Something About Audio Wires

I believe audio equipment users will have a strong experience of the importance of wires. To use an analogy, the wire is like a road and the signal is a car. Only when the road surface is in good condition that the car can run smoothly. Therefore, the importance of wires is self-evident.

What kind of signals does the wire transmit?

1) Standard signal line refers to the connection line between the audio source and the power amplifier. Its transmission level is around 1V, and it is also a shielded transmission line. This type of wire is the most widely used in the audio industry. The interesting thing is that wires made of different insulation and conductor have a subtle impact on the sound quality. For this reason, manufacturers have produced a variety of wire models and specifications to meet people's requirements. Different levels of music appreciation have different requirements. The high-end finished wire uses a nylon braided sheath coated with an anti-static layer as the outer layer, is lined with a metal shielding sheath, and uses oxygen-free pure copper as the conductor, and is equipped with a gold-plated plug to prevent noise effect.

 2) The strong signal line refers to the connection line between the speaker and the power amplifier . This type of wire often does not have a shielding layer. For this type of wire, the key is to reduce its resistance. Because the output resistance of modern power amplifiers is very low, the requirements for speaker wires also increase. For example, use large cross-sectional areas or multi-strand twisted wires.   Wires material range from pure copper to silver. The more expensive speaker wire is oxygen-free copper speaker wire. Its main features are good conductivity and low resistivity. When using it, the timbre will not increase when reproducing sound.

3) Weak signal lines refer to the connections between the microphone and the preamplifier or between the digital sound source and the decoder. They are usually shielded lines.Digital cables belong to this type of weak signal cables. Since the fidelity and sensitivity of current audio equipment have been greatly improved, the requirements for signal transmission are also getting higher and higher. However, the signal line is used to transmit digital pulse signals or audio AC signals, and its transmission principle is better than ordinary DC power transmission is much more complicated. In addition to the current flowing through the wire, which can be affected by the resistance of the wire and generate a magnetic field, there are also effects such as the skin effect and phase distortion between high and low frequencies. The wire must transmit the full audio band in a balanced and low-distortion manner. (20Hz~20kHz or wider) signal, then the wiring design must be very strict. Only in this way the signal can be amplified with high fidelity and the sound can be restored by the speaker.