For the longest time I too thought of cables as conductors whose 3 electrical properties could affect the signal. I was always puzzled however how one set of cables in one system could audibly alter the signal but not in another. When that occurred I always attributed it to high inductance or RF. So I dismissed cable differences as being more psycho-acoustic than physical. Still it bothered me.
It was only after I read "Effects of Cable, Loudspeaker,and Amplifier Interactions* by Fred Davis in AudioEng.Soc.,Vol.39, No.6, 1991 June that things jelled for me. In it Davis explains how not only the electrical properties but the electrical interaction between the amp and speakers varied depending on the cables used. He concluded:
"If loudspeakers were only simple resistance, then large, low-resistance cables would not be a bad idea. However, loudspeaker systems exhibit a frequency-dependent complex impedance that can interact with the reactive components of amplifier and cable, The best response was obtained with low-inductance cables and an amplifier with low-inductance output and a high, frequency-independent damping factor.
These tests have shown that the best way to achieve adequately low resistance and inductance in a cable is by using many independently insulated wires per conductor than one large wire. "
I was then less dismissive of reports that cables could improve the quality of sound in one system and not in another.
