Uh oh... 
Some think wire (regardless of where in the system) makes a huge difference, some thing it makes next to no difference. Regardless of what anyone says (or can 'prove' on paper) if you can't hear the different between, say, AudioQuest Midnight and Kimber 8TC in a high resolution system, then your ears aren't as good as you think they are. On the other hand, I think if you are paying over $10/ft for speaker wire for a system that only costs $1,000, your sense of financial priorities is a bit off.
My honest opinion on the actual question is this: whatever you like for the outside of the speaker is probably what you will like for the inside of the speaker. If you can tell the different and you like the difference for the 8 feet of cable from amp to speaker, there should be a similar difference in changing the 3 ft inside the speaker.
Said another way, if the budget for a speaker project is $100, I probably wouldn't spend over about $5 on internal cabling. If the budget is $5,000, I couldn't bring myself to use 18 gauge power line from a hardware store.
Some think wire (regardless of where in the system) makes a huge difference, some thing it makes next to no difference. Regardless of what anyone says (or can 'prove' on paper) if you can't hear the different between, say, AudioQuest Midnight and Kimber 8TC in a high resolution system, then your ears aren't as good as you think they are. On the other hand, I think if you are paying over $10/ft for speaker wire for a system that only costs $1,000, your sense of financial priorities is a bit off.
My honest opinion on the actual question is this: whatever you like for the outside of the speaker is probably what you will like for the inside of the speaker. If you can tell the different and you like the difference for the 8 feet of cable from amp to speaker, there should be a similar difference in changing the 3 ft inside the speaker.
Said another way, if the budget for a speaker project is $100, I probably wouldn't spend over about $5 on internal cabling. If the budget is $5,000, I couldn't bring myself to use 18 gauge power line from a hardware store.
tbr said:
That makes two!
Alpha Core has different gauges, the gauge they have for surround speakers are probably more convenient to work with internally. Foil inductors I have found two be more coherent than straight inductors.
Whatever you use, they would be bigger than the coil leads on the driver and smaller than (or equal to) external.
Pure material without plating generally is better. Some like silver because of lower resistance, there is a difference, but whether it's significant enought for more $$$ is system dependent.
Well, I have a theory about "buying my peace of mind".
Sometimes, I install good quality components in my speakers or crossover, even if I'm not convinced that there will be better performance. Maybe it's throwing money out the window, but after spending 800$ on a speaker, it's sad to think that you don't have 100% performance just to save 20$
F
Sometimes, I install good quality components in my speakers or crossover, even if I'm not convinced that there will be better performance. Maybe it's throwing money out the window, but after spending 800$ on a speaker, it's sad to think that you don't have 100% performance just to save 20$
F
AndrewT said:
Zip cord is just a parallel set of wires designed in such a way that they can be separated (hence zip like a zipper). Zip is used for low current extension cords, table lamps, power cords to some audio equipment such as CD players.
The phrase "Take five sell 23 gauge silver wire" is incomprehensible no matter where you live.
"Uh oh... " means, oh, goodie - another endless debate on speaker wire.
A Quatloo is a form of currency used by an alien species in one of the episodes of the original Star Trek TV series. It is an aside and a play on my casting 1000 votes for zip. Thus, it is irrelevant to the discussion but just about all you can expect from SY.
Can I add another thousand votes to the zip-cord debate? (and for the innocents, it's standard figure 8 insulated wire) Not that I care about wire much -let's face it, how exciting can a conductor possibly be? Not very is my answer. All it has to do is carry the signal -not actually a difficult task, compared to, say, a voice-coil. I use 12AWG as it's cheap, and I like having as much conductor there as is practical to minimise resistance, though in such a short run, its not a big issue. This stuff measures better than most products from Transparent, Nordost, Kimber, Siltech etc, and cost me £40UK for a 100m spool. Cat 5 works well too, if you use more than 1 run.
I'm not knocking expensive cable, it often makes people feel better; fair enough, that's good, so long as it's been properly designed. By that, I mean, has low resistance (i.e. isn't stupidly thin), has reasonable capacitance and inductance, and doesn't attempt any funny games artificially raising one or the other through the roof at the expense of the other for reasons nobody has ever explained to my satisfaction at least. Don't get worked up about wire is my view. All I would suggest is avoiding thin wire, 'creative' construction methods, and silver insulated with teflon too. Not a great combination in triboelectric terms -it rings. Really only an issue for microphones; probably not a problem as speaker-wire -but why use a compromised combination in the first place? Especially if you're being asked to pay through the eyes and nose for it.
A thought though: in every ABX test I've run (9 if you're interested), nobody thought the high-priced cables were better than anything else. Those included zip cord, Cat 5, and a mains cable bought for £1.29 in the sale at my local B&Q hardware store.
You pays your money...
Cheers
Scott
I'm not knocking expensive cable, it often makes people feel better; fair enough, that's good, so long as it's been properly designed. By that, I mean, has low resistance (i.e. isn't stupidly thin), has reasonable capacitance and inductance, and doesn't attempt any funny games artificially raising one or the other through the roof at the expense of the other for reasons nobody has ever explained to my satisfaction at least. Don't get worked up about wire is my view. All I would suggest is avoiding thin wire, 'creative' construction methods, and silver insulated with teflon too. Not a great combination in triboelectric terms -it rings. Really only an issue for microphones; probably not a problem as speaker-wire -but why use a compromised combination in the first place? Especially if you're being asked to pay through the eyes and nose for it.
A thought though: in every ABX test I've run (9 if you're interested), nobody thought the high-priced cables were better than anything else. Those included zip cord, Cat 5, and a mains cable bought for £1.29 in the sale at my local B&Q hardware store.
You pays your money...
Cheers
Scott
Bill,
I is just the result of realizing that I can't try every components, speakers, wire, etc myself before buying stuff. So I have to base my choices on comments posted by more experienced persons.
If ten different people agree that Speaker X is really good, then it is probably good in some way. It may not be the "best", but it is a good guess.
Yeah yeah. english is a second language to me so don't be too upset.
Take Five Audio: http://www.takefiveaudio.com/new_catalog.htm
They sell silver wire for a reasonable amount of money. Worth looking if you are interrested.
F
I is just the result of realizing that I can't try every components, speakers, wire, etc myself before buying stuff. So I have to base my choices on comments posted by more experienced persons.
If ten different people agree that Speaker X is really good, then it is probably good in some way. It may not be the "best", but it is a good guess.
Yeah yeah. english is a second language to me so don't be too upset.
Take Five Audio: http://www.takefiveaudio.com/new_catalog.htm
They sell silver wire for a reasonable amount of money. Worth looking if you are interrested.
F
The useful answer won't satisfy anyone. But here it is: use normal quality wire, plated to prevent corrosion, and of sufficiently low DCR as to not be significant. Silver plating and silver solder are nice-to-haves, ensuring very high quality solder joints.
jneutron correctly identified Triskallian (or however it's spelled).
jneutron correctly identified Triskallian (or however it's spelled).
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