# Speaker Wire Questions



## MrLister (Feb 17, 2006)

Just a few quick things:

1) How much does the quality of speaker wire matter? I read a lot of previous posts but a lot of conflict as I'm sure some replies will be. 
2) Is something like Parts-Express.comayton S213-30M 13 AWG 2C Speaker Cable 30m | speaker wire pro speaker wire pro sound speaker cable professional speaker wire suitable for car audio use? Is there a different between car audio use and home use?

Thanks


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

MrLister said:


> Just a few quick things:
> 
> 1) How much does the quality of speaker wire matter? I read a lot of previous posts but a lot of conflict as I'm sure some replies will be.
> 2) Is something like Parts-Express.comayton S213-30M 13 AWG 2C Speaker Cable 30m | speaker wire pro speaker wire pro sound speaker cable professional speaker wire suitable for car audio use? Is there a different between car audio use and home use?
> ...


Dont buy into the hype of speaker wire. Its nonsense. Get some oxygen free copper at the cheapest price with a suitable jacket.

This is great cable at an excellent price. (Yes, I use it, so I have experience)
Speaker Wire
Get the stuff in the white jacket or the clear, thats cheap. I use 12 guage for subs and 14-16 guage for speakers.


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## MrLister (Feb 17, 2006)

So there's no difference in car audio speaker wire vs home speaker wire right? (shielding and noise wise)

One of the main reasons I ask this is because in my last install I ran the speaker wire next to the 0ga from the front of the car and I did have extra noise coming out (not engine whine but constant noise). I had to rerun the wire through the headliner to eliminate the noise.


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

MrLister said:


> So there's no difference in car audio speaker wire vs home speaker wire right? (shielding and noise wise)
> 
> One of the main reasons I ask this is because in my last install I ran the speaker wire next to the 0ga from the front of the car and I did have extra noise coming out (not engine whine but constant noise). I had to rerun the wire through the headliner to eliminate the noise.


not really. wire is wire. its all about how it is shielded but you dont really need to worry about that because its usually only rca's that get induced noise into them. so just get some wire like captianobvious said

ok you edited it so now im going to say that even with shielded wire it is still susceptible to noise. so you just need to run it away from the main power wire. and that goes for any signal/speaker wire


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

MrLister said:


> Just a few quick things:
> 
> 1) How much does the quality of speaker wire matter? I read a lot of previous posts but a lot of conflict as I'm sure some replies will be.
> 2) Is something like Parts-Express.comayton S213-30M 13 AWG 2C Speaker Cable 30m | speaker wire pro speaker wire pro sound speaker cable professional speaker wire suitable for car audio use? Is there a different between car audio use and home use?
> ...


1) It doesn't.

2) You can use just about any wire, even lamp cord. If you run the wire past sources of electrical noise, such as an electric fuel pump, insulation could make a slight difference.

12 AWG is more than adequate for subs, 16-18 AWG is more than adequate for other speakers. Oversized wire will not hurt your installation, but understand it is only for show. If you want to see how _little_ distortion will be caused by the impedance of your speaker wires, check this calculator: http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

I use 10 or 12 AWG when the wire is visible, because I think it looks cool. There's no other legitimate reason, in my opinion. The gold plated terminals in the picture don't mater either, again, they were just a finishing touch.


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## MrLister (Feb 17, 2006)

Got it, thanks. Any idea why in my last system my speaker wire was picking up noise until I moved it away from power wire? poor insulation?


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

MrLister said:


> Got it, thanks. Any idea why in my last system my speaker wire was picking up noise until I moved it away from power wire? poor insulation?


insulation cant really stop noise. unless its say several inches thick but even then it wouldnt do much. if it wants in it will get in. you just have to keep it away from sources such as a beefy power wire with a lot of amps pulsing through it.


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

MrLister said:


> Got it, thanks. Any idea why in my last system my speaker wire was picking up noise until I moved it away from power wire? poor insulation?


Could be poor insulation. Your power wire carries a current, which creates magnetic flux, which can induce a current into adjacent wires... That's just geek-speak for "picking up noise". This theoretically shouldn't happen with direct current, because the magnetic flux is constant, but the voltage of your car constantly fluctuates because of your alternator, fuel pump, and other electrical loads. This makes your power wire's flux pulsate in a sense, which pulls the electrons in your adjacent wire back and forth... See the picture?

I try to keep my RCAs and speaker wires away from the power wire, and any other wires for that matter. When they have to come close, I make sure they cross perpendicularly (so it only has a short section of wire affected) and put a layer of foam in between and a few plastic wire looms around each wire, this seems to help. Also, adequately grounding your amp and your battery allows current to flow more freely and reduces the fluctuations I mentioned above.


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## fastlane (Apr 6, 2009)

I agree with everyone else. For the most part speaker wire is speaker wire. Don't buy into the hype that fancy wire sounds better, and even if it did I doubt 99.999% of people would notice anyways. I ran 14ga, only because I had a ton left over from my HT build a couple years ago. Definitely keep power wires separate from speaker wires. If they must come together, cross them at 90 degree angles to minimize interference.


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

I use 14 guage speaker wire from monoprice.
Have you read the article where someone did an a/b test with high end speaker cable vs coat hangers "wire" and a buch of "audiophiles"?
I tried it but learned two things:

a) it's REALLY hard to techflex coat hangers.
b) Plastic ones dont really work.

LOL.

J.


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

I've done side by side comparisons with home audio gear, and compared $100 dollar speaker cable to $350 speaker cable and the difference is actually astounding. It wasn't just me either we tested with strangers who didn't know which cable was better or what we were doing and all of them said the $350 cable was a significant change for the better. Honestly in the car though, there are so many other elements that f*** the setup as it is, chances are you could never hear it.


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## fastlane (Apr 6, 2009)

dovogod said:


> I've done side by side comparisons with home audio gear, and compared $100 dollar speaker cable to $350 speaker cable and the difference is actually astounding. It wasn't just me either we tested with strangers who didn't know which cable was better or what we were doing and all of them said the $350 cable was a significant change for the better. Honestly in the car though, there are so many other elements that f*** the setup as it is, chances are you could never hear it.


If this is the case you're not comparing similar wire's. All things being equal, you would have to have K9 type hearing to notice any difference at all between similar gauge wire's. In my home theater setup, I've tried everything from 20 dollar speaker cables to 2500 speaker cables, and myself nor anyone else listening could tell the difference.


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

dovogod said:


> I've done side by side comparisons with home audio gear, and compared $100 dollar speaker cable to $350 speaker cable and the difference is actually astounding. It wasn't just me either we tested with strangers who didn't know which cable was better or what we were doing and all of them said the $350 cable was a significant change for the better. Honestly in the car though, there are so many other elements that f*** the setup as it is, chances are you could never hear it.


:dead_horse:

Yes, but _you_ knew what you were doing, therefore the test was not double-blind. :blush:



fastlane said:


> If this is the case you're not comparing similar wire's. All things being equal, you would have to have K9 type hearing to notice any difference at all between similar gauge wire's. In my home theater setup, I've tried everything from 20 dollar speaker cables to 2500 speaker cables, and myself nor anyone else listening could tell the difference.


x2, copper is copper. Not much to it.


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

I said I wasn't the only one listening, the wire was audioquest type 4s to Audioquest type 8s. We used Focal 908 Profile bookshelves, Cambridge Audio 840 Integrated amp and the 840 cd player. The difference was very apparent to the people who were double blind.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

dovogod said:


> I said I wasn't the only one listening, the wire was audioquest type 4s to Audioquest type 8s. We used Focal 908 Profile bookshelves, Cambridge Audio 840 Integrated amp and the 840 cd player. The difference was very apparent to the people who were double blind.


Think about what speaker wire does and tell me what differences there can possibly be that would make one wire sound different than another. It's just copper. 

If I replace the cord on my iron will my iron get wrinkles out faster?


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

i guess the only difference i could think of would be the purity of the copper...but does it come in different purity levels? or is copper just one purity no matter what?


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

there is geometry of the strands in the cable, sizes of the strands, quality of copper, directionality, polarization of the cable, there are so many aspects that effect cables. good cables use different sizes of wire on the inside of the speaker wire, there is good insulation, the strands are aligned and twisted for proper geometry.


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

dovogod said:


> I said I wasn't the only one listening, the wire was audioquest type 4s to Audioquest type 8s. We used Focal 908 Profile bookshelves, Cambridge Audio 840 Integrated amp and the 840 cd player. The difference was very apparent to the people who were double blind.


Double blind means neither the tester nor the test subjects know the difference between two options. It can be taken one step further, so the test subjects are not even aware that there are two options, e.g. have a computer randomly switch the wires at intervals throughout a movie or a song, and at the end ask the test subjects if they noticed any changes in sound quality.

I would venture that if I gave you two sets of speaker wires, the only difference being the color of the insulation, told you one set was a "premium brand" and then told you to demo the two wires for an audience, you would conclude that they thought the premium wire sounded better. The slightest miswording of a question, or the slightest change in body language, even a smile on your face could completely foil the test results. Were you honestly that scientific in the testing?



gijoe said:


> Think about what speaker wire does and tell me what differences there can possibly be that would make one wire sound different than another. It's just copper.
> 
> If I replace the cord on my iron will my iron get wrinkles out faster?


Depends, does it have an aluminum cord? :laugh:



Austin said:


> i guess the only difference i could think of would be the purity of the copper...but does it come in different purity levels? or is copper just one purity no matter what?


The electrons will get around the impurities with no problem at all. Every speaker wire manufacturer that I've ever seen claims to use "99.9%" or "100% oxygen free copper", while neglecting the fact that oxides of copper are still conductive.  If they weren't, you'd have to replace your speaker wires every 2-3 years, and my "audiophile" Marantz home speakers have copper wires inside that haven't been replaced in _30 years!_

I don't think any two same-gauge pairs of copper speaker wires will make an audible difference, so long as you aren't hooking up 100 foot lengths of small-gauge wires to intentionally exaggerate the difference. If speaker wires were such "magic", then Monster Cable would own the car audio world.  BTW, I used Monster Cable wire terminators on my speaker wires. I chose them because the looked pretty. :blush:


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

dovogod said:


> there is geometry of the strands in the cable, sizes of the strands, quality of copper, directionality, polarization of the cable, there are so many aspects that effect cables. good cables use different sizes of wire on the inside of the speaker wire, there is good insulation, the strands are aligned and twisted for proper geometry.


None of the things you mentioned have any effect within 20-20kHz.


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## TREETOP (Feb 11, 2009)

dovogod said:


> ...directionality, polarization of the cable...


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

the other people who were listening had no idea what we were even doing, It was so significant a difference they asked what happened. we never mentioned any differences of wire or anything premium. I was with a colleague and we wanted to see if the wire sounded better, they were just innocent bystanders. I understand the skepticism. I didn't want to believe either.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

dovogod said:


> the other people who were listening had no idea what we were even doing, It was so significant a difference they asked what happened. we never mentioned any differences of wire or anything premium. I was with a colleague and we wanted to see if the wire sounded better, they were just innocent bystanders. I understand the skepticism. I didn't want to believe either.


One of the wires may have been broken, causing a sharp increase in its resistance compared to the other. It's hard to break a wire in that way, but it happens.


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

dovogod said:


> there is geometry of the strands in the cable, sizes of the strands, quality of copper, directionality, polarization of the cable, there are so many aspects that effect cables. good cables use different sizes of wire on the inside of the speaker wire, there is good insulation, the strands are aligned and twisted for proper geometry.


:dead_horse:

With all due respects, Roger Russell, former employee of McIntosh Loudspeaker Division, has some excellent information on these types of claims. I don't have the energy to put it as verbosely as he did: Speaker Wire Perhaps we can conclude from your test that there is such a thing as crappy speaker wire. I've seen $10,000 home theater systems running on lamp cord, and they sounded fine to me. I've done similar tests with my own equipment, and come to the opposite conclusion, but I won't claim to conclude anything scientific.


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

it wasn't broken. whatever guy, Im sure you use lamp cord in your home theatre setup.


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> :dead_horse:
> 
> With all due respects, Roger Russell, former employee of McIntosh Loudspeaker Division, has some excellent information on these types of claims. I don't have the energy to put it as verbosely as he did: Speaker Wire Perhaps we can conclude from your test that there is such a thing as crappy speaker wire. I've seen $10,000 home theater systems running on lamp cord, and they sounded fine to me. I've done similar tests with my own equipment, and come to the opposite conclusion, but I won't claim to conclude anything scientific.


I haven't seen that article in a long time. Lot of good stuff there. I've always used a pair of 18ga primary twisted together for speaker wire. I always find it funny when someone questions why I do that instead of using "good" wire, or bigger wire. I just say it's got pixie dust in it. Then they think I'm crazy and leave me alone. Oh yea, it ends up about 6 cents a foot.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

dovogod said:


> it wasn't broken. whatever guy, Im sure you use lamp cord in your home theatre setup.


You're going to lose this one, or get really pissed off in the process of arguing. 

You have been taught some bad information about how electricity works. I'm not going to call you an idiot, just ignorant, but there are plenty of other people who won't be so nice. Do a little reading and let me know what you think. It's really easy to perceive a difference between 2 products when you are hoping to hear a difference. It's even easier to convince yourself that the more expensive product is better.

If this technology of direction, polarity and all that other crap you mentioned really made a big difference, why don't you see that technology being used in every wire on every high end product?

I promise there is no difference between the sound quality of signal running through standard copper speaker wire and signal running through some fancy twisted, variable strand size, directional, pretty packaged wire.


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## mephistopholes (Jul 30, 2006)

To the original post, quality speaker wire is important. I gauge quality in speaker wire by flexibility and good shielding. You don't want cables where the shielding is thin or brittle which can fail and lead to a shorted wire. It also makes running the wire during installation easier. Beyond that, as long as you are using a suitable gauge of wire for the application, you should be fine.


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

mephistopholes said:


> To the original post, quality speaker wire is important. I gauge quality in speaker wire by flexibility and good shielding. You don't want cables where the shielding is thin or brittle which can fail and lead to a shorted wire. It also makes running the wire during installation easier. Beyond that, as long as you are using a suitable gauge of wire for the application, you should be fine.


very simple and straight to the point i must say.


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## MrLister (Feb 17, 2006)

so which would you guys recommend? ones you've worked with and know have decent insulation? keep in mind most of the speaker wire for a 100ft spool only vary by $10-$40 so it's not breaking the bank at all


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

MrLister said:


> so which would you guys recommend? ones you've worked with and know have decent insulation? keep in mind most of the speaker wire for a 100ft spool only vary by $10-$40 so it's not breaking the bank at all


Go to Best Buy, Walmart, Sears, Radio Shack, wherever is closest and pick up a spool. It's that simple.


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## fastlane (Apr 6, 2009)

MrLister said:


> so which would you guys recommend?


As previously mentioned, any of the copper one's will work fine.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

dovogod said:


> it wasn't broken.


Are you sure? What were the resistances of the two cables?



> whatever guy, Im sure you use lamp cord in your home theatre setup.


I do, if that means anything.


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

dovogod said:


> I've done side by side comparisons with home audio gear, and compared $100 dollar speaker cable to $350 speaker cable and the difference is actually astounding.


For most of us "mere mortals", saving the $350 and using the exact same gauge of copper lamp cord (around $0.29 per foot) could mean affording a _much_ nicer pair of speakers. Nice speakers, I promise you, make a far greater difference than any of your "bling-bling" cables with shiny insulation.



dovogod said:


> there is geometry of the strands in the cable, sizes of the strands, quality of copper, directionality, polarization of the cable, there are so many aspects that effect cables. good cables use different sizes of wire on the inside of the speaker wire, there is good insulation, the strands are aligned and twisted for proper geometry.





MarkZ said:


> None of the things you mentioned have any effect within 20-20kHz.


Correct. Such considerations are only relevant in the RF range (radio frequency, not Rockford Fosgate).



MrLister said:


> so which would you guys recommend? ones you've worked with and know have decent insulation? keep in mind most of the speaker wire for a 100ft spool only vary by $10-$40 so it's not breaking the bank at all


Here ya' go: Knukonceptz product detail for KLEAR KABLE BLUE 12 GAUGE SPEAKER WIRE
If you're running less than 1000 watts RMS into 2 ohms, 16 gauge would also be fine. Knukonceptz product detail for KLEAR KABLE BLUE 16 GAUGE SPEAKER WIRE  Of course, run 10 gauge if you want to impress your friends. Knukonceptz product detail for KLEAR KABLE BLUE 10 GAUGE SPEAKER WIRE

Any brand will work, I only suggest KnuKonceptz because you don't have to buy a whole roll. As several have stated, there's nothing wrong with 14 or 16 gauge lamp cord.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

fastlane said:


> I agree with everyone else.


Ditto . . . Go wireless


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

MrLister said:


> so which would you guys recommend? ones you've worked with and know have decent insulation? keep in mind most of the speaker wire for a 100ft spool only vary by $10-$40 so it's not breaking the bank at all


I still say build your own. You can make it any color you have access to. Here is some I made. I happen to make RCA's the same way too. Here's a pic.



And you can make 500 ft of it for about 15 cents a foot shipped to your door from here.
http://shop.ebay.com/items/__spool-18ga-primary-wire?_kw=spool&_kw=18ga&_kw=primary&_kw=wire&_ckw=foot&_trksid=p3286.m104.l1198

EDIT: Of course you would need two rolls to make 500 feet.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

dovogod said:


> it wasn't broken. whatever guy, Im sure you use lamp cord in your home theatre setup.


Either silver for highs or gold for all around


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## MrLister (Feb 17, 2006)

Does strand count in speaker wire matter?

Aka one I'm considering is 50 strands but great reviews & build quality, other one 260 strands and also great reviews but not as great aesthetically.

For http://www.parts-express.com/pe/sho...1&FTR=S213-30M&CFID=11837931&CFTOKEN=62875523 it doesn't say oxygen free but it seems high quality enough to be oxygen free and a good wire? I'm doing a order from parts express so it makes it much more convenient.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

Strand count generally adds flexibility. Technically, it makes a denser packing too which means more copper per unit area, although the increase is minimal. Most of the time, though, it's a good predictor for how well it can bend.


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

jowens500 said:


> I still say build your own. You can make it any color you have access to. Here is some I made. I happen to make RCA's the same way too. Here's a pic.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ooh, pretty! What RCA ends did you use? I may have to try that some time.


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## Austin (Mar 12, 2009)

jowens500 said:


> I still say build your own. You can make it any color you have access to. Here is some I made. I happen to make RCA's the same way too. Here's a pic.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


did you use some kind of tool to make that? or just a lot of time by hand? i would really wanna try this


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## Bobo (Aug 6, 2005)

mephistopholes said:


> To the original post, quality speaker wire is important. I gauge quality in speaker wire by flexibility and good shielding. *You don't want cables where the shielding is thin or brittle which can fail and lead to a shorted wire.* It also makes running the wire during installation easier. Beyond that, as long as you are using a suitable gauge of wire for the application, you should be fine.


When you say shield, do you mean the jacket (insulation, sheath, or whatever different name people use for the same thing)? 

When I think of a shield, I think of wire with a thin metal shield surrounding the conductors. I don't know what people around here like to use for car audio, but I didn't think I'd seen anyone using a shielded wire for speaker cable. But there's always something to learn so figured I'd ask.


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## mephistopholes (Jul 30, 2006)

Bobo said:


> When you say shield, do you mean the jacket (insulation, sheath, or whatever different name people use for the same thing)?
> 
> When I think of a shield, I think of wire with a thin metal shield surrounding the conductors. I don't know what people around here like to use for car audio, but I didn't think I'd seen anyone using a shielded wire for speaker cable. But there's always something to learn so figured I'd ask.


I meant the insulation around the wire. I've heard it referred to as shielding by some in the past and I guess I picked up on the term.


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## pikers (Oct 21, 2007)

I think that both sides of this argument have merit. Where the skeptical side breaks down is the point at which cost is mentioned, then cable theory becomes voodoo. If high end cabling were cheap, I suspect skeptics would have little to say. Also, asserting that something is different therefore "broken" is the height of arrogance and assumptive reasoning. I'm sure your EE professor in college with his Mephisto sneakers and sweat stained short sleeve knows everything about everything though. There are plenty of examples where a superior cable is demonstrated blind and wins. 

It's interesting when skeptics selectively choose to support DBT results.

As to the AQ user, it is solid core. It actually could have broken, given repeated flex cycles. That said, Type 4 and Type 8 are very different in size. I could see differences there quite easily, given that the strand count doubles.


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## Bobo (Aug 6, 2005)

mephistopholes said:


> I meant the insulation around the wire. I've heard it referred to as shielding by some in the past and I guess I picked up on the term.


Gotcha. I wonder if any shielded wire is used if people run wire beside the power wire.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

MrLister said:


> so which would you guys recommend? ones you've worked with and know have decent insulation? keep in mind most of the speaker wire for a 100ft spool only vary by $10-$40 so it's not breaking the bank at all


See below. Really, just get a spool of the white stuff here and you'll be very happy. Works great for my setup. Flexible, durable jacket and good quality construction at a CHEAP price. No need to look further, I assure you 



captainobvious said:


> Dont buy into the hype of speaker wire. Its nonsense. Get some oxygen free copper at the cheapest price with a suitable jacket.
> 
> This is great cable at an excellent price. (Yes, I use it, so I have experience)
> Speaker Wire
> Get the stuff in the white jacket or the clear, thats cheap. I use 12 guage for subs and 14-16 guage for speakers.


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## Z3Sooner (Aug 2, 2008)

It's very simple. Good quality copper wire with enough guage to insure that the resistance of the wire is less than 5% that of the speaker impedence. At the lengths you're talking about in a car 16ga will work for almost everything. Of course, that didn't keep me from putting 12ga in my car  but I admit it's overkill.

A true double blind speaker wire test was done by Gordon Gow, president of MCINTOSH LABS. Here's the link:

Speaker Wire

All of the "geometry, direction, etc. bs. etc. bs." Is a bunch of junk "science" marketing developed to sell things such as these:

Most Expensive Audio Cables

Did you happen to notice the company marketing the $33,000 OPTICAL cable? Of course, optical cables are for DIGITAL audio, but somehow they have figured out how to make your 1s & 0s sound better with their cable.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

pikers said:


> I think that both sides of this argument have merit. Where the skeptical side breaks down is the point at which cost is mentioned, then cable theory becomes voodoo. If high end cabling were cheap, I suspect skeptics would have little to say. Also, asserting that something is different therefore "broken" is the height of arrogance and assumptive reasoning.


Quite the opposite! It's "arrogant" and "assumptive reasoning" to assume that there are intrinsic differences between cables based on listening tests with an N of 1, and without even measuring the cables to make sure they're representative samples!

I asked him what the resistance measurements of the cables were. This is standard practice in ANY listening test. He didn't answer. My guess is that he didn't make measurements.

So how do we know that the cables were both working correctly? I guess we'll leave that to chance, eh?



> I'm sure your EE professor in college with his Mephisto sneakers and sweat stained short sleeve knows everything about everything though. There are plenty of examples where a superior cable is demonstrated blind and wins.


There are? Where?


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## sqshoestring (Jun 19, 2007)

What a great thread. I read a test where the guy used a rusty old nail and they could not tell. Many people don't realize electricity operates by certain rules and that is that. I used to use monster cable when I got it for free, but most of the time I go to the local hardware and buy bulk lamp cord. The clear stuff even looks just like speaker wire. Sometimes I buy speaker wire if the price not bad or looks are an issue. That lamp cord is tough stuff, I've used it for rope in a pinch and the insulation is HD. It should be called insulation, a shield is anther wire around it such as foil or braided like an RCA might have...unless you have balanced RCA and run twisted pair. Oxygen free seems to mean it corrodes faster. I have some old monster cable OF and it has turned green inside the clear insulator, how nice. It was kept in the house but is pretty old. I've also used multiple runs of lamp cord for power wires, back when I was a poor kid, but the last 4ga kit I bought was $20 new on epay so why bother. One time I even chopped up an outdoor extension cord because they were $3 on sale, worked great running 6x9 I had in boxes to pull out for parties. Also I've never had a speaker wire pick up noise, that is pretty strange.


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

TJ Mobile Audio said:


> Ooh, pretty! What RCA ends did you use? I may have to try that some time.


Thank you. They are Hooker Audio ends.


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

Austin said:


> did you use some kind of tool to make that? or just a lot of time by hand? i would really wanna try this


Some of it is with a drill and some , well most of it by hand. It takes me about 30 minutes total to make an average 15 to 18 foot RCA.


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

pikers said:


> There are plenty of examples where a superior cable is demonstrated blind and wins.
> 
> It's interesting when skeptics selectively choose to support DBT results.





MarkZ said:


> There are? Where?



I'd also like to see this...


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## TJ Mobile Audio (May 6, 2009)

MarkZ said:


> There are? Where?


I've never seen those tests, either. They were probably done in-house by Monster Cable! :laugh:


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## Z3Sooner (Aug 2, 2008)

I got into home audio about 30 years ago. Right about the time the specialty wires (Monster, etc.) started to really pick up steam. In all that time I have NEVER seen a single, scientific, controlled double blind text that showed one speaker wire to be better than another. NEVER. Could I have missed one? Sure. But you would think that if there have been a bunch of them I would have at least seen ONE in 30 years.

Come to think of it, I have NEVER walked into a stereo store and actually seen a demo set up comparing one wire to another and I've been in a LOT of stereo stores in the last 30 years. If there was such a significant difference in speaker wires you would think that some stereo store somewhere would have an AB demo setup if it would help them sell a $1000 pair of cables over a$50 pair. 

The only scientific comparision I have seen is the one done by McIntosh Labs and it showed exactly what I said: keep your speaker wire resistance to less than 5% of your minimum speaker resistance. Done.


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