Good Vibes in High Fidelity
Yesterday on The Good Vibes IGTV I shared how to make your sound beautiful; well, at least how I discovered a secret which made my sound significantly better – DM me and I ’ll share this with you. I’ve been disappointed with the new-to-me Tannoy HPD 385 studio monitor loudspeakers because something special was missing. Following advice, I replaced the speaker cables with Litzendraht “Litz” wire. I shall not try to convince you through technical specifications that speaker cables matter, rather share my experience from disappointment to satisfaction with a low-cost change; yes, Litz speaker cable.
For those interested, continue with me.
The System: Tannoy HPD 385 monitor loudspeakers with Lockwood hard edge conversions in 360 L Onken enclosures; outboard crossovers similar in design to those of Nelson Pass. Driven by the Threshold Statis S/550e A/AB power amplifier and Sonic Frontiers Line1 6922 tube pre amplifier. Digital source: exaSound e62 DAC with Roon Labs + Tidal. Analog: Rega P1 turn table with the Cambridge CP1 phono amplifier. Audio Cabinet and Vinyl LP Shallow shelves by AAE.
Litz cable is a collection of individually insulated small diameter wires woven or braided together; the advantage is improved current flow within the 60Hz to 1000 Hz bandwidth for 28-gauge conductors. A 30-gauge conductor benefits within 1-10 kHz, and 33-gauge within 10-20 kHz. This means that you can use a collection of wire to maximize signal transmission; this is exactly how my Tannoy drivers have been configured with their umbilical to outboard crossovers, pictured below.
The umbilical, multiple configurations of Litz and solid core wires sonically tuned to deliver without loss.
“The primary benefit of Litz wire is in reducing AC losses in high frequency windings due to the “skin effect”. Current in a solid conductor is concentrated at the periphery. As frequency rises, the current migrates to the skin. The multiple strand construction of Litz allows current to divide uniformly between strands.” https://mwswire.com/specialty-wire/litz-wire/
28 Gauge Litz speaker wire with tinned ends
Now I’m just talking speaker cable geek and there are endless threads on why cables matter and do not matter, notably:
Harley Lovegrove with Pearl Acoustics, Loudspeaker Cables – how do they make a difference?
Gene Dellasala of Audioholics.llc, Speaker Cables Really Don’t Make Much of a Difference?
I’ll close out by saying that Tannoy Monitor HPD 385s are very revealing drivers and are used by Nelson Pass himself to audition changes within his amplifier designs. Check out this interview and room tour with Nelson by The Audiophiliac Mr. Steve Guttenberg. Yes, I watch all the YouTubers.
Follow me on YouTube at Audio_Acoustic_Engineering and on IG @audio_acoustic_engineering.
I’m Scott Lylander, let’s connect, talk about sound and vibration. I’m sharing my audiophile journey, living life around my passion with rock star goals. Good vibes only baby.
