I saw that John, but since it was speaking about EMI and RFI I just didn't make the connection. I tend to categorize EMI (electro magnetic interference for everyone else) into 2 categories: EMI that you would EXPECT to have in a certain location, and random EMI that just seems to show up unexpectedly. I would never intentionally run any data or audio cable over a flourescent light fixture. (They need to change the name of those from "light fixture" to "bad electrical noise generator that can be used to light up a room when you install the optional light tube".) They generate huge quantities of both EMI and RFI (radio frequency interference). I'm pretty sure that they are also known to cause cancer in the state of California as well. If you live anywhere else in the world, you are safe.

I agree with the article to a certain extent, but I would like to see "practically immune" changed to something like "substantially resistant". I find it funny that their description of the Canare 4S11 conflicts to a small degree with the first 2 sentences on the same page. "When conventionally wired, star quad speaker cable has the advantage of reducing the EM field around the cable, which will tend to diminish the effect of the signal in the speaker cable upon nearby interconnects--though this is not, in most applications, a significant concern.". Uh Oh... Here we go again. Now they are saying that the speaker wire is the source of the EMI, and that the interconnects are the things that you need to worry about in terms of getting interferred with. I give up. So should they. It's pretty hard to diffrentiate your product from the other guys' product when neither one of you can improve it beyond the limitations set by mother nature and the laws of physics. Why do I keep referring to mother nature? Because we (humanity) have only been able to study the laws of physics HERE. Just one environment. The "rules" could change substantially elsewhere, like outside of the Milky Way galaxy. Call Leonard Nimoy. We need him to take it from here...

The bottom line is that we live in an imperfect world. Interference is a fact of life, and due to certain laws of nature, we just have to live with it. We can eliminate some of it and deal with the rest of it. Speaker wire companies (and power cord companies) have to stretch the general population's understanding of science and the English language to the hilt in an attempt to convince you that they have the better product. Copper is copper. The copper in your water pipes will conduct an audio signal just as well as the most expensive speaker wire on the planet. Period. (I would recommend melting it down to an easier to work with form before testing - like wire.). What are they going to say? "We use the same damn copper as everybody else. Our wire bends just like everybody else's. If you put our wire in a bad place, it might just decide to act like an antenna, just like everybody else's. Ours has a coating on the outside, just like everybody else's.". The only real differences between speaker wire is found in the construction. Bare wire on each end is the "best" you can get from a strictly technical perspective (physically connected permanenty - soldered to the post would be "the best" with zero connections). If you are buying wire with connectors, pay more for wire with better connectors. If you are buying wire to pull through walls, pay more for the teflon coated stuff that makes it slide more easily. If they will be exposed, buy pretty ones. If you have to run them in parallel with your power cords, buy twisted ones, or go get a fancy, twisted, power cord and use regular speaker wire.

Uh... I'll stop there. Seems to back OT. This was a fun thread. Hey misfit, I hope your system souds nice!

M- M60s/VP150/QS8s/SVS PC-Ultra/HK630 Sit down. Shut up. Listen.