[linux-audio-user] Feasibility of Crestron like Linux BasedWholeHouse Audio System - Multisource / Multizone Capable????

[Eric Steinberg]

Guys, guys!  Don't waste money on "oxygen-free" cables or other scams.
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
And: if you use balanced cables (most of the soundcards mentioned, e.g. RME and Delta 1010 have balanced "tip-ring-sleeve" connections) you can have very long runs with no audible difference.  I regularly use microphone cables in excess of 1000 meters, in my job as an audio mixer for broadcast sports, and the sound is hum-free and good enough for broadcast.  Line-level audio signals will go even further- and if you can hear or measure a difference you have golden Bat ears.

-Steiny
(510)907-0897


----- Original Message -----
From: "Andreas Kuckartz" <A.Kuckartz at ping.de>
To: linux-audio-user at music.columbia.edu
Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Feasibility of Crestron like Linux BasedWholeHouse Audio System - Multisource / Multizone Capable????
Date: 5 Jan 2005 22:43:03 +0100

> 
> Florin Andrei wrote:
> 
> > But it might be ok, though, to run high-
> > amplitude analog signal over lengthy cables. I.e., speaker signal.
> > At those amplitudes and impedances, there's only a very low risk of
> > picking up noise.
> 
> You do not pick up noise but the longer the speaker cables the higher their
> capacitance and their resistance. There also are other strange distortions
> happening due to cables. All of this can influence the sound:
> 
> "Speaker cable needs to have a very low electrical resistance, so 
> it needs to be
> fairly hefty and made from a pure material, such as oxygen-free copper (OFC).
> Impure material can introduce nonlinearities (the oxidised copper actually
> behaves as a semiconductor) that manifest themselves as increased 
> distortion at
> low signal levels. There are many cables that qualify, including 30A 'cooker'
> mains cable, but a sensibly priced, heavy-duty speaker cable is easier to use
> and looks nicer. If the cable resistance is more than a tiny 
> fraction of an Ohm,
> the amplifier's damping factor is compromised and also the loudspeaker's
> frequency response can be affected. The reason for this is that a 
> loudspeaker's
> impedance varies with frequency, but if this impedance is placed in 
> series with
> a significant fixed cable resistance it acts as a potential divider, and the
> power delivered to the loudspeaker at different frequencies will be altered
> slightly."
> (http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan02/articles/faq0102.asp#Anchor-32729)
> 
> (It might be difficult to convince people who intend to buy expensive golden
> speaker cables to use Linux and a little bit of digital hardware 
> instead but one
> could try :-)
> 
> Cheers,
> Andreas

-- 
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