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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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In Reply to: Re: 8TC blue and black wires have different sound? posted by Logan on October 27, 2006 at 21:51:06:
Relax, you're not going deaf. As long as the black wire is being utilized, it 'colors' the sound.The effect of the black insulation was pointed out to me by Stan Warren: the 'S' of the original PS Audio, and the designer of the Superphon brand of products. I had asked him once why the black strand of the ribbon cable he used was left hanging in his preamp, unused and it seemed to serve no function in dividing left from right channel, etc.
His reply was somehow that strand sounded terrible.
Indeed, when I tried using that strand and simply replacing an adjacent strand with the black, it did sound smeared.Fast forward many years, and I remember mentioning this to a painter friend, and he immediately told me that that was not surprising, since all his black pigmentation contained carbon black, which can be slightly conductive and thus not a 'perfect' insulator.
I've done extensive experimentation as Kimber will provide (if you order spools, 100 feet or more) any color combination you want. Admittedly, I ordered PBJ cable rather than 4 or 8TC, as it was much cheaper to experiment with. From those results I then projected the choices onto a spool of speaker cable.
If you want to experiment yourself, hook just one channel to the speaker. Use just the black wires, then use just the blue wires. You ought to hear a difference.
The natural color of plastics is that milky translucent white that we see on many plastic bags. Every color means that a dye lot is added, including the water clear plastic material. You can view these additives as contaminants, and there was a discussion of this on the Prop Head forum. Most thought I was simply crazy. John Curl did point out on the Belden website, the black insulated wire for one configuration was definitely a poorer performer, sufficiently so that the black insulated wire was listed separately on one chart.
In the ten years plus since Stan told me about the black wire, I have extensively used trial and error and substitution to experiment with. In virtually every case, eliminating the black insulation has been of sonic benefit. Clears and natural to sound the most open and detailed.
I am told that there some black pigmentation which does not involve carbon: Indeed the translucent black Japanese vinyl is supposed to use a non carbon based pigmentation. For the vast majority of black insulated wire I have encountered, however, it's removal has improved the sound.
Of course YMMV,
Stu
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Follow Ups
- Re: 8TC blue and black wires have different sound? - unclestu52 12:38:50 10/29/06 (0)
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