I have read so much info on audio cables, my mind is spinning. I've read everything from CAT5 to Home Depot power cable.
Here's my story - I'm running all digital, with active crossover. About 75w per channel max power. I want a fun project with the kid. I'm not looking to buy shares of some Russian mine to come up with exotic materials for 20' of speaker cable.
I have a huge spool of in-wall speaker wire - which is really nicely packaged for making cables. However, I want to do build a set, and listen comparatively.
If this is in the wrong category, apologies in advance. Please feel free to move this thread.
Thank you.
Here's my story - I'm running all digital, with active crossover. About 75w per channel max power. I want a fun project with the kid. I'm not looking to buy shares of some Russian mine to come up with exotic materials for 20' of speaker cable.
I have a huge spool of in-wall speaker wire - which is really nicely packaged for making cables. However, I want to do build a set, and listen comparatively.
If this is in the wrong category, apologies in advance. Please feel free to move this thread.
Thank you.
In all seriousness (and apologies if this sounds brusque) it will make very little difference what type of cables you use, so long as it is rated for the current you intend to use it for, is low capacitance, and has a quality insulator/jacket. Derate things as necessary to allow for long runs, and maybe longevity.
What type of connectors do you wish to use? Banana jacks? Bare wire? Speakon connectors?
What type of connectors do you wish to use? Banana jacks? Bare wire? Speakon connectors?
I have 3-way binding posts. I can do soldered wire end, banana plugs, or spades. My preference would the either soldered end or banana. But you tell me... should I prefer one over the other?
My personal preference for something that is going to stay put (for example, when you don't swap out amplifiers or speakers very often) is for tinned bare wire ends, twisted before you solder it. I like banana jacks when you tend to experiment with different setups frequently (like when you build either a new amplifier or speakers, and swap them into your main setup to audition them for a few weeks) due to the quick disconnect type of functionality. I stopped using bananas because the cat or the kids managed to disconnect things while being naughty around things, and the wires tightly clamped in the posts stopped the repeated dislocation of the speaker wires 
I use spades for similar reasons, but tinned bare copper works fine.
If I could provide some insight gleaned from many years, spending ones time on comparative speaker cable listening tests is a fools errand.
You are better off spending your resources on things that have quantitatively indisputable differences, like speakers and DSP (I would suggest experimenting with MiniDSP or Dirac Live if you haven’t).
And no I’m not an engineer, nor a staunch objectivist. The knowledge was hard-won.
Life is short- maximize the potential benefits.
If I could provide some insight gleaned from many years, spending ones time on comparative speaker cable listening tests is a fools errand.
You are better off spending your resources on things that have quantitatively indisputable differences, like speakers and DSP (I would suggest experimenting with MiniDSP or Dirac Live if you haven’t).
And no I’m not an engineer, nor a staunch objectivist. The knowledge was hard-won.
Life is short- maximize the potential benefits.
I have an actively crossed over system in-works, with MiniDSP. I've already been lampooned by some fella in the Class D forum, for building a better set of speakers than he thought that I deserved.
Again... emphasis - doing this with the kid, who wants to be an electrical engineer. For his benefit. If he wants to see the difference between plugging a power cord into our speakers, vs a set of glamour-braided CAT5 cables, I'm willing to put the time in to appease curiosity.
You're making assumptions. Not once did I say that I was going full audiophile. I just asked how I'd do it, if I were a budget audiophile.
I've been an engineer (not of the electrical variety) for many years. No good engineer in the business, or in the making, accepts a false premise. But he/she also doesn't discount trial and experimentation, to prove said premise. Labs and test benches are what set engineers apart from interwebs experts.
Speaker wire makes a difference, but is system dependent.
The comment about current handling is a good one, turns out that a single run of Cat5 will handle all the current needed except the most hungry of speakers.
A single run of Cat5 is what i use, but mostly with FR drivers (or FR drivers on top of woofers in WAW).
I like using Pomona dual bananas, but that is because i swap speakers often and it is fast and bullet proof — i’m not a fan of spades, but that may be because i don’t use firehose speaker wire.
dave
The comment about current handling is a good one, turns out that a single run of Cat5 will handle all the current needed except the most hungry of speakers.
A single run of Cat5 is what i use, but mostly with FR drivers (or FR drivers on top of woofers in WAW).
I like using Pomona dual bananas, but that is because i swap speakers often and it is fast and bullet proof — i’m not a fan of spades, but that may be because i don’t use firehose speaker wire.
dave
If you want to go down this road, my suggestion would be to start here:
Speaker cables don't influence harmonic distortion!
Speaker cables don't influence harmonic distortion!
Lots of suggested test apparatus
As far as types of cables, I’d use examples in this book: The SuperCables CookBook, The TubePreamp CookBook
Speaker cables don't influence harmonic distortion!
Speaker cables don't influence harmonic distortion!
Lots of suggested test apparatus
As far as types of cables, I’d use examples in this book: The SuperCables CookBook, The TubePreamp CookBook
Spades for me offer a more dependable connection, that as someone mentioned won’t get tugged out by curious children or animals.
They are made for a variety of cable thicknesses, including the non-firehose variety.
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Single run... as in right off the roll? From what I'm seeing, CAT6/CAT6 tends to be in the neighborhood of 23/24 AWG.
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Is being able to handle it, in this case, a much different thing than being preferred for said use?
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Shed some light on the CAT5 speaker issue. There is all sorts of talk about the twisting being a direct value, due to inductance, etc. I'd twist some us, just for the sake of seeing whether or not my own ears can tell. Fascinating subject.
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This might be the only topic more contentious than what plant fertilizer to use, and when...
No, you have to peel off the outer jacket and pull apart the coloured pairs. Use the same colour for both sides, the different twists mean that lengths are different,
In the last 40 years i have tried lots of speaker wire and we got to these by listening. 1 pair sounded better than 4 pasir and better than more than that.
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If you want to take it a bit further, you want to separate the pair of conductors and either…
1/ lay them out approximately parallel (i put a piece of packing tape sticky side out on the floor, laid the cables down and then more packing tape on top to create a sandwich.
2/ wrap them around a core such that they cross at near right angles. Chris uses aquarium hose and then put one of those fancy woven covers over.
Note that the 1st will push inductance up a bit.
dave
This statement is of interest. I like dicking around with stuff. And I like making things. So this one got me.
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Are you talking about 1/4" air tubing for aquarium pumps?
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Where does one acquire these "fancy woven covers"? Are you talking about the kind they put over guitar amp cables?
Mind the capacitance and whether that will erode stability with these multi runs of small gauge wire.
The link to the aforementioned "speaker cable doesn't influence distortion" is good. Best is to have your son explain what sorts of conditions it would take for speaker cable to make a material difference. Should not require anything more difficult than EM-level physics, which will be a stretch for some HS seniors, but a good exercise.
The link to the aforementioned "speaker cable doesn't influence distortion" is good. Best is to have your son explain what sorts of conditions it would take for speaker cable to make a material difference. Should not require anything more difficult than EM-level physics, which will be a stretch for some HS seniors, but a good exercise.
The cable recipe is from Allen Wright’s Cable cookbook linked earlier.
Yes i believe that ¼” is what Chris used… don’t know where he got the covers.
dave
I'm burning through that thread right now. A lot of that is foreign talk to me. I'm stopping at each bullet point in the thread, and making sure that I understand what's being said.
I'm a mathematician/engineer, myself, but 22 years in a field that has absolutely no electrical application, leaves me a bit clueless on the subject.