My choice of wire is driven almost exclusively by mechanical properties. For large woofers (10, 12) I use 14 gage. If I ever made a subwoofer with a 15 or 18" driver, I might use 12 gage. For small woofers and mids I use 16 gage. For tweeters I use 16 or 18 gage.
I prefer stranded wire, but not the very fine stranded that is often used as speaker wire. I want to be able to bend the wire into a shape and have it retain that shape, and very fine strand wire is too limp. I don't use solid core wire because it can impart too much load (bending) on speaker terminals.
I generally use THHN or THWN stranded wire, which is normally used for power distribution. It can be bought at any hardware store and it is low cost. For 14 gage, this usually has between 7 and 20 conductors, and this makes it stiff enough but not too stiff.
I prefer stranded wire, but not the very fine stranded that is often used as speaker wire. I want to be able to bend the wire into a shape and have it retain that shape, and very fine strand wire is too limp. I don't use solid core wire because it can impart too much load (bending) on speaker terminals.
I generally use THHN or THWN stranded wire, which is normally used for power distribution. It can be bought at any hardware store and it is low cost. For 14 gage, this usually has between 7 and 20 conductors, and this makes it stiff enough but not too stiff.
I use the wire from power cords off dead appliances, works fine, & the price is right
I don't recall how it happened, but I ended up with a bunch of Mapleshade single core 'plus' version of speaker cable. So much so, that when I built this last set of speakers, I decided to use it throughout the build, including the crossover. Now, if you have never worked with this stuff, it takes practice. I am supposing that the thin insulation on this maybe 20 ga. wire is enamel, so it has to be gently scraped off unless you don't care about the silver plating. And me being me, after that is done and using some mechanical connections (strong spring-loaded brass posts), a film of De-oxit is applied. I take so damned much time on stuff like this that I really think that therapy would be cheaper.
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I use Silver solder "wire" to not introduce a change at the soldering point... But I never suceed yet to solder the terminal of the drivers without melting the "wire" ....
You know, these days I am leaning more towards a mechanical connection (wire wrapping for example) that is solid and needs no soldering.
Way back when, we used hydraulic crimpers for our big cable connections. 14 metric tons of pressure with a fat crimp to accept the cable, was a done deal. Of course, mostly impractical in audio. I do use special mechanical hand crimpers with dies for the intended connector. If not those, the crimp is not just mashed down. There is a process to get it right.
Way back when, we used hydraulic crimpers for our big cable connections. 14 metric tons of pressure with a fat crimp to accept the cable, was a done deal. Of course, mostly impractical in audio. I do use special mechanical hand crimpers with dies for the intended connector. If not those, the crimp is not just mashed down. There is a process to get it right.
Back in the early '70s, my dad, fresh out of the RAF and having completed several more electrical engineering courses, landed a job down in London for one of the defence contractors making then-SOTA man-portable wire-guided anti-tank missiles. Apparently every significant connection in the main control gear was wire-wrap. Nothing else was reliable. Clamps were a very distant second, cold weld way down the road, solder -forget it. He left after about a year as he was doing fairly 'mechanical' line-work and moved into TV repair & thence became an industrial electronic engineer untll retirement, but the lesson on wire-wrap connections and their value under extreme conditions was one he never forgot.
Aside the joke of solder wire full of rare metals, I plus the wrapping connects. Old amps had it like one of my old amps of the 70s like a little pioneer I still have. It is certainly not handy on small signals of source gears because of oxydation, while it never miss on such little amps. I also seen loudspeakers withouth soldering between the wire and the golded driver plugs...
On my main speakers I use internal white sheath silicon Oyaide. Cheap enough when purchased in japan, too much expensive outside. Japonese manufacterers like Mitsubishi makes really good cables such hifi brands use. I also use Oyaide across 750 for interconnect. I find it neutral, yet resolved. For the loudspeakers amp cablles I use the cheapest sold in feet from Cardas : excelent resolution and PRAT in the low end I often don't have from bigger sections with traditional ones. But I still like old Focal 2x4 mm² with 1 cm gap between the two cables. Silicon outside 🙂 : I flee FEP sheath like plague for small voltage signals and think they do nothing in speaker cables.
I eventually play with the section of the return cable of the amp loudspeaker connection : on some amps and designs, increasing the section vis à vis of the main signal section, add thickness sound on the low mid/mid section, if you didn't fix it in the loudspeaker filter.
Nowadays I just buy first price 2.5 mm2 loudspeaker wires with silicon sheath. I eventuially putt just for the mid, someetimes trebles, a silver Qed between the drivers and the output of its passive filter if I want an extra resolution but can be worse on some loudspeakers. So very small length as rest of the cables stay pure copper.
On my main speakers I use internal white sheath silicon Oyaide. Cheap enough when purchased in japan, too much expensive outside. Japonese manufacterers like Mitsubishi makes really good cables such hifi brands use. I also use Oyaide across 750 for interconnect. I find it neutral, yet resolved. For the loudspeakers amp cablles I use the cheapest sold in feet from Cardas : excelent resolution and PRAT in the low end I often don't have from bigger sections with traditional ones. But I still like old Focal 2x4 mm² with 1 cm gap between the two cables. Silicon outside 🙂 : I flee FEP sheath like plague for small voltage signals and think they do nothing in speaker cables.
I eventually play with the section of the return cable of the amp loudspeaker connection : on some amps and designs, increasing the section vis à vis of the main signal section, add thickness sound on the low mid/mid section, if you didn't fix it in the loudspeaker filter.
Nowadays I just buy first price 2.5 mm2 loudspeaker wires with silicon sheath. I eventuially putt just for the mid, someetimes trebles, a silver Qed between the drivers and the output of its passive filter if I want an extra resolution but can be worse on some loudspeakers. So very small length as rest of the cables stay pure copper.
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For most of my stuff I use plain electrical/mains grade multi-strand copper wire. I have bought 1000 feet spools of red, black, yellow and brown years ago from a local electrician's store, and they will probably last me a lifetime.
For my fancy builds, I use copper wire with silicon jacket. It's much more flexible and far less prone to vibrations, plus it's very hard to damage with heat, so it stays nice for a long time, even after repairs. And for the audio path I use silver plated teflon cable from belden.
0.5mm plain 60/40 solder is my weapon of choice (running out and I can't find it any more so I'm starting to use the modern rohs stuff). I have tried some 98sn/cu/ag silver ones, but they are terrible to work with. In any case, a good mechanical connection is key for a good join that lasts.
Wire-wrap can be tricky, because it requires a solid core wire that will transfer vibrations directly to your PCBs and slowly wear down solder joints.
Also, solder-less connections need attention because of oxidization. Copper wiring needs to be tinned and protected with heat-shrink.
Silver plated wiring is more forgiving because silver oxides are excellent conductors.
For my fancy builds, I use copper wire with silicon jacket. It's much more flexible and far less prone to vibrations, plus it's very hard to damage with heat, so it stays nice for a long time, even after repairs. And for the audio path I use silver plated teflon cable from belden.
0.5mm plain 60/40 solder is my weapon of choice (running out and I can't find it any more so I'm starting to use the modern rohs stuff). I have tried some 98sn/cu/ag silver ones, but they are terrible to work with. In any case, a good mechanical connection is key for a good join that lasts.
Wire-wrap can be tricky, because it requires a solid core wire that will transfer vibrations directly to your PCBs and slowly wear down solder joints.
Also, solder-less connections need attention because of oxidization. Copper wiring needs to be tinned and protected with heat-shrink.
Silver plated wiring is more forgiving because silver oxides are excellent conductors.
Yes, clamps are pretty unimpressive. I must admit that I have no knowledge about the term cold weld. Is this another term for the crimping that I was referring to? The typical hand crimp is usually just short of ridiculous, and many times if I have no other choice then after the crimp, I will apply solder to fill in the gaps. It is not a preferred method for me. As stated before, there is no audio application for the high pressure, bulky crimps that we used for DC power cables.
A while back, I was working on a DBX B5 expander and noticed that the wraps were indeed stranded wire with solder applied. Yes, that had to be addressed, even though they wrapped these wires 8 times around the post. 41/2 wraps was code for our solid core 22 ga. wiring.
Flex wire, silicone, copper stranded, two or four conductors. https://www.coonerwire.com/silicone-flexible-power-cable/
Pick the AWG and number of strands, good stuff. My old ears don’t go high enough to hear a cable. So any magic that happens with silver cables wrapped in cellophane on little Lincoln Logs arranged on the floor escapes me.
Pick the AWG and number of strands, good stuff. My old ears don’t go high enough to hear a cable. So any magic that happens with silver cables wrapped in cellophane on little Lincoln Logs arranged on the floor escapes me.
AJ,
HA! Yes, I am right there with you. It was incredible though back in the day, what we could hear not just in music but everyday life. Actually overwhelming to me at times. Now days, I am lucky to hear as much of the music as I do but interestingly because of my 'new hearing' things don't sound balanced. Way too much bass (not inaccurate on its own but out of balance with the rest of the music), since I don't hear the midrange and treble as it really is. A bit frustrating.
HA! Yes, I am right there with you. It was incredible though back in the day, what we could hear not just in music but everyday life. Actually overwhelming to me at times. Now days, I am lucky to hear as much of the music as I do but interestingly because of my 'new hearing' things don't sound balanced. Way too much bass (not inaccurate on its own but out of balance with the rest of the music), since I don't hear the midrange and treble as it really is. A bit frustrating.
Actually, I have heard a difference in speaker wires. I was living in South Carolina and had very thin cheep all I could afford speaker wire. Due to the humidity it turned green. After Hurricane Hugo I moved to Boston and replaced it with a Monster Cable knock off. The sound improved dramatically. This is an extreme example, but I think wires of small diameter and in very poor oxidized condition can produce audible and measurable results. The difference between new lamp cord and some $3,000 silver cables? There probably isn’t an audible difference. Your mileage may vary.
Maybe the ear is connected to the hip bone? The lighter the wallet the better the hearing?
Maybe the ear is connected to the hip bone? The lighter the wallet the better the hearing?
I use MIL-W-16878 stranded PTFE insulated wire. Usually silver plated copper.
Stuff they were throwing out at work. Usually white insulation but not always.
Big wire (16AWG) for woofers; smaller for mids and tweets (20-22 AWG).
Stuff they were throwing out at work. Usually white insulation but not always.
Big wire (16AWG) for woofers; smaller for mids and tweets (20-22 AWG).
Weakest appearance in isolation does not mean weakest link in a system. It's the design and compensating technology used that defines the weakness in a system.
The PSU with its large decoupling caps and filters should be designed to overcome any weaknesses in the mains delivery system by acting as a buffer and a filter. Any effects from the fuse (and all mains delivery parts) should by design be limited to their intended purpose of power delivery and over-current protection.
Again, apparent weakness means little without context. It's the surrounding compensating tech that matters. If for example it's included in the feedback loop, its sonic imprint could be minimized. If it's just thrown willy-nilly in series with the speaker, then it's acting like a deteriorating resistor in series with the speaker and yes it would sound bad.