Five Myths in Audio Dispelled

[gene]

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/FiveAudioMyths.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 82px; HEIGHT: 125px" alt=[snake] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/snake_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>In Marks spare time, he’s been known to peruse various websites, newsgroups and other online forums devoted to all things loudspeaker. Over the years he’s learned quite a bit; but also realized the noise-to-useful-information ratio can be very large indeed. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</SPAN>In this article, Mark takes a look at some of his favorite audio myths such as (Damping Factor, Magnetic Shielding, Gold Conductors, BR vs TEB, and the Perfect Driver) under the objective light of hard science and shares the outcome of his own investigation.<?xml:namespace prefix = o /></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">[Read the Article]</SPAN></P>

 

[j_garcia]

Who said gold was the best conductor? I've never heard that one, only that it's corrosion resistance was very good.

As for magnetic sheilding, I always though bucking magnets were really the only way, and based on what he has modeled, that appears to be true. I don't see modeling for ausinetic steel and stainless steel, which are both far better at dispersing a magnetic field than aluminum, though still likely not as good as a bucking magnet.

 

[mustang_steve]

Oh, i fully remember in the mid-90's, the thing to have for your car stereo was Pfantone 14kt gold wire.

Pretty much OFC was better, and far cheaper. Pretty much the only real advantage of the Pfantone wire was it's corosion resistance, which was nice to have for car audio, but I found a good solder joint, followed with some vinyl work on the cable end done about the same job.

 

[Francious70]

Wal*Mart 14AWG OFC + Solder + Heat shrink is all I need to do the job. Total cost = ~$20. Total cost for as much wire as I have in gold = ~$2k or more.

 

[MBauer]

More myths?

I don't disagree with the article, but it seems to me there are more prevalent myths.

Speaker break-in, Expensive speaker cables, etc

I thought the gold myth was a bit of a ringer? As was pointed out earlier- it is the resistance to corrosion, not its conductivity that is the main benefit of gold connectors

 

[gene]

I don't disagree with the article, but it seems to me there are more prevalent myths.

Speaker break-in, Expensive speaker cables, etc

Speaker Break In:
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/loudspeakers/SpeakerBreakIn.php

and more to come on that topic.

Cable Myths:
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/cables.htm

and more to come on that topic too

 

[mustang_steve]

I don't disagree with the article, but it seems to me there are more prevalent myths.

Speaker break-in, Expensive speaker cables, etc

I thought the gold myth was a bit of a ringer? As was pointed out earlier- it is the resistance to corrosion, not its conductivity that is the main benefit of gold connectors

This wasn't abut gold connectors, it was gold cable. The entire gold bit went to a whole new level of screwed up back then.

In a car envoironment, maybe it was good, but all i used was copper "diesel fuel resistant" wire for any questionable runs, and called it done. The rest of the run, which corosion was not a factor, used standard OFC zip cord.

Thing was the gold wire was so outrageously expensive, that the thickest anyone could really afford to run was 16ga. most installs I saw that had it was 18ga. Worst I ever saw was a 89 Hyundai Excel, with full 16ga gold wire...the wire probably cost as much as the car!