Speaker Wire

[Stretch90]

So, I'm slowly building my Kef sound system and I just added a center (Q200c) to my rig. I need to get speaker wire but I know nothing about it so I'm not sure which to buy. Any suggestions? I don't mind paying more for good quality if it makes a difference in sound.

 

[Seth=L]

I don't mind paying more for good quality if it makes a difference in sound.

It doesn't, so no need to spend more.

Standard 12 gauge lamp cord does not differ in quality from anything more expensive. Go to a hardware store and buy a spool of wire.

 

[avnut]

Personally disagree with this but do agree that there's lots of marketing BS attached to high dollar cables. I've tried heaps from lamp chord and Monster to very high end stuff. There is a difference but once you're off the bottom, the differences become smaller. And common sense will suggest that the law of diminishing returns is reached quite early but value of small improvements will be different to different people.

One comment thought regarding the room -if your room is untreated, put your money there. Once that is in good shape then differences will become more apparent.

I now make my own speaker cables and they are clearly better than lamp chord and Monster and equivalent to the $1000/pair cables that I've auditioned.

 

[mtrycrafts]

So, I'm slowly building my Kef sound system and I just added a center (Q200c) to my rig. I need to get speaker wire but I know nothing about it so I'm not sure which to buy. Any suggestions? I don't mind paying more for good quality if it makes a difference in sound.

Not to worry. Go by gauge, period. If looks are important, then you buy the gauge needed and the looks you like, period, end of story. Audibility of similar ga wire is mythology, period, regardless of speakers or acoustic treatment.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

As long as your cable is thick enough there is nothing no to worry about. 12 gauge for example is good for pretty long runs already so no point to get thicker.

 

[Tao1]

So, I'm slowly building my Kef sound system and I just added a center (Q200c) to my rig. I need to get speaker wire but I know nothing about it so I'm not sure which to buy. Any suggestions? I don't mind paying more for good quality if it makes a difference in sound.

-Lower the resistance the better i.e. thicker the gauge the better (to a point).
-Go with a well manufactured wire. You don't want copper corrosion creeping into the jacket. Well manufactured does not mean added bells and whistles. It means pure oxygen free copper with a decent jacket.
-Go with stranded wire instead of solid core for ease of termination and some minute benefits to sound quality.
-use the same length of cable to matching pairs of speakers (i.e. front left/right or surround left/right). Drastic differences in length can make a speaker pair not sound uniform.
-don't coil up excess speaker wire running to the amp.

Blue Jeans Cable sells good cables. Even if you don't want to buy there, the site will give you an idea what to look for: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

 

[mtrycrafts]

... You don't want copper corrosion creeping into the jacket. ...
-use the same length of cable to matching pairs of speakers (i.e. front left/right or surround left/right). Drastic differences in length can make a speaker pair not sound uniform.
...

Corrosion happens because of the plastic insulation chemical property, not the copper even though it turns green.
Length difference must be huge and doubt residential installation will encounter an issue.
The speed of signal propagation in wire is rather fast. 0.5 light speed and up.

 

[crossedover]

-Lower the resistance the better i.e. thicker the gauge the better (to a point).
-Go with a well manufactured wire. You don't want copper corrosion creeping into the jacket. Well manufactured does not mean added bells and whistles. It means pure oxygen free copper with a decent jacket.
-Go with stranded wire instead of solid core for ease of termination and some minute benefits to sound quality.
-use the same length of cable to matching pairs of speakers (i.e. front left/right or surround left/right). Drastic differences in length can make a speaker pair not sound uniform.
-don't coil up excess speaker wire running to the amp.

Blue Jeans Cable sells good cables. Even if you don't want to buy there, the site will give you an idea what to look for: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

[markw]

Compared to how fast (or slow) sound travels in air, the speed electrons travel in wire is nothing.

to wit: Sound, in air, travels about 1,090 feet/second. Electricity, in wire, travels about 62,000 miles/second.

when a storm approaches, you see the lightening first and, later, you hear the thunder. Got the picture?

 

[Tao1]

Corrosion happens because of the plastic insulation chemical property, not the copper even though it turns green.
Length difference must be huge and doubt residential installation will encounter an issue.
The speed of signal propagation in wire is rather fast. 0.5 light speed and up.

It has to do with the increased resistance of the longer wire compared to that of the other speaker. So the recommendations I have read say so anyway.

 

[Seth=L]

It has to do with the increased resistance of the longer wire compared to that of the other speaker. So the recommendations I have read say so anyway.

Unless you're talking hundreds of feet it's negligible.

 

[Irvrobinson]

It has to do with the increased resistance of the longer wire compared to that of the other speaker. So the recommendations I have read say so anyway.

Nonsense. Even 10 feet of 12 gauge copper wire has less than 0.02 ohms of DC resistance. The propagation delay difference between one and ten foot lengths is best measured in nanoseconds.

 

[Speedskater]

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Electricity in wires depending on a lot of different factors travels at 50 to 95% of the speed of light.

 

[mtrycrafts]

It has to do with the increased resistance of the longer wire compared to that of the other speaker. So the recommendations I have read say so anyway.

Yes, that too. Let's examine it.

Recommendation is speaker wire not more than 5% of speaker impedance, or should be that.
50 ft of 12 ga wire has .16 Ohms for both direction of signal travel.
This would meet 5% with a 3.2 Ohm speaker impedance. If that is not satisfactory, use 10ga on those long sections.
You certainly don't need both speakers at 50 ft just to be equal.

By the way, who recommended equal lengths?

 

[gene]

It has to do with the increased resistance of the longer wire compared to that of the other speaker. So the recommendations I have read say so anyway.

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-length-differences-do-they-matter

 

[Tao1]

http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-length-differences-do-they-matter

Yeah don't remember where I heard it, but it was mentioned in an article I read debunking high end cables. I guess they were wrong there