biwire "jackets" ??

begbie

Don't know what the real term is but I guess that's the best way I could desribe them.

I've got a pair of 10 guage AR master series speaker wire for the fronts and have a pair of 12 quage I'm not using.

Lookin to biwire them together but asthetically it ain't pretty. I've seen "covers" or "jackets" that'll make them look as one wire.

Any such thing out there to get? Hardware store, online, local hi-fi shop ?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

polkatese

try here:

http://www.action-electronics.com/jtxsleev.htm

Tony did a great biwire cable off monster XP, you can search on the thread under finishing touches (subject)....

begbie

Wow ! Thanks for the info. polkatese ! Gonna check out that link and that's a great job by Tony .

I'm just wondering if 10 guage and 12 guage wiring will fit together.

north51

Begbie,

If you do this, let me know how it goes. I also have 10 gauge Master Series for my fronts, and some 12 gauge laying around.

Jason

begbie

For sure I'll let you know north51.

Say? ya still merchandising with future shop ? Heard they're gonna go non-commission soon. That could mean bad news for you. Them going hourly may mean giving your job to them !!??? :eek:

polkatese

Begbie,
you're welcome....I don't see any problem of putting 10 and 12 gauges in one sleeve, I think it should look good. You can use the 12 for Low Pass and 10 as High Pass...

north51

Begbie,

I did also hear that FS is going non-commission this year. I think we have something in our contract to try and protect againgst them taking our jobs, but we'll have to wait and see.

Jason

TonyPTX

I went with 1/4" sleeving and I'd say that was a pretty tight fight. I'd suggest you bump up your sleeve size to say 1/2". Also, depending on how picky you want to get with the finish, you may want to order a smaller sleeve size for the individual strands that you have running off to the speaker terminals. 1/4" should do nicely. You can get this "sleeving" almost anywhere. Action Electronics wasn't bad and had a good price. I think you can pick it up at PartsExpress too. They may have a better color selection there if you're picky about that. I went ahead and picked up some 1/2" and 1/4" shrink tubing to finnish the job. If I could have, I would have gotten "red" and "white" shrink tube to really make the job look nice.

My biggest Warning:
Order more length than you actually need.

The sleeving length tends to shorten as it expands to accept your wire. I had to splice my first attempt and add an extension piece just to cover my whole run. (still looked good because heat shrink tubing is da bomb!!)

begbie

As mentioned, I'll be using a 10guage and 12guage wiring. Will this pose any problems? Or is it better to stick with the same guage?

I guess the 10guage will be used for the midrange/woofer and the 12 guage for the tweeter but why?

Tony, my wiring is pretty wide in length. The 10 guage is at 1 inch and the 12 guage is at 1/2 inch. Think it's still possible? Plus you mentioned red and white shrink tubing to finish the job. Do you mean the final terminal ends ?

Thanks all.

TonyPTX

Originally posted by begbie
As mentioned, I'll be using a 10guage and 12guage wiring. Will this pose any problems? Or is it better to stick with the same guage?

I guess the 10guage will be used for the midrange/woofer and the 12 guage for the tweeter but why?

Tony, my wiring is pretty wide in length. The 10 guage is at 1 inch and the 12 guage is at 1/2 inch. Think it's still possible? Plus you mentioned red and white shrink tubing to finish the job. Do you mean the final terminal ends ?

Thanks all.

Personally, I think anything more than 12 gauge is overkill. My Monster 14 gauge came in at 3/8" wide and I was able to shove two runs of it into a 1/4" jacket. I think you'll be fine with the 1/2" sleeving if you stick with the dual 12 gauge runs @ 1/2" width each. As for the 1" wide stuff...hm you ma be pushing it but you could probably get that inside of a 3/4" sleeve.

As for the tubing, I was refering to the banding placed on the whole thing (kinda like my green stripe that I used to denote Center Channel). You could use red and black for the terminations, but if you buy quality terminators, those should have decent enough end covers do make the job look nice.

Post them pics when you're done!! And good luck.

begbie

Well Tony. I think if I'm gonna go with any bi-wire project it would be similar to yours. Meaning the same type of wiring.

I don't think I'll bi-wire the 10 ga. and 12 ga. together.
The AR 10 guage silver/copper speaker wire is a pretty awesome cable and doesn't come cheap. In some cases, its performance may be better then some bi-wire cables. Plus it doesn't help that the darn wire is wide like garden hose and are pre-terminated on both ends !!

I'll try something like yours for sure and let you know!!


p.s. 14 ga. is what your using right? Is that sufficient for power hungry speakers you think ??

TonyPTX

Yeah, I used 14 gauge. I replaced some single runs of Monster 12 Ga with the bi-wire 14 Ga. 14 Ga should be plenty of size for "standard" speakers. Remember that you're splitting some of the load across the lines so it doesn't have to be as thick. Honestly, if you really like your AR 10's, you can try just upgrading the jumpers between the posts and throw those little flimsy gold plated tin strips out the window. Before you dump a large sum of money into this project, try that first and see if you're happy.

Tony

begbie

Thanks Tony,

Those AR master 10ga. , I do like and any bi-wiring project I'll do will be first on the cheap.

Speaking of replacing those jumper cables- I've heard that done before. One example is with high quality speaker wire but has anyone heard of any jumpers/straps that fit Polk speakers?

Those jumpers are "z" shaped or something. Other jumpers will have to be flexible to fit Polk speakers.

TonyPTX

Originally posted by begbie
Thanks Tony,

Those AR master 10ga. , I do like and any bi-wiring project I'll do will be first on the cheap.

Speaking of replacing those jumper cables- I've heard that done before. One example is with high quality speaker wire but has anyone heard of any jumpers/straps that fit Polk speakers?

Those jumpers are "z" shaped or something. Other jumpers will have to be flexible to fit Polk speakers.

Just use some of that lovely AR 10 Gauge as the jumper!! If you need details on how to hook it up (ie, connectors and what not), check out this link here for the Polk forum thead that discussed this matter before.

Tony

begbie

I wish I could splice and slice the Ar 10 ga. but it really shouldn't as they do all the terminating and connectors for you -as you can see from the pic below.

Plus as an added bonus the puch-pin tips are customized with their interchangeable spades which I've done.

I'll try the 12 ga. which I have some left over. Should be interesting to hear any difference !