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From: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP
Newsgroups: rec.audio,sci.physics,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Mercury Filled Speaker Wire
Message-ID: <3970@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: Sat, 12-Sep-87 16:34:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: cit-vax.3970
Posted: Sat Sep 12 16:34:36 1987
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Just to shed more heat on this subject, it seems to me that most audiophile
discussions of this nature are full of buzzwords and little quantitative
thought, so let me continue this tradition.

Mercury filled cables suffer from signal-induced magnetostrictive non-linear
microphonics.  The resistive impedance has a temporally varying component
with a first derivative w.r.t. time proportional to the second power
of the signal current.  This causes multiplicative mixing of the signal
with a signal with all frequencies doubled, causing objective (as
opposed to subjective) sum and difference frequencies.  At mechanical
resonance, the electrical signal may cause runaway oscillation resulting
in cavitation, yeilding chaotic resistance phenomena.  Near resonance,
high-Q mechanical vibration will cause what laymen call "ringing",
continued oscillation after the driving signal is removed.

Of course, all of this is non-quantitative, and if you work out the numbers,
you will find that these effects would be indetectable for ordinary
current densities and wires.  Nevertheless, I hope that this article
has fanned the flames and opened up new vistas for argument.  Please
direct follow-ups to rec.audio, as I do not read that newsgroup.

From the Cyberpunk Audiophile:
		David Palmer
		palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu
		...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
	The opinions expressed are those of an 8000 year old Atlantuan
	priestess named Mrla, and not necessarily those of her channel.