Internal speaker wire. What do you use?

[gnugear]

I was thinking of going the magnet wire route. What are you guys using to connect your drivers to the binding posts?

[troystg]

Silver plated Teflon insulated from Steve.

http://www.apexjr.com/wire.html

Insulation doesn't melt when I solder it.

Cat5 when I'm playing around.

Never tried the magnet wire, heard it was good too.

EDIT: To clarify, I have no association with Steve, he just has good stuff, good prices and GREAT service.

[Scottmoose]

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.

[Cal Weldon]

16 ga. lamp cord

[planet10]

Originally posted by Scottmoose
Depends on the amp / driver combination

Veryt much so... for most of my speakers with the amps i usually use, single strands of cryo-treated CAT 5 (don't know for sure that the cryo helps, but i have most of a roll of it, and it can't hurt.

dave

[audio-kraut]

Anything 16 - 18 gauge...usually ratshack wire.

[gnugear]

Where are you guys getting your Cat5? Hardware store?

[poobah]

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.

[KP11520]

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

[planet10]

Originally posted by KP11520
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