Monster cable has received a lot of bad press recently.
16 or 18 ga. lamp cord (zip) is all you need. If you think you can tell the difference with such short runs, either you have golden ears or there is something wrong with the wire and it's not suited for the purpose. Regular, everyday stranded copper wire is fine.
What is the reason you should choose an expensive wire? You have the answer in your sig line.
16 or 18 ga. lamp cord (zip) is all you need. If you think you can tell the difference with such short runs, either you have golden ears or there is something wrong with the wire and it's not suited for the purpose. Regular, everyday stranded copper wire is fine.
What is the reason you should choose an expensive wire? You have the answer in your sig line.
So long as you choose a decent oxygen free cable that won't oxidize over time and is a heavy enough gauge to support the current requirements of the drivers, you should be good.
Lately, I've ran short of "speaker wire" so I've been cutting up some of my old IEC power cords and they work brilliantly.
Lately, I've ran short of "speaker wire" so I've been cutting up some of my old IEC power cords and they work brilliantly.
You will not get any better than using Cardas chassis wire. I have tried many many cables and out of ready to solder ones I consider this quite the best. Use thinnest guage for tweeters (23,5), thicker for mid and/or bass. This it true litz wire so soldering is not easy Parts Connection and Percy have it and it is quite cheap actually for what it is. Really top quality, many manufacturers would meake their product much better with just using these instead the crap they use inside their speakers, and just for a couple of bucks more. Really try them, do not use any cheapo speaker cables inside or any DIY disaster like CAT5 or other extremely crappy cables. Go for good ones.
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All depends one how much power you will be pushing into the speakers
Normally, I just use 16 AWG--either "speaker wire" if I have a spool laying around or as others have mentioned--computer power cords work well.
Forget about the wire, make sure to solder the connections in with a decent flux to prep the connectors. I've seen speakers wired with Uber cable complete with fairy dust and anti-asteroid coating...with push on crimp connectors!
Don't forget the heat sinks on the connectors when soldering so enjoy recycling all those power cords.
Normally, I just use 16 AWG--either "speaker wire" if I have a spool laying around or as others have mentioned--computer power cords work well.
Forget about the wire, make sure to solder the connections in with a decent flux to prep the connectors. I've seen speakers wired with Uber cable complete with fairy dust and anti-asteroid coating...with push on crimp connectors!
Don't forget the heat sinks on the connectors when soldering so enjoy recycling all those power cords.
The cable should be commensurate with the build; if you're making speakers with 5-digit commercial equivalents out there, maybe they are at a performance level where you can discern differences.
But, for the most part, DIY'ers aren't attempting lunatic-fringe builds ... for one thing you need an investment in equipment for testing and evaluation that isn't cost-effective for small runs ... you may as well buy the $10,000-or-more-a-pair speaker that the manufacturer has invested in.
For a pair of speakers that might have a $5K or lower commercial equivalent, I would suggest just using an appropriate cable based on conventional wisdom and the usual math.
A stranded cable is appropriate for high-vibration environments. Gauge is subject to some debate but even then there's more agreement than disagreement. Inductance and Capacitance also are important but remember these are short runs ... even a poor cable should be reasonable with regard to those specifications.
About as exotic I ever get is teflon dielectric because I don't like PVC. I have lots of it because I buy aircraft and military surplus stuff (usually it's silver coated OFC copper, high strand count). But even then wiring a pair is costing me less than the price of a beer.
I've seen the insides of a lot of commercial speakers, from manufacturers who have the facilities and staff to look hard at the issue, and generally they don't go too crazy even on the flagship products, unless the marketing department pulls a trump card and insists, which begs the question as to it's actual value sonically.
The short runs inside the enclosure will mitigate any issues that may exist, even if you feel cable geometry is important from amp to driver. Put it this way ... use some cable you have laying around. Try parallel and separated +/- leads. If you can't hear a difference (will change inductance value) then the rest probably doesn't matter either, so you can just use what's handy and appropriate.
If you can hear a difference, then asking on a forum probably isn't the right approach. Buy cable, test, and decide for yourself. And start a topic about your experimental results.
But, for the most part, DIY'ers aren't attempting lunatic-fringe builds ... for one thing you need an investment in equipment for testing and evaluation that isn't cost-effective for small runs ... you may as well buy the $10,000-or-more-a-pair speaker that the manufacturer has invested in.
For a pair of speakers that might have a $5K or lower commercial equivalent, I would suggest just using an appropriate cable based on conventional wisdom and the usual math.
A stranded cable is appropriate for high-vibration environments. Gauge is subject to some debate but even then there's more agreement than disagreement. Inductance and Capacitance also are important but remember these are short runs ... even a poor cable should be reasonable with regard to those specifications.
About as exotic I ever get is teflon dielectric because I don't like PVC. I have lots of it because I buy aircraft and military surplus stuff (usually it's silver coated OFC copper, high strand count). But even then wiring a pair is costing me less than the price of a beer.
I've seen the insides of a lot of commercial speakers, from manufacturers who have the facilities and staff to look hard at the issue, and generally they don't go too crazy even on the flagship products, unless the marketing department pulls a trump card and insists, which begs the question as to it's actual value sonically.
The short runs inside the enclosure will mitigate any issues that may exist, even if you feel cable geometry is important from amp to driver. Put it this way ... use some cable you have laying around. Try parallel and separated +/- leads. If you can't hear a difference (will change inductance value) then the rest probably doesn't matter either, so you can just use what's handy and appropriate.
If you can hear a difference, then asking on a forum probably isn't the right approach. Buy cable, test, and decide for yourself. And start a topic about your experimental results.
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No Plastic
I love the DCA Silk isolated Flat silver cable. Have used it for 25 years. It has survived several CD and DVD players many pre and power amps. Also several speakers. I use it inside Speakers , preamplifiers, power amplifiers and CD player.
I use it for mains cable and for power cable inside all my hifi.
Simply the best.
I love the DCA Silk isolated Flat silver cable. Have used it for 25 years. It has survived several CD and DVD players many pre and power amps. Also several speakers. I use it inside Speakers , preamplifiers, power amplifiers and CD player.
I use it for mains cable and for power cable inside all my hifi.
Simply the best.
I said try a convenient cable, deliberately modify the inductance, and see if you notice a change. Since Inductance is a significant variable amongst speaker cabling that has been shown to affect the amp/speaker interface in longer runs, the experiment will reveal if there is any need for careful selection or not.
I think we all know your position; but I'd appreciate it if you don't take a few words out of context from my comment to imply we said the same thing; we did not.
Yeah, sure thing.
The inductance of 3 feet of zip cord with reference to audio frequencies is about 0.1uH. As an example, the tolerance of a very high-quality 4mH 12AWG copper foil air core inductor is 2.5%. That comes out to be +/- 100 uH.
The use of zip cord for internal speaker wiring will therefore have no audible effect on the sound of the finished loudspeaker.
By the way, when you say "I think we all know your position", who is "we"?
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What I consider important is having twisted pair, as opposed to the typical parallel run speaker wire. Better immunity against RF or whatever nasties you may have hovering around your room. If your amp can't handle the additional capacitance from twisted pair, or it sounds different when going from parallel to TP, fix the amp. That isn't a cable solution.
I also have found after a few years that unplated copper wire tends to oxidize and get the familiar black/green color. For this reason I prefer tin or silver plated to add additional immunity for the lifetime of the speaker.
I also have found after a few years that unplated copper wire tends to oxidize and get the familiar black/green color. For this reason I prefer tin or silver plated to add additional immunity for the lifetime of the speaker.
The series loop resistance, that is both legs of the cable, will be the only consideration when it comes to cabling a loudspeaker over short runs. The reactive elements of inductance and capacitance are of minimal value and as the impedance of the loudspeaker is sufficiently low their effects can be discounted at audio frequencies. Cable resistance if anything may or may not effect bass performance, this depends on the design implemented but most usually the effect is barely noticeable unless the cable conductance is quite poor.
Typical speaker cabling over short runs is more than adequate for home installations. Keep in mind not all audible changes are necessarily an improvement over the status quo, the change may be emphasizing something else and that's seen as 'an improvement' and so justifying the extra cost of the upgrade.Thus the upgrade cycle begins again with something else in the audio chain........Welcome to marketing.
C.M
Typical speaker cabling over short runs is more than adequate for home installations. Keep in mind not all audible changes are necessarily an improvement over the status quo, the change may be emphasizing something else and that's seen as 'an improvement' and so justifying the extra cost of the upgrade.Thus the upgrade cycle begins again with something else in the audio chain........Welcome to marketing.
C.M
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