Whatmough Speaker Cables

Most Whatmough speakers are bi or tri-wireable and to achieve their optimum performance, they should be bi-wired (two-way) or tri-wired (three way).

Over thirty years ago, Colin Whatmough was heavily involved in the development of what was possibly the world’s first tri-wired speaker cable. This was long before speakers had multiple terminal posts to allow bi or tri-wiring. The final version of these cables used a very fine stranded microphone cable for the treble, a litz cable for the mid-range and a heavy thick stranded cable for the bass. While copper purity and general cable technology and configuration have improved since then, these original cables would still outperform some high end cables on the market to-day.

During this development it became very apparent that the requirements for bass, midrange and treble frequencies were very different. Cables optimized for bass frequencies will never sound as pure in the treble as cables optimized for treble and visa versa. It also became obvious that speaker cables with high capacitance sounded noticeable inferior to the same cables configured to have low capacitance. There are two main reasons for this; energy storage increases with capacitance and high capacitance in cables present a more difficult load to the amplifier.
Being able to optimize cables for the desired audio range is the main advantage or bi or tri-wiring, yet most cable manufacturers are content to use identical cables for bass and treble on their bi-wired cables. Tri-wired cables available on the market are almost non-existent.

Thirty Years on … While Whatmough cables today still make use of the technology developed thirty years ago (the laws of physics do not change), modern developments allowed the use of cables that would still perform well outside their frequency band. For example, the bass cable still performs well in the treble, though not quite as well as the treble cable. This allows for a much smoother transition from bass to mid-range and midrange to treble than in the original design.

Whatmough speaker cables are made from 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper. They are extremely tightly wound to minimize any resonances that would adversely affect detail and signal clarity. They are available as Tri-wired (WC-TW620), bi-wired (WC-BW420) and two single wired cables, WC-SW220 and WC-SW210. Whatmough Cables are low capacitance designs which help the amplifier to deliver their optimum performance, sounding tighter in the bass and more open and airy in the treble.

Frequency Optimized tri-wire cable. (WC-TW620)

The conductors used in this cable have been optimized for the frequency band they are designed to carry. That is the bass cable (blue) using multiple diameter strands in a configuration optimized for bass frequencies. It has a cross sectional area of 4.5 square millimetre per conductor.

The midrange cable (yellow) also contains multiple diameter strands in a configuration optimized for midrange frequencies. The Cross sectional area of the midrange cable is 2.5 square millimetre per conductor.

The treble cable (white) is optimized for high frequencies and uses 196 extremely fine strands with a total cross sectional area of 1.75square millimetre per conductor.

The positive (grey) and negative (black) are totally separate to reduce capacitance and thus optimize your amplifiers performance.
Frequency optimized bi-wire cable. (WC-BW420)

This cable has been manufactured in a flat ribbon configuration to reduce capacitance. The bass conductors are 8mm apart, while the treble conductors are 18mm apart which almost eliminates capacitance altogether.

The conductors used in this cable have been optimized for the frequency band they are designed to carry. That is the bass cable (on the inside) use multiple diameter strands in a configuration optimized for low and mid frequencies. It has a cross sectional area of 4.5 square millimetre per conductor.

The treble cable (on the outside) is optimized for high frequencies and uses 196 extremely fine strands with a total cross sectional area of 1.75square millimetre per conductor.
Single wire cable (WC-SW220)

This cable has been manufactured in a figure of 8 configuration using multiple diameter strands and has a cross sectional area of 4.5 square millimetres per conductor. The WC-220 is a very high quality cable.
Single wire cable (WC-SW210)

This cable has been manufactured in a figure of 8 configuration. Each conductor contains 196 extremely fine strands with a total cross sectional area of 1.75square millimetres per conductor. The high quality of this cable belies it’s low price.