A
AndyB
Audiophyte
Wife got me a pair of Golden Ear Triton Twos for Father's Day & birthday. Any recomendations for compatible speaker wires other than the generic wire found at Best Buy? Thanks.
"Let our rigorous testing and reviews be your guidelines to A/V equipment – not marketing slogans"
Irvrobinson
Audioholic Spartan
Any 12 gauge or larger stranded copper wire will work as well as anything else. Don't fall for the cables-have-character nonsense.
slipperybidness
Audioholic Warlord
+1...............................
F
FirstReflection
AV Rant Co-Host
Congrats on the new speakers!
That's one heck of a nice gift
The Triton Twos are very nice speakers. I'm sure you'll enjoy them for many years to come
Any decently thick, pure copper speaker wire will indeed work as well as is possible. The only think a speaker wire can possibly do is mess up the signal somehow. There's absolutely no way that speaker wire can improve the signal or make the signal "better". It's either as close to a perfectly transmitted signal as possible, or some form of distorted signal that gets past along.
If you've heard talk of "matching" certain speaker wire to certain speakers, what those folks are talking about is using speaker wire that alters the signal - basically acting as a passive EQ. This is not a good way to go about things. If you want to alter the sound coming out of your speakers, use an EQ! Don't go using a speaker wire that messes up the signal just to get a passive EQ that you cannot control!
So using speaker wire that messes up the signal is strictly in the realm of esoteric audio-elitists, who tend to have a lot more money than sense. Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on speaker wire is utter nonsense. Thick, pure copper is about as good as it gets, and you can find that sort of speaker wire for very low prices!
A few very good options are:
1) Monoprice.com Speaker Wire . Get 12 AWG (the lower the AWG gauge number, the thicker the wire) in either the clear outer jacket or the white outer jacket.
2) Bluejeanscable.com Speaker Wire Bluejeans offers 12 Gauge or even thicker 10 Gauge speaker wire in either a grey or white outer jacket.
3) Axiomaudio.com Bulk Speaker Wire . This is actually my favorite speaker wire. For one thing, it has a black outer jacket, which I personally prefer just in terms of looks. More than that though, this is the most flexible and pliable speaker wire you're going to find. It's a pleasure to work with. It's so supple and it stays where you put it, so I really love this speaker wire
You might also want to get banana plugs for making your connections easier. Personally, I always use banana plugs on the end that connects to the receiver or amplifier. It's just so much easier to plug a banana plug into the receiver's or amp's speaker binding post than dealing with the bare wire connection and risking an accidental short circuit due to a stray strand of the bare wire.
I tend to just use bare wire on the speaker end though. Banana plugs will always stick out quite a ways from the speaker's binding posts, so I like to just use a bare wire connection on that end
Monoprice has the least expensive banana plugs . I like the closed screw type myself. Some folks have complained about the screw and connection coming loose with these banana plugs. I've never had any problem myself. I splay and fold the tip of the speaker wire over the end of the inner barrel connection so that the connection is very snug and secure once I screw the barrel into the body. It's always worked perfectly for me, but I suppose YMMV.
Lots of people prefer the Bluejeanscable banana plugs, especially the locking banana plugs that make an extremely strong and secure connection to the binding post. They're a little more expensive, but if you want the most secure connection possible, these are you best choice
Hope that helps!
That's one heck of a nice gift
The Triton Twos are very nice speakers. I'm sure you'll enjoy them for many years to come Any decently thick, pure copper speaker wire will indeed work as well as is possible. The only think a speaker wire can possibly do is mess up the signal somehow. There's absolutely no way that speaker wire can improve the signal or make the signal "better". It's either as close to a perfectly transmitted signal as possible, or some form of distorted signal that gets past along.
If you've heard talk of "matching" certain speaker wire to certain speakers, what those folks are talking about is using speaker wire that alters the signal - basically acting as a passive EQ. This is not a good way to go about things. If you want to alter the sound coming out of your speakers, use an EQ! Don't go using a speaker wire that messes up the signal just to get a passive EQ that you cannot control!
So using speaker wire that messes up the signal is strictly in the realm of esoteric audio-elitists, who tend to have a lot more money than sense. Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on speaker wire is utter nonsense. Thick, pure copper is about as good as it gets, and you can find that sort of speaker wire for very low prices!
A few very good options are:
1) Monoprice.com Speaker Wire . Get 12 AWG (the lower the AWG gauge number, the thicker the wire) in either the clear outer jacket or the white outer jacket.
2) Bluejeanscable.com Speaker Wire Bluejeans offers 12 Gauge or even thicker 10 Gauge speaker wire in either a grey or white outer jacket.
3) Axiomaudio.com Bulk Speaker Wire . This is actually my favorite speaker wire. For one thing, it has a black outer jacket, which I personally prefer just in terms of looks. More than that though, this is the most flexible and pliable speaker wire you're going to find. It's a pleasure to work with. It's so supple and it stays where you put it, so I really love this speaker wire
You might also want to get banana plugs for making your connections easier. Personally, I always use banana plugs on the end that connects to the receiver or amplifier. It's just so much easier to plug a banana plug into the receiver's or amp's speaker binding post than dealing with the bare wire connection and risking an accidental short circuit due to a stray strand of the bare wire.
I tend to just use bare wire on the speaker end though. Banana plugs will always stick out quite a ways from the speaker's binding posts, so I like to just use a bare wire connection on that end
Monoprice has the least expensive banana plugs . I like the closed screw type myself. Some folks have complained about the screw and connection coming loose with these banana plugs. I've never had any problem myself. I splay and fold the tip of the speaker wire over the end of the inner barrel connection so that the connection is very snug and secure once I screw the barrel into the body. It's always worked perfectly for me, but I suppose YMMV.
Lots of people prefer the Bluejeanscable banana plugs, especially the locking banana plugs that make an extremely strong and secure connection to the binding post. They're a little more expensive, but if you want the most secure connection possible, these are you best choice
Hope that helps!
cpp
Audioholic Ninja
I use Blue Cable Canare 4S11 with mine.
P
Pio
Audiophyte
I love belden 10 AWG - bluejeans sells it or you can buy bulk. Don't fall into the "this expensive cable is better than XYZ" -
Edit: 1st post
Edit: 1st post
Matt34
Moderator
If looks matter, might take a gander at these:
Audioholic's own custom speaker cables
or...
Kimber Kable 4VS
Audioholic's own custom speaker cables
or...
Kimber Kable 4VS
BMXTRIX
Audioholic Warlord
How far away from your A/V receiver/amp will the speakers be located?
16, 14, or 12 gauge speaker wire often is the way to go. Rarely will higher gauges (thickness) of wires help unless the distance is very long.
Speaker Cable Gauge (AWG) Guidelines & Recommendations — Reviews and News from Audioholics
Seriously, if your run is less than 20 feet, then a 16 gauge speaker cable is fine, and 14 gauge or 12 gauge is more than adequate.
Less than 20 bucks for 50' of cable here:
HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!
Irvrobinson
Audioholic Spartan
Well, I won the bet with myself.
I knew someone would jump in here and say that you really don't need 10 gauge or 12 gauge wire for some given run length, so all you really need is 16 gauge or 14 gauge. While technically correct, it is hair-splitting reasoning. 12 gauge cables are commonly available cheap, and most terminations (bananas and spades) handle 12 gauge stranded wire. Other than wanting the thinnest possible wire for hiding it somewhere or maximum bend-ability, there's no rational argument for worrying about whether or not 14 gauge or 16 gauge wire would also work.
ahblaza
Audioholic Field Marshall
Nice gift, I use Speaker Cable at Blue Jeans Cable for all my cables, the Canare 4S11 is a quad cable used in BI-Wiring or amping but wired conventionally it is about 11 AWG, flexible but thick, it is the most attractive of the cables but the 5000 series is my favorite 10 gauge. The locking banana plugs are ideal at $5.25 a pair and the regular banana's at $3.50 are also very good with dual set screws under the barrel and come with heat shrink tubing to finish off the termination. I also am of the camp that does not buy into "cables have character nonsense". Hope this helps, you can get any cable you need here.
Cheers
BMXTRIX
Audioholic Warlord
A lot of people jump on the higher gauge bandwagon just to jump on it. There really is a minimal difference in price, but 14 gauge is a very good baseline for most people to go from as it does offer solid flexibility and use over both short and longer distances, which is suitable for most home theater designs.Well, I won the bet with myself.
I don't care at all what someone goes with, but 10 gauge can be more expensive and more difficult to find in a convenient wire. 12 gauge is readily available.
But, even the lamp cord speaker wire from Lowes or Home Depot is certainly acceptable in a short run situation as long as it is 16 gauge or higher, and may be something that can be hooked up tonite for the OP vs. having to wait for an item to be shipped in.
Irvrobinson
Audioholic Spartan
Actually, there are other rational reasons for choosing 10 gauge speaker cables:
1. It annoys the hell out of my two audiophile friends. They are convinced that I should have frequency balance problems due to skin effect, because Audioquest and some other companies say so, and when they listen to my system they can plainly hear that the highs are quite real-sounding, thank you. (I also cut my cables to asymmetric length, because my amp is closer to one speaker than the other, just to prove to these guys that 8 feet of extra speaker cable does not affect stereo imaging at all.)
2. They impress the heck out of guys that don't know anything about audio systems, and they often ask, "Are those welding cables?"
3. The cat doesn't play with them because they're too heavy to move easily.
4. They ensure the best possible damping factor. (Alright, this one is bogus.)
5. They look cool, which is why I bought the 100ft 10 gauge spool at the close-out sale at an electronics store, rather than the 12 gauge spool that was about $10 less.
I'm sorry if my previous post came off a bit condescending. Off day.
G
Grador
Audioholic Field Marshall
Now this is a good reason if I've ever heard one.
BMXTRIX
Audioholic Warlord
Definitely was the best reason in the list.
j_garcia
Audioholic Jedi
Same here. 4S11 all around with locking bananas on the receiver side and BFA bananas on the speaker side.
Speaker wire will only have a real influence on your sound if the wire is too small of an AWG for the length of run or the load presented by the speaker.
Sitemap
Site Information
Site Information
HTML
