Speaker wire recommendation

DaveHCYJ

I'm not looking for anything crazy; just something better than your typical 14 or 18 gauge radio shack wire. I see monoprice sells 12 gauge, and bluejeans cable sells 10 gauge. I'm leaning towards the 10 gauge from bluejeans cable since its a thicker gauge and looks nicer.

Any other suggestions I might look at in this price range? For a pair of 10 foot with terminations I'm look at $34.

On the topic of terminations are there any real differences between spades and bannana plugs aside from personal preference? I'm planning on doing bannana plugs on the receiver side and spades on the speaker side. I assume that is a reasonable thing to do.

steveinaz

Dave
How about some DIY wires? Spades, bananas, bare wire, take your pick. The best termination is NO termination, but most people prefer a connector of some type. Crimping is better than soldering.

In your budget, I'd build my own wires out of 18ga solid core copper from radio shack. I'd twist 2 runs together for each terminal, leaving the insulation on them up to the termination. Fatter is not necessarily better.

DaveHCYJ

I could be in to DIY wires. I'd be doing the terminations on either the monoprice or bluejeans cables anyway. Do you know of any good resources for ideas?

Yeah I've heard no terminations is better, but on the back of a receiver its pretty much required to have bannana plugs. On the speaker side I guess my only thought is that if I move it around alot having some sort of termination would create less wear.

thsmith

+1 what Steve says. I am experimenting with SDA interconnect cables. thecableco.com is a good place for bulk cable.

AudioQuest Type 4, Kimber Kable TC4 and TC8 is what I am trying.

steveinaz

Dave
Check the resource above, and do some search's on youtube for "DIY speaker cable" as well as general internet search. DIY is the best way to get really good performance, on the cheap.

steveinaz

thsmith wrote: »

AudioQuest Type 4, Kimber Kable TC4 and TC8 is what I am trying.

I'll be interested in your observations with Type4 and 4TC as I have owned both in the past.

thsmith

I will Steve, this is just between my SDAs.

I really like the AQ T4, Put the TC4s in place lastnight and very disappointed but I know it needs to burn in. I am holding out hope. The TC8 I have coming is used.

For the OP, I use these bananas. Use the set screws then I solder the middle section.

http://www.amazon.com/GLS-Audio-Locking-Generation-Connector/dp/B000OEGQ5A/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1329842743&sr=8-5

steveinaz

Are you noticing more treble energy out of the Type 4?

FWIW, 4TC and 8TC are very difficult to tell apart. I currently run 8TC in my system.

thsmith

Yes I am, the TC4 sounds like there is a veil over my speakers. Which is surprising since it is only driving the dimentional drivers.

zane77

SZteveinaz, why do you say crimping is better than soldering? Crimping is only making connection at the crush points and soldering fills in all the gaps. Plus some of the crimping tools cost more than an inexpensive soldering iron.

steveinaz

Solder isn't the best conductor in the world---a properly done crimp (key word: properly) is air-tight. Problem is most dudes go in the garage, grab the first crimper they can find in the toolbox, and they go to it. You need the proper crimper, for the type of termination you are doing. Using solder isn't the end of the world or anything---just not the preferred method.

steveinaz

thsmith wrote: »

Yes I am, the TC4 sounds like there is a veil over my speakers. Which is surprising since it is only driving the dimentional drivers.

Yep. Hang in there with 4TC. The Type 4 sets midrange/upper mid bass back a bit in the soundstage, making treble "appear" more forward and airy. Type 4 is great for systems where the owner wants more treble, 4TC is great for someone who wants a fuller midband and prefers treble laid-back a bit. Given the SDA's slightly forward treble, I'll bet you'll end up liking 4TC better in the end, especially at higher volumes where treble can get a little over-bearing. Give it some time, they are quite smooth.

Don't get me wrong, they're both fine cables--it's a listeners preference/synergy thing.

heiney9

Canare 4S11 is very nice cable for the money for a DIY project. I always buy mine from this vendor.

http://www.performanceaudio.com/shop/Canare

Fast shipping, easy to deal with and in general always has the lowest price for Canare.

H9

thsmith

steveinaz wrote: »

Yep. Hang in there with 4TC. The Type 4 sets midrange/upper mid bass back a bit in the soundstage, making treble "appear" more forward and airy. Type 4 is great for systems where the owner wants more treble, 4TC is great for someone who wants a fuller midband and prefers treble laid-back a bit.

Kewl, I do expect the TC4 to get better. It only has about 3 hours on it right now.

steveinaz

Let them stay in system at least 3 days---all of them. Cable changes are so subtle, that longer listening time is needed to really peg down the tonal characteristics; over a broader selection of music.

Also, sometimes characteristics will jump out at you---but this will later become a fatiquing characteristic. People make this error with demo'ing speakers all the time.

Would you rather marry the girl from the local bar, or the one that works in the flower shop?
Feelin' me? LOL

decal

heiney9 wrote: »

Canare 4S11 is very nice cable for the money for a DIY project. I always buy mine from this vendor.

http://www.performanceaudio.com/shop/Canare

Fast shipping, easy to deal with and in general always has the lowest price for Canare.

H9

I concur. It's what I use.

chumlie

decal wrote: »

I concur. It's what I use.

+2 same here

dhart86

heiney9 wrote: »

Canare 4S11 is very nice cable for the money for a DIY project. I always buy mine from this vendor.

http://www.performanceaudio.com/shop/Canare

Fast shipping, easy to deal with and in general always has the lowest price for Canare.

H9

I concur..it's what I use and they sound great. A good value wire

DaveHCYJ

Alot of good info here. I'll start poking around tonight.

For what its worth I've got a pretty good soldering iron but no crimping tools.

Thanks for the input.

F1nut

Let's see, no termination and that copper sits there oxidizing away to the point it affects the transmission....ummmm, no thanks. Good quality solder is used on every board in ones gear, including speakers, so it sure as hell is an excellent way to attach wire to whatever your terminal choice may be and it prevents the copper ends from oxidizing...no brainer.

pyrocyborg

Wait... F1nut is right again! :eek:

Seriously, I've had (and still have) bare wires... and yeah, after a year or so, even if they were really tightened, you gotta cut it and reconnect everything. It isn't as bad as we could think, but I guess it's not a costly option to solder everything, and it's neater looking/more secure in some cases. But as my soldering talents probably are under negative level, I'm doing what I can (yeah, the guy can bolt-on/repair a few parts on it's car but can't solder).

As for the nicer cable thing, buy yourself a roll of techflex and some heatshrink and you got yourself a pair of profesionnal looking cables. :rolleyes:

MLZ

heiney9 wrote: »

Canare 4S11 is very nice cable for the money for a DIY project. I always buy mine from this vendor.

http://www.performanceaudio.com/shop/Canare

Fast shipping, easy to deal with and in general always has the lowest price for Canare.

H9

And you can easily and inexpensively "pretty it up" with some TechFlex and Heat Shrink http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94203

pyrocyborg

MLZ wrote: »

And you can easily and inexpensively "pretty it up" with some TechFlex and Heat Shrink http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94203

pyrocyborg wrote: »

As for the nicer cable thing, buy yourself a roll of techflex and some heatshrink and you got yourself a pair of profesionnal looking cables. :rolleyes:

Pffffff, copycat :cheesygrin:

vcwatkins

MLZ wrote: »

And you can easily and inexpensively "pretty it up" with some TechFlex and Heat Shrink http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94203

Excellent link. Thanks!

specd_out

I followed that link above and made my own. I used 12/4 soow wire from Homedepot http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?129329-Made-My-own-speaker-Cables

BlueFox

specd_out wrote: »

I followed that link above and made my own. I used 12/4 soow wire from Homedepot http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?129329-Made-My-own-speaker-Cables

My first experience with wire making an audible difference was when I replaced the hodge-podge speaker wiring of 16 and 14 gauge wires in my HT/surround system with 12 gauge stranded copper from Orchard Supply Hardware. I spent an afternoon cutting the wire to the exact length for each speaker, and when I turned it on, and played some music, I was actually surprised. I could hear a small, but obvious improvement. WTF!!

Anyway, that experience directly led me to my present state of spending $3500 for an 8 foot pair of Shunyata Anaconda Ztron speaker cables for my two channel system. If I had not of heard the improvement from the hardware store 12 gauge I would probably still be at that level.

Moral of the story is be careful what you do as it can have unintended consequences. :surprised:

MLZ

pyrocyborg wrote: »

Pffffff, copycat :cheesygrin:

I really wanted to just add the DIY link and should have quoted pyrocyborg.