk Audio RTi12's for the front channels. I am interested in opinions on twisted speaker wire. I have heard the idea is signal rejection that is acheived by the twisting. How efficient is this, if that is the objective at all? The wire I am looking at is 12gauge.

Thanks! :)

Al Sekela -- Mon, 08/27/2007 - 11:18

This is a very large topic. Twisting the wires in a cable improves the cable's ability to reject external noise. It also reduces the cable inductance and may be the most effective way to keep the individual wires from vibrating with respect to each other. It increases the capacitance of the cable. This should not be a problem in most setups, but there are some amps with poor phase margin that might go into oscillation with very long, high-capacitance cables attached to them.

In my experience, 14-gauge is the optimum size for wires in audio cables, whether speaker, interconnect, or power cords. My personal speaker cables are made from 14-gauge stranded, silver-plated copper wire with Teflon insulation. I use two wires for each pole, with one of the two cut from the spool in the opposite direction to the other. This cancels any directional characteristic in the wire. The four total wires are twisted gently to make the cable. I use carbon fiber sleeve to damp the common-mode RF ringing, and R-C networks to damp the normal mode ringing.

Gonzalo -- Mon, 02/11/2008 - 20:50

Save yourself the Headache and buy Kimber 8TC since you seem to like twisted cables, Ray Kimber is the king at that and priceas are pretty good comparing the present competition.
The other gentleman is right need to connect specialized networks to correct incinsistencies on cables and wound them to try to correct other problems while causing inadvertently other issues and concerns.
If you put the network, make sure it is the right frequency tuned and capacitance, reactance is an issue once you have that done then time smearing is also another issue, the problem is solved if you have a system revealing enough and justifies the expense; a cable that will be flat (ribbon and made out of Silver almost exclusively), then your time smear is not a factor not reactance, not inductance nor impedance.
But you're out of a few thousand bucks.
However if your system is very satisfying but not the ultimate in revealing then go for the Kimber 8TC and the rest of your money take the wife out to dinner and maybe a life concert so you get the reference point refreshed.
since you saved so much money also get a silver interconnect maybe a KCAG or a KS1030 if you dare, and a good power cord a Kimber PK10 silver or Gold or a Acrolink/Oyaide, or one of the fatter snakes form Shunyata (Anaconda or Python).
As always with all cables espcially those made of silver, brake in is of the essence, they take about 100 hours or so until they sound their very finest silver will even take 200 hours or so.
Remember when you swap cables don't go, hhaaahh!!!! this is terrible sound!, just roll with the punches and leave the house with soem music playing after about 20 or 30 hours you will begin to notice the good stuff settling in and the cbales burning into their finest performances.
You'll be glad you did.

I hope this helps;

God Bless!;

Gonzalo

*Twisted* speaker wire - any good?

Twisted speaker wire - any good?