- Triboelectric effect
- Movement relative to an electric field
- Movement relative to a magnetic field
It is important to realize that there are two separate energy sources for this vibration.
The first energy source comes from the loudspeakers themselves. As music is played, the vibrations in the air (sound) vibrate “hairs” in your ears (so you hear the sound), as well as everything else in the room. This vibration includes your audio cables.
This mechanical vibration, induced by the sound itself, is a major enemy of cable producers. Unfortunately, this problem is rarely talked about, and frequently overlooked.
The second energy source comes from the current running through the audio cables. As mentioned previously, the current will produce a magnetic field. Since all of the wires in our audio systems have current running in opposing directions (+ and – lead, this applies to AC as well) opposing magnetic fields are set up in the conductors.
These opposing magnetic fields mechanically push the conductors apart, thus causing mechanical vibration. This is a major design consideration for loudspeaker cables. However, in audio interconnects, the current is so small, that this effect can truly be neglected, so we will not elaborate on this second mechanism for now.