G'day all, this is to me quite interesting as today by courier arrived some new audio interconnects based on RG58U co-axial cable, and although RG58U is designed as an RF transmission line, it is essentially a simple shielded cable, pretty well like any other.
Whilst RG58U has a nominal 'characteristic impedance' of 50 ohms, at RF (radio frequencies), this is of absolutely no relevance in audio service. Comparing these new RG58U interconnects with my usual cables, there is an obvious apparent change in sound quality despite having slightly higher measured capacitance for a similar physical length, and when used in turntable interconnect service, the slight increase in capacitance has no negative effects, even with my Shure M97xE a somewhat capacitance sensitive phono cartridge.
What other factors are at play then? Conrad Hoffmann has done some interesting research on this, suggesting that the cable dielectric may possibly be important. Interesting stuff! Regards, Felix.