I was kidding about the coat hanger. I just want to see if I can hear or measure a significant difference between my regular vs shorter cabels and if that difference is even a problem.
When it warms up enough here I do plan to make some comparisons for my own curiosity. I have a Dayton impedance measurement tool and have had some sucess with R.E.W. measurement software looking at impulse response. I am assuming damping differences would show up in an impulse response? (I admit my grasp of all this is still 101.)
It's been a while since I shared this.. Damping factor is an archaic specification left-over from the bad old days when tube amps ruled the roost and amp output impedance was challenged (because of the tubes). Modern solid state power amplifiers have arbitrarily low source impedance so damping factor in modern systems is dominated by wire resistance.
I recall being at one demonstration when we intentionally degraded DF to listen for audible clues. My recollection was that the difference was subtle and I am not sure many (I?) would hear it in a double-blind listening test.
Logically the most audible effect from high wire resistance is altered frequency response from interaction (a simple divider) with the loudspeaker's changing impedance vs. frequency. So different speakers will be affected more than others.
There is a popular theme that speakers need to be driven by low impedance to better control VC mass and while this is loosely true loudspeaker drivers are not directly positioned by the drive voltage but accelerated by the drive voltage in or out, so speaker wire impedance just adds a little more compliance to the already indirect drive system.
JR
