Help with speaker cables, please

[jneutron]

I'll use a drill to make a twisted pair which will be easy to run and should have lower inductance than the usual parallel wire, with reasonabe capacitance.

To decrease inductance, the wires must be as close together as possible.

When you use a drill to twist them, you will find that when you stop and unhook the wires, it'll take off like a Bat outta..H, untwisting a lot..

That loosens the pair..increasing the inductance.

If you can, try using the drill with the other ends loose..walk the twist from the drill to the other end, allowing the individual wires to spin at the same rate of the drill.

This is a more stable twist, and will remain tighter.

Cheers, John

..

 

[jaxvon]

I'll second the BlueJeans cable recommendation. They carry the Canare 4S11 speaker cable which is in a Star-Quad configuration like the Monster mentioned earlier, but will cost less! Plus, like the MOnster, it's 4x14AWG so it has an effect 11AWG for each pair of conductors. Or you could just pick up a roll of 10 AWG SoundKing zip cord from Parts Express and some spiffy WBT banana plugs and be set.

 

[Leprkon]

I just bought a set of Polk Audio RM6005's and was looking to make my own speaker cables. This leads me to the following question. Can I use a Banana style plug with these speakers or do I need a twist on pin type plug. These particular speakers have a push-tab connector terminal. The manufacture suggests using 16 ga or thicker wire, just twisted and stuck into the tabs. What do you all suggest? Also, is 12 GA for these little speakers an overkill?

if you have the push-tab, banana plugs are probably too big. the pin-types work well with push-tabs, but many purists eliminate the extra connection point (wire to connector then to speaker) by using bare wire (wire to speaker). The pins may help if 12 gage is also too big to fit in the push-tab.

12 gage is a very solid choice and is not much more expensive than 16 gage when bought from a good source (like partsexpress.com or accessories4less.com and you can get some decent 14 gage at the nearest radio shack).

 

[archibrat]

Good Advice

Thanks Leprikon! Yeh, I checked last night and the speaker push tabs do not fit a 12 GA wire, they do fit a 14 GA. What would you suggest: Buy a 12 GA wire and pin connectors or 14 GA wire and push the bare wire into the speaker. My 2 rear speakers will require a 22' run each (got to go up thru the attic to get to them). And yes, I plan to buy Sound King wire.

Thank guys.

 

[Leprkon]

Either way is fine. I use 12 gage and pins. The pin'd cables look a little cooler, but 14 gage should be good for any run up to 50 feet.

 

[Calvert]

OK - I know speaker cables have been discussed forever in these forums, but I'd like to get one more thread started to help me with my decision...

I have fairly high end speakers:

2 JAMO D870s as the front mains
1 JAMO D8CEN for the center channel
4 JAMO D8SURs as my surrounds
1 JAMO D8SUB subwoofer

My pre/pro is the ATI 8500.1. I will be bi-amping the front 3 speakers with an ATI 3006 amp, and driving the surrounds with an ATI 3004 amp. I am using good quality, balanced interconnects with a Y splitter to connect my pre/pro with my amps.

Can I get some opinions on Nordhost cables? I am considering Nordhost Solar Wind pure silver, but these would cost me over $1000 to drive the fronts. I have about 30 feet runs to the front channels. Is that a ridiculous amount of money to spend on speaker cables? Will I see any benefit from using these "better" cables?

I plan on using 14 gauge speaker cable for the surrounds.

Thanks,

Mark

[For my two cents I recommend Monster Z1 -Z2 or better if you must spend the money. Check out "http:www.monstercables.com"]

Louis

 

[gene]

Can I get some opinions on Nordhost cables? I am considering Nordhost Solar Wind pure silver, but these would cost me over $1000 to drive the fronts.

I am floored by the notion one would spend $1000 or more on a pair of speaker cables after all the articles I have written here, test data, and methodologies discussed. I am equally floored that the misconception of spending more money on cables guarantees "better" cables is still alive and well.

Did you read our cable article section of this site? What about our cable reviews?

Be very careful with expensive exotic cables. In many cases they serve as tone controls due to their highly reactive nature, or at best; audio jewelry to show off momentarily before tucking them behind your furniture. I have seen some very perplexing designs from Nordost that were very high in series resistance which would definately result in sonic differences compared with a properly designed cable. We have asked Nordost several times to submit samples for review and they declined on all occasions.

The cable companies we endorse based on our measurements and testing of their products are located in the following link:

Audioholics Approved Online Vendors

You can also add Tributaries to this list, thought they don't sell direct.

The best advice on cables we can give is avoid companies that fall in the snake oil category as depicted in the following article:

Top Ten Signs a Cable Vendor is Selling You Snake Oil

Excellent speaker cables can run you as little as a few bucks per foot to as much as several hundred $$$ per foot, but if properly designed, will be sonically indistinguishable. What you hope to get with the more expensive cables is: better cosmetics, better terminations, higher product appeal and wow factor (at least initially, until you tuck the cables behind a wall unit or under the carpet).

If I can give you any further advice, start addressing the issues in audio that really matter:
1) Acoustics
2) Proper Set-Up, Calibration and Speaker Placement

You will achieve far better results focusing on the above two items than dumping your money into audio jewlery with fancy namebrands and marketing literature anyday.