I was talking to a smart friend, and I did not know that this wire is fairly readily available. I’m not aware of anybody using it in high end audio, and I’m curious why that is? Not sure how expensive it is, but, if it offers sonic advantages, surely some would be willing to pay the price?
High Temperature Superconductor Wire In High End Audio?
- Thread starter tommylion
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There's no such thing. Room temperature superconductors don't exist (yet). Do proper research before you believe your "smart friend" 
Or run a liquid nitrogen bath for the conductors…There's no such thing. Room temperature superconductors don't exist (yet). Do proper research before you believe your "smart friend"
However, his question does illuminate a related concept, that of manufacturers doing as AudioNote does and make their own electrical components and hook-up wire in order to make “what’s best”.
We have an entire chapter dedicated to cables with entries on why a specific process of drawing 100% pure silver through heated cutting die’s in oxygen-free environment for single seed whatever, coated with teflon or whatever, or surrounded with a jacket of fluid, etc. etc., will sound best. Same attention made in the design of phono cartridges.
I am not talking about pseudo-tech cryo-graphine-glued-on diamonds stuff, but actual learning from users owning and listening to the results of the severe competition between cable and phono cartridge manufactures that has produced the finest examples of the art.
Why is it that only Audio Note (that I know of) carries on with that learning to not only using their own hook-up wire inside their stereo components, but apply the same listening trial and error learning to their own manufacture of best-sounding resistors, transformers and capacitors.
We have an entire chapter dedicated to cables with entries on why a specific process of drawing 100% pure silver through heated cutting die’s in oxygen-free environment for single seed whatever, coated with teflon or whatever, or surrounded with a jacket of fluid, etc. etc., will sound best. Same attention made in the design of phono cartridges.
I am not talking about pseudo-tech cryo-graphine-glued-on diamonds stuff, but actual learning from users owning and listening to the results of the severe competition between cable and phono cartridge manufactures that has produced the finest examples of the art.
Why is it that only Audio Note (that I know of) carries on with that learning to not only using their own hook-up wire inside their stereo components, but apply the same listening trial and error learning to their own manufacture of best-sounding resistors, transformers and capacitors.
Room temp superconducting wire may not be feasible with current technology but I've thought that today's tech could allow a designer to make a driver with cooled super conducting pole pieces in the motor assembly. For example take what Borresen has done with Silver Supreme line, swap out that silver pole ring with superconducting material and devise a method to cool it. Motor inductance drops to nothing and I would surmise that one would possibly end up with a driver that could properly mechanically execute an actual square wave.
How does the inductance drop to zero?
Secondly many superconductors loose that trait when in a string magnetic field.
Probably should've put "zero" in quotes, "minimize" would've been better. Specifically reduce the back EMF that occurs at driver resonate frequency(fs).
Could you please explain further - "Secondly many superconductors loose that trait when in a string magnetic field"
I knew of the silver rings utilized in their drivers but after looking into this further I see now Borrensen has already given thought into utilizing superconducting material in their magnet systems.
I think you’ve missed the point.
The resistance may go to zero, but the inductance is a function of the geometry, and the fact that it is a coil, which is pretty well understood in terms of the equations on inductance… would make a super conductor have zero impact on the inductance.
If it was a speaker cable, then maybe there is some possibility of “magic” happening with skin effect, as the super conductor has zero skin… or maybe all skin.
I recall me specifically talking about superconductive material in the pole pieces. I did not mention coil wire. A supercondutor place around the voice coil will absolutely have influence on the inductance of a moving voice coil with alternating current. I also spoke of Borresen speakers which specifically have copper or silver rings that sit between two neodynium(I believe) magnets. These are effectively "shorting" rings from which current from the coil creates the magnetic flux which induces current flow in the shorting ring. Because the shorting ring has low coil resistance(supercoductor case, no resistance) it shunts this current causing an opposing magnetic field. This effectively brakes the moving coil. Every magnetically driven speaker driver has its highest electrical "Q" or inductance peak right around the cones natural resonate frequency. That "Q" is an electromechanical property of(magnet, cone/diaphragm moving mass/assembly weight, cone spider/suspension, open air coil inductance, etc.). This shorting coil spoken of earlier reduces this.
If Borresen had found a way to implement ‘superconducting material’ at room temperature, believe me, they wouldn’t be bothering with manufacturing speakers. You can rest assured that it’s not a true superconductor at STP in general terms—possibly just a marketing gimmick.
...I believe all that has been debunked. Those papers were also withdrawn, IIRC. The findings were not reproducible.
Actually it's more like "dimension" in 7D movies. When 3D wasn't sufficient they invented more dimensions which resembles the "superconducter in room temperature" in Borresen in my opinion.
There's an alloy that has achieved nearly 130% IACS. I've asked if it can be made and tested... we'll see!
Google:
IACS is an acronym for International Annealed Copper Standard, which was established by the 1913 International Electrochemical Commission. The conductivity of the annealed copper (5.8001 x 107S/m) is defined to be 100% IACS at 20°C .
I am not sure how much difference conductivity will make as there's no such thing as two identical materials with only different conductivity. IME it's very likely other factors make a larger difference in why copper and silver sound so different as their conductivity is only a few % different. Sometimes lower conductivity materials in plating sound much more neutral, for example platinum or rhodium plating is more neutral than gold, despite gold being more conductive.
Agreed, this would make for a significant improvement. I'm not sure about cables as ICs are attached to 10-100kOhm loads so what difference does a fraction of an ohm make? Even with a 4-ohm speaker, cable resistance isn't a big deal if the cable is short and heavy gauge, but I guess a 100 ft speaker cable that's super-thin and could be used for high power applications would be really nice for a lot of pro audio applications.
Google:
IACS is an acronym for International Annealed Copper Standard, which was established by the 1913 International Electrochemical Commission. The conductivity of the annealed copper (5.8001 x 107S/m) is defined to be 100% IACS at 20°C .
I am not sure how much difference conductivity will make as there's no such thing as two identical materials with only different conductivity. IME it's very likely other factors make a larger difference in why copper and silver sound so different as their conductivity is only a few % different. Sometimes lower conductivity materials in plating sound much more neutral, for example platinum or rhodium plating is more neutral than gold, despite gold being more conductive.
Agreed, this would make for a significant improvement. I'm not sure about cables as ICs are attached to 10-100kOhm loads so what difference does a fraction of an ohm make? Even with a 4-ohm speaker, cable resistance isn't a big deal if the cable is short and heavy gauge, but I guess a 100 ft speaker cable that's super-thin and could be used for high power applications would be really nice for a lot of pro audio applications.
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