Select Speaker Cables

Kimber Select loudspeaker cables

Starting with metals electrolytically refined to a purity of 99.995%, the near absence of oxygen results in optimum conductivity and material integrity in respect to oxidation and degradation. Our lab investigated higher purity levels, 99.999<, however, we found the differences in conductivity after wire drawing and subsequent annealing to be insignificant and inconsistent in terms of the benefits.

For the KS 6063 twelve, 24 AWG solid core OFE copper conductors (KS 6065 uses 8 copper and 4 silver conductors; KS 6068 uses 12 silver conductors) are first braided around a geometry stabilizing core. The core functions to dampen vibrations and prevent excessive deformations. Solid core conductors are vulnerable to damage from excessive deformation and flex. If such a conductor is subject to such stresses it will lose its optimal properties as a conductor. The 24 AWG solid core layer is further stabilized and protected by a layer of woven yarn. At this stage, the 24 AWG conductors are protected in such a way to secure their optimum properties under use. A 24 AWG solid core conductor is chosen for high-frequency signals as the skin depth even at 20 kHz is negligible. The 12 wire braid delivers low reactive losses by virtue of the geometry and low overall resistance resulting from the aggregate gauge of the 12 strands (24AWG solid core).

The final layer is composed of 12, 19AWG treated VariStrand (OFE copper electrolytically refined to a purity of 99.995%). This layer is also carefully woven with fabric yarn to provide mechanical stability and mitigation of vibrations. This layer provides a low loop resistance and low inductance connection to the amplifier for exceptional amplifier damping which is required for solid dynamic braking performance (both the solid core and Varistrand layer contribute the low loop resistance and low inductive reactance value).

Specifications only make up a small part of how this design was realized. Hundreds of hours listening to dozens of prototypes resulted in what we believe to be a loudspeaker cable that delivers sonically in the most demanding of circumstances.