RE: RF Ground Connections - Wire Type and AUDIO

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>



	Yes, that is true as well, especially in automobile audio, but
through testing, solid speaker wire does attenuate the higher frequencies
(our one test example was cymbol hit) much more than stranded wire.

	Whether that difference is actually audible, thats up to debate, but
yes, solid wire will attenuate those frequencies more so than stranded wire.

	>>>>Where have you heard that stranded/braided wire outperforms
solid?

I worked in a pro audio house for about year and we did extensive testing
and research on this.
However,  just because our tests say solid is worse than stranded, that
doesn't mean someone could actually "hear" the difference.

Dan


> Gary Lau
> MA, USA
> 
> 
> 
> >>Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz
> <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>
> 
> 
> 	>>I'm going to have to disagree with your assessment.  For high
> >>voltage transients, stranded or braided wire outperforms solid wire in
> all
> >>instances.  This is the primary reason you use braided wire for
> lightning
> >>protection in house security systems etc...  Another example is the use
> of
> >>stranded wire vs. solid in audio applications.  
> >>
> >>	Dan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > My recent measurements of conductor AC resistance confirm that stranded
> > wire is a POOR choice.  While one should strive for a high surface area,
> > this only applies to solid conductors.  RF currents want to travel only
> on
> > the outermost surface - they will not travel on strands inside the
> bundle.
> > When a strand goes from the surface of the bundle to inside the bundle,
> > the
> > current will try to hop to an outer strand, through whatever surface
> > oxides
> > might be in its path.  I did not compare finely stranded conductors with
> > coarsely stranded conductors, but I would speculate that a coarsely
> > stranded conductor might have a lower AC resistance, as it's a closer
> > approximation to a solid conductor.
> > 
> > Steel cable, solid or otherwise, would be a very poor conductor due to
> the
> > inherently higher resistance of steel compared to copper.
> > 
> > Since heavy gauge solid wire is inflexible and not practical for a
> cable,
> > I
> > would recommend a copper ribbon for the best possible conductor.  Home
> > Depot sells copper roof flashing by the foot, you would have to cut it
> > into
> > strips and solder them together.
> > 
> > Now to the practical aspects.  An RF ground, good or bad, will have
> > virtually no effect on the coil's performance.  Several list members
> have
> > accidentally forgotten to connect their secondary base to a ground of
> any
> > sort, and there was NO impact on performance!  The real reason for using
> a
> > ground has more to do with preventing RF interference and HV RF nasties
> > from entering your house wiring.
> > 
> > Gary Lau
> > MA, USA
> 
> 
> 
>