What dia. braided nylon sleeving needed for speaker wires?

Turbota

I have a simple question regarding that Techflex braided sleeving that is used on RCA interconnects, some speaker cable, etc.

I am using some budget 14 AWG Monoprice brand speaker wire. That's the stuff us cheap guys use on our budget audio systems.

Anyway, I was thinking about buying some of that Techflex braided sleeving just to make my speaker wires look a little nicer, like some of those fancy boutique wires.

The thing is; I don't know what diameter of this sleeving to buy. For small diameter wires, they sell it in 1/8" and 1/4" diameter. Do you think the 1/8" diameter is wide enough to slide down 30' of this 14 AWG wire?

Another question please: I want to put about a 2" long piece of shrink tubing on the end of the braided sleeving to keep it from unraveling, and just to make the ends look nicer. Obviously, the shrink tubing would need to be just slightly larger in diameter than the sleeving in order to slide over it. Anyone know what diameter shrink tubing I would need? ... My Signal Cable RCA interconnects have some of this shrink tubing on the ends too (along with that nylon braided sleeving), but it seems a little thicker than your standard store-bought shrink tube (but maybe not) ? ?

Anyone that has done this before, maybe you can give me some info.

Thank's

This is what I want to do ... hope you can tell by the photo below:

heiney9

Techflex on that cheap wire isn't worth it, IMO. Get some real cable or just leave it. The Tech-flex will cost more than the wire you have there.

Again, just IMO.

H9

Face

It's fine if you go a little big concerning techflex. As for heat shrink, 3:1 is always a safe bet too.

decal

I have to agree with H9 on this. If you just have to do it, 1/8" techflex and 1/4" 3:1 heatshrink should work just fine.

Turbota

heiney9 wrote: »

Techflex on that cheap wire isn't worth it, IMO. Get some real cable or just leave it. The Tech-flex will cost more than the wire you have there.

Again, just IMO.

H9

Your close ... I paid $34 to the door for 100' spool of 14 AWG Monoprice speaker wire .. The 100' roll of Techflex 1/4" sleeving costs $31 to the door.

Just trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear! :cheesygrin:

BTW ... I measured that 14 AWG wire ... at it's widest point, it's exactly 1/4" wide. Althought the sleeving is stretchable, it might not be easy to thead a 30' + length of 1/4" wide wire through the 1/8" diameter flexable sleeving ? ?

Ron,

decal

Here's the fitment chart from Tech-Flex

Turbota

Thank's for the chart ... Well, the max dia. wire for 1/8" Techflex is 1/4" wire ...... But I'm thinking that it might be a pain to thread 30' of 1/4" wire through 1/8" Techflex.

Might be better with the next larger size Techflex ... 1/4"

Thank's everyone for your input