Your Speaker Cables...

[jleaman]

Do you use spades or bare wire for your ends on your speaker cables ? Where do you get them ? I want to use spades but my binding postes are kinda big what else should i use ?

Anyone got pictures of there speaker cables and idea's ?

[The_Hi_End]

I prefer to use bare wire because every connection you have to make is a chance for loss of signal.
as my speaker cable I used cat5 cable in the triple-T layout.
you can see it here.
I wanted to post a picture of my cables, but i have to downscale it first...

[wigginjs]

Sure, I use banannas actually. Check out the pictures on my website (sig) under "Speaker Cables".

[SY]

I've had bad experiences with bananas in the past- possibly it's peculiar to the ones I used, but maybe not. They would slowly build up contact resistance until the distortion started getting audible. At that point, I'd have to plug and unplug them to clear it. It didn't seem to be corrosion issues, more of loss of spring tension. There are some locking jobbies that look attractive, but at this point, I've already moved over to spade lugs well screwed down.

For reliable, no-nonsense speaker cables, there's nothing significantly better than my Home Depot Orange Specials. Several of the more expensive "audiophile" speaker cables are now in a box in my garage.

[Cal Weldon]

Originally posted by SY
For reliable, no-nonsense speaker cables, there's nothing significantly better than my Home Depot Orange Specials.

SY,
What do you do with the third wire?

Cal

[The_Hi_End]

third wire?
I think you looked at the interconnect cable in stead of the speaker cable...

[gmarsh]

My speaker cables (14AWG stranded copper, zip tied together) have lugs crimped onto the speaker end and bananas crimped onto the amp end.

If there were reliability issues with banana jacks, I wouldn't expect them to be on the Audio Precision box next to me.

[EZ_Angus]

Hey Sy: man I love that home depot orange extension cord too. thats all I use now and it was $0.50 per foot. I use the bare wire with no spades or 'nanners. Cal I leave the third wire floating as recommended by the redoubtable KavaKid on the AAA tweaks forum. kevin g.

[Mr Evil]

Originally posted by Cal Weldon


SY,
What do you do with the third wire?

Cal

Parallel one pair of wires. Doing so decreases the inductance and resistance. I agree with SY that thick mains cable like that is the most cost effective way to make high quality speaker cable.


Myself, I use some thick OFC cable with transparent insulation because I love the way it looks. For connectors, I use Neutrik Speakons because they are extremely robust and make a nice 'click'. I don't like bare wires because with frequent removal/insertion (as seems strangely common in a DIY situation...) they tend to become damaged and corroded.

[Cal Weldon]

Originally posted by The_Hi_End
third wire?
I think you looked at the interconnect cable in stead of the speaker cable...

The 'speaker cable' of which we speak is an extension cord,
See below

Originally posted by EZ_Angus
Cal I leave the third wire floating as recommended by the redoubtable KavaKid on the AAA tweaks forum. kevin g.

and

Originally posted by Mr Evil
Parallel one pair of wires. Doing so decreases the inductance and resistance.

What's a guy to do?

Cal