10, 12, 14, 16 guage speaker wire

[Mystery]

I have some Monster cable that has turned green. Is this a sign I should scrap the wire?

 

No, don't trash them.

Monster has lifetime warranty on those wires.

Just call them and they'll give you RMA to send it back.

You have to pay the return shipping and they'll replace it and ship you back on their $$$.

 

 

I have some Monster cable that has turned green. Is this a sign I should scrap the wire?

 

I believe it's caused by the insulation of that particular wire.  Replace it.

 

Yes, the material interacted with the wire and caused oxidation.

 

My favorite is Mogami W2921 quad core 4 conductor 13/14ga speaker cable.

 

 

 

Mogami makes high quality wire and Mogami is the most popular professional cable wire choice, it is the wire used in nearly all major recording studios. It is sometimes referred to as High Definition wire because of its musical clarity.

 

I make my own speaker cables using Mogami W2921 wire.

 

Using Mogami wire, GLS locking banana connectors, Techflex braided sleeving, cable pants and heat shrink tubing, my speaker cables both sound and look great

 

 

I need something like that for bi-wiring but not paying that much.

That'll end up more expensive than what I paid for my speakers.

Plus even if I get them, that doesn't mean they'll do anything unless I upgrade everything in the chain.

 

Speaker wires are not snake oil but it becomes snake oil after certain point.

There are specifications for inductance, resistance etc... and once it's within acceptable range, it is snake oil after that to pay too much.

[Rich_Guy]

I need something like that for bi-wiring but not paying that much.

 

 

Monoprice has a cable you may want to use for making speaker wires it is much cheaper, I definitely feel Mogami can be worth the price difference but when price matters most this will work well.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&p_id=4037&seq=1&format=2

 

[Mystery]

 

I need something like that for bi-wiring but not paying that much.

 

 

Monoprice has a cable you may want to use for making speaker wires it is much cheaper, I definitely feel Mogami can be worth the price difference but when price matters most this will work well.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&p_id=4037&seq=1&format=2

 

 

 

Hmmm... they don't sell by foot and 100ft is way too much.

 

What about these?

Bluejeans Canare 4S11

 

What I need to do is this:

[Rich_Guy]

The Canare wire is good, it would be a good economical choice and It would work fine for what you want.

 

You can terminate the ends in many ways spades, banana connectors, etc.

 

You can use heat shrink tubing, cable pants, braided sleeving, etc in many ways to dress up the wire and make them look nice if you like as well.

 

This is 4 wire cable pants

This is 2 wire cable pants

 

On my wires I used various heat shrink tubing, Techflex braided sleeving, 4 wire cable pants on the speaker end with 4 banana connectors, I twisted the wire and covered with red/black heat shrink tubing on the amp end with 2 banana connectors.

 

Here are my cables I made before I added the banana connectors

 

[Mystery]

The Canare wire is good, it would be a good economical choice and It would work fine for what you want.

 

You can terminate the ends in many ways spades, banana connectors, etc.

 

You can use heat shrink tubing, cable pants, braided sleeving, etc in many ways to dress up the wire and make them look nice if you like as well.

 

This is 4 wire cable pants

This is 2 wire cable pants

 

On my wires I used various heat shrink tubing, Techflex braided sleeving, 4 wire cable pants on the speaker end with 4 banana connectors, I twisted the wire and covered with red/black heat shrink tubing on the amp end with 2 banana connectors.

 

Here are my cables I made before I added the banana connectors

 

 

That looks good.

 

I can't use banana plugs as the Vandersteen 3A signatures only take spades or rings on the back for biwiring.

 

I'm leaning towards Canare 4s8 that has four 16 awg cables but end result will be 13 awg after combining two at the amp and separate at the speaker terminals.

Length will not be over 15 feet so shouldn't be any issue.

 

 

Let me do some more research.

[babadono]

 

 

 

My favorite is Mogami W2921 quad core 4 conductor 13/14ga speaker cable.

 

Yea, but with the money I save using the KnuKonceptz over the Mogami, I can have a bottle of 1990 Ch. Petrus every night for dinner....I'm just sayin....... 

 

 

 

Did you see where a case of Chateau Petrus 1990 vintage sold for $45,938 and 12 bottles of Chateau Petrus 1989 vintage sold for $42,875 during June of this year?    

 

Nope, but I still prefer my Pepsi chilled, at 99 cents for two liters.   

 

I really don't want to open this can of worms but I can't resist.   Why does speaker wire need 4 conductors according to Mogami?

[Mystery]

I really don't want to open this can of worms but I can't resist.   Why does speaker wire need 4 conductors according to Mogami?

 

 

One for red, one for blue and one for green.

RBG that makes all other colors plus one for extra...

Oh that's for video, but it makes perfect sense here.

[Rich_Guy]

I really don't want to open this can of worms but I can't resist. Why does speaker wire need 4 conductors according to Mogami?

 

Mogami makes many different types of speaker wire, not just 4 wire.

 

I choose quad wire to make my speaker cable as I prefer to bi-wire my speakers, also using 4 twisted wires helps to eliminate electromagnetic interference (EMI).

 

Mogami makes a very high quality wire, quality copper, quality insulation, they make many different styles of wire used in speaker and interconnect cables, snake cables, etc. Mogami is the number one choice in the professional music industry used in studio and on stage, most likely whatever you are listening to it traveled first on Mogami wire.

[Rich_Guy]

I'm leaning towards Canare 4s8

 

Here is a good source for Canare-4S8 wire

 

http://www.redco.com/Canare-4S8.html

[Mystery]

 

I'm leaning towards Canare 4s8

 

Here is a good source for Canare-4S8 wire

 

http://www.redco.com/Canare-4S8.html

 

 

Yeah, thanks.

I checked that as well as performanceaudio and markertek.

Looks like shipping is same as cost of cable.

Checking pre-made cables as well.

[Paducah Home Theater]

I was just thinking, it's strange that I have an electrical engineering degree yet we never studied anything related to wire sizes and the typical related questions that people ask all the time. Never touched anything like that. You'd think such things might be important.

[AaronH]

Speaker cable is a bit different from a lot of the interconnect cables we handle, in several respects. Because speakers are driven at low impedance (typically 4 or 8 ohms) and high current, speaker cables are, for all practical purposes, immune from interference from EMI or RFI, so shielding isn't required. The low impedance of the circuit, meanwhile, makes capacitance, which can be an issue in high-impedance line or microphone-level connections practically irrelevant. The biggest issue in speaker cables, from the point of view of sound quality, is simply conductivity; the lower the resistance of the cable, the lower the contribution of the speaker cable's resistance to the damping factor, and the flatter the frequency response will be. While one can spend thousands of dollars on exotic speaker cable, in the end analysis, it's the sheer conductivity of the cable, and (barring a really odd design, which may introduce various undesirable effects) little else that matters. The answer to keeping conductivity high is simple: the larger the wire, the lower the resistance, and the higher the conductivity-----courtesy of blue jeans cable---

Edited November 22, 2014 by AaronH

[jimjimbo]

The answer to keeping conductivity high is simple: the larger the wire, the lower the resistance, and the higher the conductivity-----courtesy of blue jeans cable---

 

 

Well, sorry, this is basic bogus.  -----courtesy of blue jeans cable----is not a very smart statement-----Simply being a large cable does not equal a quality cable......Quality of a cable is born from a combination of factors, a few of which are purity of the wire, construction, shielding, and size (and that's not all).  And, I am NOT condoning spending untold thousands of dollars on speaker cable, mainly because I believe (in my very utmost humble opinion), that there is a tipping point between quality/cost/value.  I have auditioned literally dozens of different cables to do my very informal research, with lengths borrowed from friends, associates, retailers, installers, etc, etc, etc.  And in MY opinion, there is very, very, very, little AUDIBLE difference between a supposed mid grade cable such as a KnuKonceptz 10 or 12, and ANY cable costing 3 times or more (no matter the brand)....same music, same source, same speakers, same environment.  OK, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it....

[AaronH]

So you are saying blue jeans cable, (which is actually Belden cable) doesn't know what they are talking about and are making "stupid statements?? Or was that directed at me for posting that?

[Thaddeus Smith]

have you ever used 28AWG magnet wire? its a pita to work with, but fun to use and still be able to crank things up. it completely erased the thought in my mind of "10GA all the time, everywhere, RAWR!!!"

[Fjd]

have you ever used 28AWG magnet wire? its a pita to work with, but fun to use and still be able to crank things up. it completely erased the thought in my mind of "10GA all the time, everywhere, RAWR!!!"

 

 

Do you believe that the increase in sound quality you are experiencing is due to the high degree of ductility since the magnet wire is not as susceptible to stress cracks or micro shattering under stress?

 

 

 

RAWR!!!"

 

 

Which type of "RAWR" are you? Please select one. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2014 by Fjd

[Mystery]

 

The answer to keeping conductivity high is simple: the larger the wire, the lower the resistance, and the higher the conductivity-----courtesy of blue jeans cable---

 

 

Well, sorry, this is basic bogus.  -----courtesy of blue jeans cable----is not a very smart statement-----Simply being a large cable does not equal a quality cable......Quality of a cable is born from a combination of factors, a few of which are purity of the wire, construction, shielding, and size (and that's not all).  And, I am NOT condoning spending untold thousands of dollars on speaker cable, mainly because I believe (in my very utmost humble opinion), that there is a tipping point between quality/cost/value.  I have auditioned literally dozens of different cables to do my very informal research, with lengths borrowed from friends, associates, retailers, installers, etc, etc, etc.  And in MY opinion, there is very, very, very, little AUDIBLE difference between a supposed mid grade cable such as a KnuKonceptz 10 or 12, and ANY cable costing 3 times or more (no matter the brand)....same music, same source, same speakers, same environment.  OK, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it....

 

 

KnuKonceptz is pretty much same price as the Belden (Blue Jeans).

Do you think Knu is better?

[Rich_Guy]

So you are saying blue jeans cable, (which is actually Belden cable)

 

Blue Jeans cable assembles cables using several makes of wire mostly Belden and Canare, they do not manufacture wire  Belden, Canare as well as Mogami are wire manufacturers that make wire. So Blue Jeans Cable is not actually Belden cable, however sometimes they use Belden wire in their cables.

 

For the cables I make I prefer Mogami wire for speaker cables and interconnects, however I prefer Belden wire for making power cables.

[The Dude]

I don't even use speaker wire that stuff is joke.  My sound is so transparent I can't even hear it.  hahahahaha  No but really good stuff here.  I don't buy into all the data and numbers, but these were fun to make.  I should say these particular ones aren't mine, however I did make a set. 

 

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/Low-Inductance-DIY-Speaker-Cables/

[oldred]

I just got to say this......I earn a living in the electronics industry... I work with wire every day...generally awg 50 to 42 guage. I know everyone has a preference......but just think about this.  You spend a lot of time picking out the perfect speaker wire.....but it really only goes as far as the input terminal. Then that last 2 feet is just some bulk wire off a giant spool going to the drivers.....Like I say its a preference thing. Got to go. Heading to Florida....NASA has a sale on wire today.

Edited November 22, 2014 by oldred