Background:
I have never heard a speaker cable make a difference. I have never installed "fancy" cables in my systems for this reason. I believe my main system while not uber high end should be resolving enough that I should be able to hear a difference. I currently use 12 gauge zip cord from my amplifiers to wall jacks (all banana plugs) through the walls and patch cables to my speakers. My plan is to replace the total run from the amplifiers to the speakers with a single pair of speaker cables which I build myself (I am too cheap to buy something I don't believe in).
My System: (for testing
Sony UBP-X800M2 Blu-Ray Player, Interconnect HDMI
Marantz AV7704 Sound processor (running 2 channel) Interconnect XLR
Emotiva XPA-1 Gen 1 mono blocks
Magnepan 2.7 QR speakers
DIY speaker cables;
Each speaker cable will be built using 4 individual plenum rated. solid core, 23 awg (combined gauge 11 awg), CAT 6 network cable braided. Each cable is 16' long after braiding the net cable length is ~15'. All of the solid colors are joined to make a single conductor and all of the stripe colors are joined to make the other conductor. I will solder the bare copper at the ends and shrink wrap.
Questions;
What reasonably priced connectors should I use? I would prefer banana connectors on the speaker ends as the Maggies "need" this. The XPA-1s will take most anything. I was thinking about expanding banana plugs for both.
For aesthetics I would like to wrap the cables in a braided/mesh sleeve. Is there a material I should use? cotton, nylon, etc Or material I should stay away from?
I have never heard a speaker cable make a difference. I have never installed "fancy" cables in my systems for this reason. I believe my main system while not uber high end should be resolving enough that I should be able to hear a difference. I currently use 12 gauge zip cord from my amplifiers to wall jacks (all banana plugs) through the walls and patch cables to my speakers. My plan is to replace the total run from the amplifiers to the speakers with a single pair of speaker cables which I build myself (I am too cheap to buy something I don't believe in).
My System: (for testing
Sony UBP-X800M2 Blu-Ray Player, Interconnect HDMI
Marantz AV7704 Sound processor (running 2 channel) Interconnect XLR
Emotiva XPA-1 Gen 1 mono blocks
Magnepan 2.7 QR speakers
DIY speaker cables;
Each speaker cable will be built using 4 individual plenum rated. solid core, 23 awg (combined gauge 11 awg), CAT 6 network cable braided. Each cable is 16' long after braiding the net cable length is ~15'. All of the solid colors are joined to make a single conductor and all of the stripe colors are joined to make the other conductor. I will solder the bare copper at the ends and shrink wrap.
Questions;
What reasonably priced connectors should I use? I would prefer banana connectors on the speaker ends as the Maggies "need" this. The XPA-1s will take most anything. I was thinking about expanding banana plugs for both.
For aesthetics I would like to wrap the cables in a braided/mesh sleeve. Is there a material I should use? cotton, nylon, etc Or material I should stay away from?
Use zip cord, or ordinary double insulated 1 square mm wire, if your amp is powerful, can go up to 2.5 square mm.
See on line to convert to your area style of wire gauge.
Cat 6 cable will not carry so much current, and is ridiculously expensive in comparison, unless you have some excess lying around.
See on line to convert to your area style of wire gauge.
Cat 6 cable will not carry so much current, and is ridiculously expensive in comparison, unless you have some excess lying around.
Yes I have CAT 6 laying about. I have access to the end of boxes from cable installers.
When you run 4 in parallel there are 16 individual 23 gauge wires for positive & and 16 for negative which will equal ~11 gauge (2.304mm) zip cord. So it should handle plenty of current.
This is for testing. It will lay on the floor from the amp to the speaker. This is my attempt to determine if there is an audible difference in speaker cables without spending more for the cables than for my speakers.
Eye roll
Hundreds of cable threads here about such idle questions...
Hundreds of cable threads here about such idle questions...
Was it a conscious decision to match the resistance? What are the lengths of the cables?
Why don’t you leave the wires in the original jacket and just remove about 6 inches of jacket from each end. Untwist the four pairs and group the solids and stripes together. AliExpress has tons of cheap banana plugs that are good enough for most. I’m partial to rhodium plated silver but gold or bare copper will work too. No need to strip the wires out just to rewrap them.
Idle question really, someone scratched itchy areas and thought what do I do with this scrap?
Not as convenient as zip cord, but free of cost...
Not as convenient as zip cord, but free of cost...
Your cable will work fine.
Personally I avoid solid core wire but yours will be installed and basically not moved or twisted again so it´s acceptable.
Sleeve will do nothing audible but aesthetics is a valid point, pick the colour/pattern you like , I would avoid cotton since it´s on the floor and will quickly turn ugly dirty, while synthetics can be wiped along with a barely wet sponge to be cleaned.
As others mentioned, not sure braiding cables brings any sound advantage, on the contrary it will increase capacitive load for the amp, it might or might not like it so why risk it?
Normal zip cord wire inductance is not a problem, even less in a
so why bother?
Leave as-is, they made a way better job at it than any of us can even dream of reaching 🙂
This is my intention. My concern about bare copper is oxidation. My thought is something similar to this - https://www.parts-express.com/Expanding-Banana-Plug-with-Dual-Set-Screws-and-Poly-Carbonat-091-3604
One purpose of this exercise is to explore the possibility that speaker cables matter. I have read that the material used as a covering changes the capacitance of the cable. This is why I am using plenum rated as opposed to PVC jacketed CAT 6 cable.
In the end, I want to provide the best chance for "success" as defined by being able to hear a difference. While I am not a cable denier, I am a cable skeptic.
The decision on gauge/resistance was fairly arbitrary. The Maggies require current to drive, so I wanted to make sure the wire was of sufficient size to meet that need.
In the original post I said "Each cable is 16' long after braiding the net cable length is ~15'." Resistance in 15' of 11 gauge cable should be negligible.
you mean 16' .
End to end distance is irrelevant, you might U-bend it and start and finish be at a couple mm each, what matters is the actual copper path electrons follow, and it´s always 16' , no matter how you braid or twist or bend it.
As of actual sound change, I expect very little of it, if at all, but hey, it´s your Party, so .... 🙂
In general, to sell something which otherwise is cheap ,plentiful and easily available, at higher than average/market price, and even worse, with outrageous profit margins, requires "extraordinary claims".
If at all possible, something "visible".
Braiding meets those goals, so some sellers claim "extraordinary" performance out of such a simple job.
When I rebuilt my crossovers (Monitor Audio speakers) I used MC/Staubli 4mm test/measurement sockets & plugs....gold plated brass body.....might be able to find them without the "sheath", either that or cut it off.
If you want to pedantic. the pairs are all twisted tightly which would add additional length to each of the individual 32 wires, but yes I should have said 16'. In the end the resistance should be negligible.
If I believed there would be a "veil lifted" or some other auditory nirvana, I might consider buying $20k cables, but then again my cheapness & my spouse would prevent that.
There are IMO obvious charlatans such as Synergistic Research, but there are others such as Danny Richie at GR Research who seem to believe deeply in their claims and it is folks like Danny who make me try things like this.
You call me pedantic?
Funny, this is how your beloved Danny from gr-research offers his cables.
Not "up to 50 feet long, sold by the foot" but instead:
https://gr-research.com/product/24-strand-diy-audiophile-speaker-cable/
Funny, this is how your beloved Danny from gr-research offers his cables.
Not "up to 50 feet long, sold by the foot" but instead:
Sheesh!!!
https://gr-research.com/product/24-strand-diy-audiophile-speaker-cable/
While I take exception to the term "beloved" (I am not a fanboy), I find most of what he says credible. Additionally I find his motives & ethics to be better than many in the audio hobby business sector. I am under no illusion that he is 100% altruistic in all of his motives, he is a business person after all.
Hello!
I have braided a cat5 cable. I still have it.
I'm using a cat7 cable right now and it's only 8 wires in. 4 to + and 4 to -.
The Cat 5 cable that took several days to braid had such a low inductance that it is said to be good for Tube amplifiers because of the extremely low inductance. But it can be dangerous for other types of amplifiers. It can even damage the amplifier. If you don't braid the cable so tightly, you can use it for all amplifiers.
And a braid cable make difference.
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Suggest going over to the thread at: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/zip-cord-for-speaker-test.371099/ ...then use the search function to search for posts by Hans Polak. Some very interesting results reported for lumped compensation of zip cord.
Might also be worth reading the article at: https://www.waynekirkwood.com/images/pdf/Cyril_Bateman/Bateman_Speaker_Amp_Interaction.pdf
Also, some interesting comments about cables by @jneutron are peppered around the forum. One example: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/analysis-of-speaker-cables.363106/post-6427803 talks about stored energy and settling time. Personally, I think he has a point. Cables are at some level more complex that can be modeled by a simple resistance, or by the combination of a resistor and a capacitor.
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