Recommendations for Internal Signal Wiring

[Killjoy99]

Just looking to get some recommendations on the particular kinds and brands of signal wiring within amplifiers. I'm having a hard time finding adequate signal wire by the foot. Any help would be much appreciated.

[anatech]

Hi Killjoy99,
At the risk of starting a verbal war ... All you need is insulated cables, teflon doesn't help, solid or silver doesn't help. Use shielded where needed and properly sized current carrying leads. Grounding and lead placement is far more important to the sound and operation.
Let the games begin!

-Chris

[chris ma]

I like the Belden hook up wires that comes with several colours in a box.

Chris

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

I agree. Regular hook-up wire. I do understand that the wire from rat shack stinks, though.

[Killjoy99]

So you guys are recommending standard hook-up wire for the SIGNAL INPUT or are you talking about power wiring?

[Peter Daniel]

I buy my wire at Home Depot. They have many different colors and sizes.

[Magura]

As stated earlier, what you have to keep an eye on is the power wires. Make sure you use certified wire for power applications and keep an eye on the curren rating of the wire. A safety factor of at least 2 is a minimum.

Personally I allways use either teflon insulated or glass insulated wire for power applications. If something goes wrong and it gets hot, you're still safe with either of the two, as the wire is definitely not the weakest link anymore, and you could be lucky avoiding a potential capital faillure

Besides the fact that teflon and glass is resistant to heat, both are also mechanically very strong, which again could save you if something goes wrong.

Magura

[troystg]

Hey Killjoy-

Steve @ Apex.jr has silver coated teflon insulated braid sheilded co-ax and twisted pair.

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


I use the twisted pair for anything longer than a foot, but he co-ax is great for short runs. I will attach a couple of pictures.

Thanks,

Troy

Doah!.. At work, pics are on home PC. I will post the pics later... But the cable is good.. And by the foot, and inexpensive.

[mhb]

Killjoy99,

If the signal leads are short and separated from power wiring and transformers, unshielded copper wire works great. I've had good luck with the Kimber copper 19 gauge wire. The wire is teflon, strips easily and solders well. I like to twist + and ground together. 19 gauge is more than sufficient for signals. Handmade Electronics is one source for Kimber signal wire. (hndme.com)

If the leads are of length, are run in close proximity of transformers, etc, you'd be better off with some shielded wire. Belden 83319 is nice but expensive. You can buy the copper shielding separately as an option.

Make sure and ground one end of the shield, I won't say which one to avoid wars, just try it both ways and go with what works best.

Hope this helps...

[Mike Gergen]

I like to use regular microphone cable. It has two twisted wires in a shielded cable. Cheap, available by the 100' role and it's pretty easy to work with.