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Audioquest Type 4 Speaker Cable
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Product Information
NHT is proud to offer Audioquest speaker wire and audio cable products. While Audioquest makes several different products, we asked them to recommend, in every wire and cable category what they consider to be their highest value products in good/better/best quality levels. We both believe this will simplify our customers selection process and allow us to carry many more sizes of each product type that we recommend.
Simply select the performance level you desire and the length and connector type you need. Should you desire a custom length or an Audioquest product not available on our website, please contact us with your request at orders@nhthifi.com.
Please note: Audioquest products are available to our US customers only and can only ship via UPS and FedEx. Sorry, no International sales are permitted on this product.
Note: All Audioquest speaker wires are made to order -- please allow a 48 hour processing time before shipping.
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Specifications
The Audioquest Type-4 represent the GOOD speaker wire choice in NHT's good/better/best product mix.
At first glance, Type 4 looks like a normal round cable, but inside is a fully optimized and very sophisticated balance of quality ingredients and refined design.
CONDUCTORS: All four of Type 4s conductors are solid. Electrical and magnetic interaction between strands in a conventional cable is the single greatest source of distortion, often causing a somewhat harsh, dirty and confused sound. Solid conductors are the most important ingredients enabling Type 4s very clear sound. Whether a conductor is solid or stranded, skin-effect is a prime distortion mechanism in speaker cables. Type 4 very simply keeps this effect out of the audio range by using conductor sizes that are below the threshold for audible distortion.
LONG-GRAIN COPPER: Type 4s LGC (Long Grain Copper) allows a smoother and clearer sound than cables using regular OFHC (Oxygen-Free High-Conductivity) copper. OFHC is a general metal industry specification regarding loss, without any concern for distortion. LGC has fewer oxides within the conducting material, less impurities, less grain boundaries, and definitively better performance.
All drawn metal exhibits directionality, whether in hardware store wire or in the best AQ cable. We wish we could design away this awkwardness. Since we cant, we pay close attention to optimizing performance by clearly marking the cables and our terminations. Please watch for these markings when installing any audio cables.
GEOMETRY: The relationship between conductors defines a cables most basic electrical values (capacitance and inductance). However, even when those variables are kept in a reasonable balance, the relationship between conductors can be varied in ways that greatly effect the sound. The spiral construction of Type 4 allows for significantly better dynamic contrast and information intelligibility than if the same conductors were run in parallel. The specific 4-cross geometry used in Type 4 maximizes this advantage.
INSULATION: In a low level cable the insulating material significantly affects the cables performance. However, in a speaker cable the electrical effect of insulation is almost only heard as a dry irritating sound prior to a cable being fully run-in technically adapting to a charged state. The term break-in does not apply because taking away the charge will slowly return the cable to its new condition. The insulations mechanical (hard vs. soft) properties make an important difference in stranded cables. The harder the better in order to minimize strand movement. Since solid conductors dont need hard insulation, they can take advantage of the vibration damping advantage of a softer insulation.
SST (Spread Spectrum Technology): Any single size or shape of conductor has a specific distortion profile. Even though radially symmetrical conductors (solid round or tubular) have the fewest discontinuities, any particular size does have a sonic signature. SST is a method for significantly reducing the awareness of these character flaws by using a precise combination of different size conductors. SST has enabled Type 4 to be the biggest possible four conductor cable that avoids audible skin-effect.
TERMINATIONS: The Type-4 speaker wires are terminated full-range (FR) with one + and one - on each end of the wire. The wire is terminated with the AQ Crimp BFA/Banana connector.
A combination of these major ingredients, and many more subtle details add up to explain how even an affordable cable like Type 4 can sound so good.
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