Braided shield for ribbon spkr cables?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Greetings,

I'm trying to source a braided shield similar to that used for the
Omega-Mikro speaker cables. I've made my own cables from copper foil
that I bought from McMaster-Carr, and they work surprisingly well. Now
I'd like to add a shield, but cannot find a source for the kind of
braided mesh used on the Omega-Mikros. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"Geoff Wood" <geoff@paf.co.nz-nospam> wrote in message
news:WCMDc.5163$NA1.475639@news02.tsnz.net...
> Joseph Delvey, Jr. wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > I'm trying to source a braided shield similar to that used for the
> > Omega-Mikro speaker cables. I've made my own cables from copper foil
> > that I bought from McMaster-Carr, and they work surprisingly well.
> > Now I'd like to add a shield, but cannot find a source for the kind of
> > braided mesh used on the Omega-Mikros. Any suggestions?
>
>
> Don't use braided cable., The elctrons get dizzy, and some lose their
way -
> meaning some of the music arrives before and after other bits. Some get
so
> confused they end up back at th ampifier, and gradually fill up all the
> capacitors which will then require demagnetisation.
>
> geoff
>
>

Cannot you use tin foil? Or did you use it all up for your helmet? Perhaps
you could save gum wrappers or pie tins? - Maybe you should sheild the
listening room with lead sheeting? Be sure to use stainless roofing nails to
hold it up...

Carl

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"Joseph Delvey, Jr." wrote ...

> I'm trying to source a braided shield similar to that used for the
> Omega-Mikro speaker cables. I've made my own cables from copper foil
> that I bought from McMaster-Carr, and they work surprisingly well. Now
> I'd like to add a shield, but cannot find a source for the kind of
> braided mesh used on the Omega-Mikros. Any suggestions?

You may have wandered into the wrong newsgroup.
What are you shielding your speaker cables AGAINST?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"Joseph Delvey, Jr." <jdelv2@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:40DEF8C2.52BB968@comcast.net
> Greetings,
>
> I'm trying to source a braided shield similar to that used for the
> Omega-Mikro speaker cables. I've made my own cables from copper foil
> that I bought from McMaster-Carr, and they work surprisingly well.
> Now I'd like to add a shield, but cannot find a source for the kind of
> braided mesh used on the Omega-Mikros. Any suggestions?

Copper Braid, silver plated, tinned and untinned is a commodity product.

Here's an example:

http://www.alphawire.com/pages/160.cfm

If nothing else, you can pick up coax with copper braid sheld. It's not
too much work to extract just the shield. Remove the outer insulation and
the braid will bunch up and slip right off, like a Chinese finger trap.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

I find it regretable to find the participants of this newgroup to be so
closed minded. Except for Arny, whose suggestion was helpful, I found
little of value to the comments I received. Have any of you listened to
Omega Micro cables? Why are you so quick to dismiss something about
which you have had no direct experience.

I had a chance to hear these cables, with and without the active shield,
in Lloyd Walker's home system, which by the way is one of the best
systems I've ever heard. I asked Lloyd to unplug the shield from its
power source which provided a DC bias to the them relative to the foil
conductors. The top octave dropped away, the dynamics lost their range,
and the soundstage narrowed considerably. I don't claim to have golden
ears, a fact I mention to underscore that the difference I heard was
obvious. I don't know exactly how an active shield like this could have
such an effect. Perhaps the explanations from Omega Micro about their
product do not make sense from an engineering standpoint. Perhaps the
shield isn't a "shield" in the traditional sense at all. But what I
heard is undeniable. I wish all of you who criticized me for asking a
question would have a chance to experience the demo I heard at Lloyd's
house.

Thanks Arny for your help.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Ken B <kenbern@hotmail.dot.com wrote in
news:MPG.1b4a8e587c81762a989687@netnews.comcast.net:

> It seems the packet radio signal which is audio
> transmitted on the 145mhz FM carrier was traveling down the speaker
> cable into the amp, was then amplified and blasted the speakers (KEF
> 104's). So in this case the shielding worked.

I'm curious -- why didn't you just use ferrite cable chokes? My
father is a ham, and I got used to using them on darned near everything I
owned.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 21:12:45 -0400, "Joseph Delvey, Jr."
<jdelv2@comcast.net> wrote:

>I find it regretable to find the participants of this newgroup to be so
>closed minded. Except for Arny, whose suggestion was helpful, I found
>little of value to the comments I received. Have any of you listened to
>Omega Micro cables? Why are you so quick to dismiss something about
>which you have had no direct experience.
>
>I had a chance to hear these cables, with and without the active shield,
>in Lloyd Walker's home system, which by the way is one of the best
>systems I've ever heard. I asked Lloyd to unplug the shield from its
>power source which provided a DC bias to the them relative to the foil
>conductors. The top octave dropped away, the dynamics lost their range,
>and the soundstage narrowed considerably. I don't claim to have golden
>ears, a fact I mention to underscore that the difference I heard was
>obvious. I don't know exactly how an active shield like this could have
>such an effect. Perhaps the explanations from Omega Micro about their
>product do not make sense from an engineering standpoint. Perhaps the
>shield isn't a "shield" in the traditional sense at all. But what I
>heard is undeniable. I wish all of you who criticized me for asking a
>question would have a chance to experience the demo I heard at Lloyd's
>house.
>
>Thanks Arny for your help.

It is ironic that the accusation of closed-mindedness should come from
one who clearly "knows what he heard" and won't be deflected by even
the most compelling evidence.

As somebody else has said, if you can back up your claim by actually
identifying the difference between these cables there is a huge pot of
money waiting for you to collect. Come back and post here when you
have it in your bank account; at that point we will listen to you, but
until then you are spouting nonsense.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"Joseph Delvey, Jr." <jdelv2@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:40E0C19B.46D0236B@comcast.net
> I find it regretable to find the participants of this newgroup to be
> so closed minded. Except for Arny, whose suggestion was helpful, I
> found little of value to the comments I received.

> Thanks Arny for your help.

Ironically, I also agree with Murray, Don, and Geoff about the purported
benefits of magic speaker cables.

> Have any of you listened to Omega Micro cables?

Ahh, the magic cable of this week.

> Why are you so quick to dismiss
> something about which you have had no direct experience.

Because I've done a lot of carefully-done listening tests involving so many
magic cables.

The human brain has the ability to convince itself that there are dramatic
audible differences, when in fact the ears are hearing a comparison between
two identical sounds. You can obtain many practical lessons relating to this
effect at www.pcabx.com .

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

"Laurence Payne" <l@laurenceDELETEpayne.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in
message news:69g2e0lcbctlc094oq0qvj90en5q8nnb6d@4ax.com
> On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 21:12:45 -0400, "Joseph Delvey, Jr."
> <jdelv2@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> I had a chance to hear these cables, with and without the active
>> shield, in Lloyd Walker's home system, which by the way is one of
>> the best systems I've ever heard. I asked Lloyd to unplug the
>> shield from its power source which provided a DC bias to the them
>> relative to the foil conductors. The top octave dropped away, the
>> dynamics lost their range, and the soundstage narrowed considerably.
>> I don't claim to have golden ears, a fact I mention to underscore
>> that the difference I heard was obvious. I don't know exactly how
>> an active shield like this could have such an effect. Perhaps the
>> explanations from Omega Micro about their product do not make sense
>> from an engineering standpoint. Perhaps the shield isn't a "shield"
>> in the traditional sense at all. But what I heard is undeniable. I
>> wish all of you who criticized me for asking a question would have a
>> chance to experience the demo I heard at Lloyd's house.

It is truly amazing how experiences like this collapse when done under more
carefully controlled conditions.

There's not a snowball's chance in San Diego that removing the biasing from
the shield on speaker cables would actually make "the top octave drop away".
It takes a lot of loss to audibly reduce the treble range. Speaker outputs
on power amps have very low impedances. The parallel capacitance between the
speaker wires and the shield is a relatively small (even infinitesimal)
reactance in comparison to the load that the speaker presents.

There's also not a snowball's chance in San Diego that removing the biasing
from the shield on speaker cables would actually audibly change the dynamics
or sound stage, either. It takes a lot of loss to audibly change dynamics or
soundstaging. Speaker leads have very low series impedances. The series
impedance of speaker wires presents relatively small (even infinitesimal)
reactance in comparison to the load that the speaker presents.

Far more likely, there was not good time-matching between the musical
passages being compared. Therefore, absolutely identical sounds were not
compared. The comparison was no doubt done by means of wire-swapping, which
also introduces a significant time displacement into the listening tests.
This time delay actually dramatically decreases any possible sensitivity
that the test might have had.

Listening evaluations like this are so flawed that they can't even properly
be called tests. There was no fixed standard, and reference to a fixed
standard is part of the definition of the word "test" Professionals, and
others who have experience with properly-run listening tests joke about
naive consumers who base important buying decisions on silly games like
these.


> If you can reproduce this effect, there's a substantial cash prize
> waiting for you on another newsgroup. I forget which - someone remind
> me?

rec.audio.pro is the newsgroup, and Stewart Pinkerton is the custodian of
the offer.

Anybody who wants to practice up on doing proper listening tests that are
bias-controlled, level-matched, and time-synched can do so by visiting
www.pcabx.com .

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

Arny Krueger wrote:

><snip>

> The human brain has the ability to convince itself that there are dramatic
> audible differences, when in fact the ears are hearing a comparison between
> two identical sounds. You can obtain many practical lessons relating to this
> effect at www.pcabx.com .
>
>

In fact, the ability of the brain to delude itself seems to be directly
proportional to the money spent in the endeavor and magic cables are
grossly over priced.