Understanding audio and video wire and cable

The best connectivity designs take into account the source connector materials, the receiving device connector materials, the audio video wire connector materials, the conductor materials and the electrical and chemical ways in which they interact with one another. Copper is the next best conductor, with about 1.05 times the resistance of silver, and due to its lower cost is the most commonly used conductor for audio and video cables.Discreet wiring - Discreet wiring is where separate conductors, indluding speaker wires, are run in some fashion (wires or circuit board traces) to the circuit components or input/output connections to which they need to go to. In some circuits, especially non signal related connections the path or interaction of these types of wires to one another is not particularly important as long as they are separated from one another to a reasonable extent. The closer they get, the more likely they are to possibly interact. This all goes out the window when a signal or "change" (whether they are due to ac power wire, analog signals or digital signals - basically any type of current or voltage change) becomes a part of the mix. If you then create a change, or signal wire that causes electrical current flow, the two sets of wires may then have an effect on those changes, due to capacitance, inductance, etc, and the changes created may be different depending on the frequency of the signal involved and the characteristics of the wires and the overall circuit.That means lots of wasted power supply wire. Second, steel oxidizes easily and the oxidization is a poor conductor. Third, steel is rather hard to make into a twisted pair, allowing for EMI and RFI resistance.