Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

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Is Teflon insulation/dielectric a Double Edged Sword?

Posted by Tony Montana (A) on April 19, 2004 at 17:02:49

It is a well known fact that Teflon is very stiff and hard to deform. This property is very sought after if we want to reduce Condenser Mic Effect*, due to the fact that cable stiffness reduces cable motion thus reducing cable's dielectric capacitance variation.

But the bad news comes when we also consider Triboelectric** effect of Teflon insulation. Unfortunately, Teflon is incredibly triboelectric (contact charge) against practically any substance. Triboelectrical noise does discharge with bending and flexibility of cable, but Teflon with it extra stiffness might resist Triboelectrical discharge.

The worst case scenario might happen if we pair Teflon insulation with Silver wires. The stiffness of Teflon and also Silver makes the cable nearly lossless, mechanically speaking-thus this combination make it more immune to Triboelectrical discharge.

Chief Engineer (Bruno Putzeys) at Philips Digital Systems Labs measured microphonic impulse responses from Teflon/silver cable that showed tremendous ringing in the upper audio band. And this could explain the "brightness" often attributed to silver/Teflon cables. So, Teflon and silver might be the worst thinkable combination in terms of triboelecticity.

*Condenser Mic Effect: Motion of the conductors inside a cable (such as microphone cables that move alot) will change the capacitance [from the cable] that is applied to signal input stage. Cable stiffness-as well as fillers to keep cable geometry in check-will reduce CME.

**Triboelectric charging is the same effect that causes you to accumulate electric charge when walking across a thick carpet in winter. Flexibility of cable will reduce this effect.

The above post was derived from the following article:

• Cable Distortion and Dielectric Biasing.   (Open in New Window)

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Sonic Craft

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