mojomc Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 So I'm recapping the same crossover in a pair of 77 LS. I noticed the insulation in the wire is pretty brittle and was thinking of replacing all the wire along with the caps. 2.5 questions Is replacing the wire a good idea/necessary? Any recommendation as to what size and quality to use from parts connexion? Thanks for any input! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 I'm a little surprised you didn't get a response. I'll give it a shot. As far as whether to replace: If you're doing a major rebuild, you'll probably feel better in doing the whole she-bang. I looked at Parts Connexion and see 48 pages of wire. Some of it silver plated. Expensive. One of our members replaced K-Horn wiring with solid silver and he likes it. This reminds me of the Manhattan Project where the windings for magnets for the Calutrons were made of solid silver borrowed from (and eventually returned to) the U.S. Treasury. Copper was in high demand and short supply. See below. Still, I don't believe in super-wire. I'd use http://www.parts-express.com/consolidated-18-awg-2-conductor-power-speaker-wire-25-ft-(red-black)--101-781 Actually I've used regular old zip cord from HD. At the risk of going OT, even if about silver wire) ll of the Manhattan Project is astounding. Regarding the Calutrons and silver, you can read here in Wikipedia. It shows how desperate times were. The war effort couldn't spare relatively cheap copper which was used in everything (high demand). But the Manhattan Project obtained, on loan, 6,000 tons of silver worth $1.0 billion from the Treasury. I don't know if Treasury was minting silver coins during the war. They were not minting copper pennies. The pennies were zinc plated steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calutron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_steel_cent WMcD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 Because the lengths are short,16 ga copper wire with good insulation should be excellent. I like to use this for my ground path runs an I build crossovers. http://www.parts-express.com/nte-sw02-10-no-clean-wick-desoldering-braid-4-blue-0098-x-10-ft--341-558 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoef Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 I'm using 16AWG Silver Plated PTFE Wire (from john on ebay, about $15 for 25 feet.) for all my projects. Even in my amps. My whole system uses the same wire. Yes i'm crazy ha! In a (universal) crossover i used the 10 awg version of this wire for ground path. Overkill i know. Edit: imo this is about the best you can do for wire/cable if you are on a "budget". (bang for the buck) We can always do better.....at what price and gain? A good pure/oxygen free copper (with or without silver plating) wire/cable with ptfe insulation is always a good upgrade if your speakers have the old 70s wire. I do not know john...no advertising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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