Internal speaker wire. What do you use?

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Any solid core wire I have to hand usually. Internal runs of cable, like life, are short. And the latter is too short to worry about such things greatly IMO. What I do find interesting is that connections cause more problems than most wires ever have, yet are rarely discussed compared to the number of times the wire itself is.

Depends on the amp / driver combination. Magnet wire will work as well as anything else -depends what gauge you settle on.
 
Conventional design practice would suggest that a stranded wire be used. This is because the wires will vibrate. The thicker any given strand of strand of wire; the faster it will work-harden and weaken. So, wires with the finest stranding will hold up best (hint, look at the wires used from the cone to the terminal of your drivers).

When soldering stranded wires, some wicking of solder up the wire will occur. This creates a "stress riser" where the "wicked" portion of the wire meets the virgin part. Ideally, the wire should be mechanically anchored (wire tie) beyond, but close to, this stress riser.

Cal's lamp cord has my vote.

:D :D
 
Hi,

Regular Cat-5 is everywhere, Home Depot, Lowe's, big hardware chains, etc. Don't spend any money on Plenum jackets unless you are going to install it in a Commercial Building in the Ceilings (Plenum is fire resistant)

Cryo Cat-5 might require more research to find! One company sells Belden 1585A wire with Cryo treatment. I am not sure what that means, Belden does it or they do it after they get it from Belden. Maybe someone can shed some light on this!

You might also try Litz wire, it comes in the gauges you require.

Magnet wire is nice!

My ProAcs have a very fine stranded heavy gauge wire in them (silver color, not sure if it is tinned copper or what, but they sound great).

If you want to do this often, try all of the suggestions and see if you even hear a difference. If you don't hear a difference, whatever is easiest and/or cheapest. If so, well now you know what you heard and what is your preference. Good luck!

Regards//Keith
 
frugal-phile™
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KP11520 said:
Cryo Cat-5 might require more research to find!

We had a roll of plenum grade CAT 5 cryoed up as a give-away for the last VI diyFEST. There is a bit left -- I'll send small runs (3m or so) out for cost of postage and a small donation either to the forum, the Furgal-horn site or the t-linespeakers site.

If i dtrip the jacket off for you, post should be minimal.

dave
 
I use runs of CAT5, tied together in the ends. This is the same as saying stranded, with the strands isolated between them.
Reason: it is cheap, flexible, while gives me a reasonably low equivalent gauge.
BTW, mine is better than ron's ( :p ) as I bought it as a platinum-iridium alloy so as its length does not change with temperature, and the iridium changes the coloration depending of the lighting. :p

Gastón
 

AKN

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Joined 2005
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Hi,

poobah said:

When soldering stranded wires, some wicking of solder up the wire will occur. This creates a "stress riser" where the "wicked" portion of the wire meets the virgin part. Ideally, the wire should be mechanically anchored (wire tie) beyond, but close to, this stress riser.

Yes "up" is the key, if soldering with the wire pointing up and the soldier point down, less solder wicking along the wire will occur. We the capillary effect and don't want to have the law of weight helping here.


Cal's lamp cord has my vote.

:D :D

Mine too.

Poobah, long since?
 
I've used:

- solid 16ga silver wire insulated in cotton;
- single strand of Cat5;
- 12ga magnet wire;
- braided silver-plated copper w/ teflon from apexjr (6 strands of 20ga for signal, 3 strands for return).

They all 'sound' fine. though the Cat5 is by far the most practical and it's cheap too. Though I must keep telling myself: musn't fuss over cables, musn't fuss over cables, musn't fuss over cables, musn't fuss over cables...

;)
 
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