[Wind Chaser]

Why don't you just try it? (I mean making it - a few feet of wire is all it takes. Isn't that the idea of having this in the Lab?)

I'll most likely give it a shot but I'm always interested in learning what other people have discovered.

[Wind Chaser]

Wind Chaser, I would strongly suggest that you obtain your tube amp before you make any decision on cables. They are the most susceptible to LCR differences among speaker cables.

I don't know if I'll buy one or not, just testing the waters with new speakers.  I have a wonderful little SS amp that I'm very happy with but given that the Druids are a 12 ohm load, my interest in trying tubes again has been rekindled.

[jtwrace]

I wonder if Cat 5e cable would work well since it has the teflon on each strand.  Anyone? 

Just a thought as I've got 1000' of that laying around staring at me.     Oh yes and 500' of DH Labs T-14.     Oh yeah and 20' of "Hi Fi' speaker wire.  Oh yeah and nevermind.   

[JohnR]

Doesn't sound like you're short of raw materials  

[Wind Chaser]

I wonder if Cat 5e cable would work well since it has the teflon on each strand.  Anyone? 

Good idea, it might be interesting to compare single strands to all four pairs.  And what about better quality wire like Wywire etc?

[jtwrace]

Good idea, it might be interesting to compare single strands to all four pairs.  And what about better quality wire like Wywire etc?

I don't know if you're serious or just pulling my leg.   

[Wind Chaser]

Serious.  I'm a big believer in the difference cables can make, so it stands to reason why wouldn't they make a difference in this context?

[jtwrace]

Serious.  I'm a big believer in the difference cables can make, so it stands to reason why wouldn't they make a difference in this context?

OK.  According to Bud it will make a differnece i.e. zip, litz....

[Big Red Machine]

While we're on this topic, anyone have a chemical recommendation to remove magnet wire coatings?  I have tried epoxy paint stripper, lacquer thinner, acetone, and methanol to no avail.  I'm probably going to try the aspirin trick as well but would like a nice hardy chemical to eat this stuff off.  I'm not convinced the solder pot is going to be that effective.

[*Scotty*]

Typically a solder pot is what is used to make a connection with lizt wire in lieu of stripping the insulation. The problem you are encountering is due to the fact that the insulation now used on magnet wire is polyurethane in composition and almost no solvent will touch it. It can be physically removed or burned off. If you heated it up on the end with a small torch and then hit it with a wire brush wheel you might remove enough insulation to make a connection without using the solder pot.
Scotty 

[Mike B.]

While we're on this topic, anyone have a chemical recommendation to remove magnet wire coatings?  I have tried epoxy paint stripper, lacquer thinner, acetone, and methanol to no avail.  I'm probably going to try the aspirin trick as well but would like a nice hardy chemical to eat this stuff off.  I'm not convinced the solder pot is going to be that effective.

I use a old fashioned soldering gun. 100 and 140 watt and Kester 44 solder. I use the higher watt (two click trigger) and pool the solder and it quickly tins all the wires.

[MaxCast]

While we're on this topic, anyone have a chemical recommendation to remove magnet wire coatings?  I have tried epoxy paint stripper, lacquer thinner, acetone, and methanol to no avail.  I'm probably going to try the aspirin trick as well but would like a nice hardy chemical to eat this stuff off.  I'm not convinced the solder pot is going to be that effective.

Coke?   

[Big Red Machine]

Diet or regular?

[jtwrace]

Diet or regular?

powder   

[BudP]

The only effective cleaner, one that wont snap half of the Litz wires, is hot Boron. Not something you want to try without serious shielding and armored gloves.

However, in lieu of a solder pot, which will strip all of the wires very quickly, you can use a solder iron that will heat to about 630 deg. F. Takes a bit of time and does require reheating and reshaping to get a semi round shape back.

To properly use a solder pot you need an ablative flux. Using a liquid Kester flux, meant to be cut with alcohol, in a "weak tea" colored solution will strip the wires completely without eating up the fine copper wire. The pot should be set at a measured temperature of 520 degrees F

And, do remember, that all that is called Litz is not. If the surface area of the bundled and twisted wires is not ten or more times that of a single piece of solid copper wire, with the same copper cross section, it is not Litz, period, no escape clauses.

Everything you do will make a difference when messing about with this concept. The real trick is to have a neutral pair of speakers and , they really should be EnABL'd so that you can hear coherent sounds 50 to 60 db below the typical 40 db down, that most speakers cease being anything like coherent at. A high density of retained information amplifier, either a tube amp or a solid state amp that drives a transformer will do nicely. Then you need speaker cables that do not change any characteristic in sound from a 6 inch length to a 12 foot length. At that point, with those tools in hand, you can begin to explore the subtle and not so subtle characteristics of electrons on the ground side of an audio system. Anything else is just playing around, and you should do it to your hearts content.

When we do bring out an answer to our competition, it will have gone through the same rigor that brought the earlier models to market. We will not be providing everything that the much more expensive models provide, but they will be more than a match for our esteemed competitors.

Bud

[SCooper]

IF... your internal wire in the speakers were Litz. wouldn't this have the same effect  ?

[BudP]

Internal Litz wiring is just a plain good idea. Depending upon the type of dielectric, it will or will not mimic a portion of what the GC's do. There will be more ease to the sound and less noise. There will  or will not be additional dynamic color or sound stage and, not likely a back half of the wave form improvement, again dependent upon the dielectric/ 's used.

However, it is a worthwhile thing to do. All of my speaker cables, interconnects and box internal wiring is Litz. The results are extreme amounts of information, controllable amounts of dynamic color, no loss of high frequencies to RAC concerns, very tight phase maintenance and absolute neutrality.

All of this originally done to get rid of fairly obvious coloration's, especially in speaker cables, to allow me to voice my high performance output transformers. A lot of that work could not have been done without the benefit of EnABL'd speakers and their ability to coherently express signals 50 to 60 db down, from the usual 40 db down of most drivers. Many of the borrowed cables I used, looking for neutral ones, had their coloration's down in this low level region. Did not mean they were bad cables, but since I could not reliably find their differences in the grass of a spectrum analyzer, I had to make judgments by ear alone, so my taste in music presentation did enter into this activity.

Bud

[Mike B.]

Bud, a side question if you don't mind? would the EnABL process work on line sources with multiple midwoofers?

[jimbop]

Bud,

Can you tell me more about your Litz speaker and interconnect cables?

Jim D

[Wind Chaser]

I used a very heavy gauge silver coated Litz wire back in the eighties, it was good stuff (and very expensive) in it's time, but easily bettered by many of today’s offerings.