Topic: Highend beefy cable question

[wboswell]

Another discussion came up last night over differences in cables...  Someone was trying to explain that the Audio Magic Spellcaster don't sound as good as the AM hyper conductors because the Spellcasters were a larger gauge cable and that the gear we use in the field doesn't have enough juice to push those cables.  The thinner hyperconductors were easier to push and would be louder...

made absolutely no sense to me, but I'd like to hear some other opinions.

[nickgregory]

since I use the hyperconductors I have to agree with that assessment

[pfife]

the tiny wires coming out of the 4061s are sick!

[nic]

I love the sound of my Excalibur II cables!

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Someone was trying to explain that the Audio Magic Spellcaster don't sound as good as the AM hyper conductors because the Spellcasters were a larger gauge cable and that the gear we use in the field doesn't have enough juice to push those cables. The thinner hyperconductors were easier to push and would be louder...

made absolutely no sense to me, but I'd like to hear some other opinions.

No gear we have has any trouble sending a signal down a length of cable that we are going to use in the field.  You're talking about 15' mic cables right?  Routinely mics "push" a low level signal down hundreds of feet of cable. 

The relative difference in impedence due to conductor dimensions between the two cables must be at least 3 orders of magnitude below the impedence of the mic preamp input.  Any perceived sonic difference is more likely a result of conductor geometry and dialectric effect of the insulating material.   If the spellcasters are a shielded design and the hyper conductors are unshielded, that could explain a difference.  Many people report that unshielded interconnects are more open sounding than those with a shield, although the latter are less susceptible to EMI/RFI.

[Todd R]

Yep, what Lil Kim said.

And for that matter, even if there was to be an audible difference, what you heard is backwards.  Larger conductors have less resistance, and less resistance means more of the signal gets through.  So the larger cables would be theoretically louder and easier to push, not the other way around.  Think about speaker cables -- small diameter zip wire is considered bad, and large, garden-hose size speaker cables are the bomb.

[wboswell]

That makes much more sense to me then what this guy was saying.  He pulled the "I install home theaters for a living and work with cables all day" line on me, so I didn't argue, just asked for his logic, which didn't make sense to me. 

[MattD]

Todd, isn't the reason "larger is better" because of the surface area? I thought electrons travelled on the surface of a conductor, which is the reason for multi-stranding a single cable.

[heath]

you should have pulled out my favorite princess bride line...  "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."   

[John R]

That makes much more sense to me then what this guy was saying.  He pulled the "I install home theaters for a living and work with cables all day" line on me, so I didn't argue, just asked for his logic, which didn't make sense to me. 

i too install theaters and custom audio all day, he's full of shit