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Speaker Wire


LD2210

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4 minutes ago, Pete H said:
1 hour ago, CECAA850 said:

All your projects need mud grip tires.

You need those on the Porsche as well and maybe a 3" lift.  

That's for when he moves out in the country and the locals rub off on him more.

 

 

 

Speaker wire yes, it makes the speakers sound much better. Just saying from experience, ya know.

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3 hours ago, Shiva said:

On the other hand, the original poster had someone coming over his house to demo his speakers, so he needed wire.  A quick trip to HD,  perhaps 12' of wire, at 60 cents per, to give them a 6' spread for the demo.  

True but we got sidetracked, I know, I know it's very rare for this to happen around here but not impossible. :huh:

 

 

Anyway, some of the best threads here are the ones that lose direction and just wonder, kind of like the whole CC&C thread, it's almost a different subject every day. It kind of makes up for talking about the same speaker subject for the 112th time.

 

But I must say the help everyone provides new people asking for an answer is great, the collective knowledge here is amazing and something special and the willingness to help even with the simplest questions.  :emotion-21:

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I was at work just skimming the thread and saw "Lowes" and "Home Depot", and just assumed it was in reference to lamp cord, which isn't exactly unusual around here. I didn't even know they sold "speaker cable". With that said, if it isn't marked "OFC", it isn't. 

 

PVC insulation isn't all the same either. 

 

Things are usually cheap for a reason. 

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14 minutes ago, dtel said:

 

But I must say the help everyone provides new people asking for an answer is great, the collective knowledge here is amazing and something special and the willingness to help even with the simplest questions.  :emotion-21:

 

From a newbie, I whole heartedly agree! I wouldn’t be sitting in front of my Forte III’s along with some other stuff if not for this forum. I would however have more money in my pockets. I believe that’s the only downside : )

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Well, that's the downside for everyone here, and everyone needs questions answered sometimes. No one knows everything and if they act as they do I wouldn't trust them.   :D

 

I like all the different answers and decide what's best for me, but the amount of experience of trying many different things from a group like this is quite surprising at times. Most people here have been doing this for many years and tried all kinds of combinations and what works or don't can save people money. I know it has for me, I don't have money to try different things until I find what works, I am just happy to be able to get what I need.

 

Glad you stayed, your experiences will add to the group like all the others and help.

 

 

.

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1 hour ago, Pennywise said:

I was at work just skimming the thread and saw "Lowes" and "Home Depot", and just assumed it was in reference to lamp cord, which isn't exactly unusual around here. I didn't even know they sold "speaker cable". With that said, if it isn't marked "OFC", it isn't. 

 

 

It isn't.  Just Cu.

 

The earlier reference to having the sales associate cut some feet off the roll was likely just "lamp cord" (which certainly would suffice for the specific topic).

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On 5/5/2019 at 2:00 PM, polizzio said:

 

Completely agree. Spending more cash than you have to just to demo a pair of speakers you are selling is foolish. Skip the banana plugs and just carefully strip wire ends and twist and connect, making sure you have no loose or shorting strands at the receiver terminals. This worked fine for 50 years, before audiophiles felt the need to spend $500 plus on a single pair of "vastly better" pre-assembled cables/terminal ends.

 

$1450 for a pair of McIntosh 10' speaker cables

 

I thought your link was going to lead to a joke, at first.  This is ironic, given that it was McIntosh who published some of the first research debunking the effects of speaker wire, at least for relatively short runs.  How the Great have Fallen!

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4 hours ago, CECAA850 said:

I didn't see him quote you or refer to you.  However, in the future, feel free to attack the post but not the poster.

 

Will do. It was just the arrogance of his comment pushed my button. Look at his avatar, looks like an angry clown to me.  In essence "people using lamp wire are unworthy, take up knitting."  25 years ago I did use 16 gauge lamp wire and I never suffered from it. The worst was following the "ridges" to observe polarity. Pure copper oxidizes. Copper surely is not exempt from surface oxidation when exposed/bare wire/strands over years. 

 

But to purchase 15' from a local store to demo a pair of speakers you're selling, absolutely. 

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31 minutes ago, garyrc said:

 

I thought your link was going to lead to a joke, at first.  This is ironic, given that it was McIntosh who published some of the first research debunking the effects of speaker wire, at least for relatively short runs.  How the Great have Fallen!

 

Yes sir. Not much is revered in our ever changing society today.

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Friend (much richer than me) has crazy expensive graphene cables sitting on hardwood "tents", between his Octave monoblocks and his ProAc speakers.  Very nice setup.  Sounds amazing.

 

Meanwhile for fun, I made twisted CAT 5 cables (24 strands of 22 gauge ... should be about 8 AWG equivalent?).  Showed my friend.  He looked like he was trying to figure out if I was the crazy one.  All I know is, they were cheap, easy although a bit of time to make, and work well with my Heresy.  Gotta make a few more runs of those cables.

 

 

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On 5/5/2019 at 2:00 PM, polizzio said:

 

Completely agree. Spending more cash than you have to just to demo a pair of speakers you are selling is foolish. Skip the banana plugs and just carefully strip wire ends and twist and connect, making sure you have no loose or shorting strands at the receiver terminals. This worked fine for 50 years, before audiophiles felt the need to spend $500 plus on a single pair of "vastly better" pre-assembled cables/terminal ends.

 

$1450 for a pair of McIntosh 10' speaker cables

 

No, that seems to be the price for a single cable.  The ad even states that a pair is required to connect two speakers.

 

The specs are pretty vague, and that’s the first time I’ve seen wire insulation described as fireproof.  If your speaker wire is prone to catching on fire, it may be undersized for your application.

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On 5/5/2019 at 9:19 PM, Marvel said:

I bought a 250 spool of Belden 14ga from PE. It has a black/white pair in a black sleeve, making it easy to get polarity correct. Zip cord is harder to see which side is which.

Sounds much like the red/black 14ga that I bought from Gateway Electronics here in STL! By the FOOT, 80ft, split in 1/2 by me, and 40ft was too short!

I should have gotten the 250ft roll like you did!

John Kuthe...

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On 5/7/2019 at 2:26 PM, jimjimbo said:

What are the specs on synergy?

Specs on synergy are as follows.   BS specs 45% adjustable up or down. Gullible people or those who like to brag 35% again a sliding scale. 10% look cool and the remainder is finding people who will be impressed with your silliness as much as you are. End result is $5,000 cables and owner who wants you to know he spent that. Capable of pure pristine tonal quality contributions to the well rounded system and Diana  Krall never sounded so effortlessly sterile before. Far superior to Klipsch for instance and zip cord which after all are only capable of sounding like you were there in a live performance.

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25 minutes ago, Islander said:

 

No, that seems to be the price for a single cable.  The ad even states that a pair is required to connect two speakers.

 

The specs. are pretty vague, and that’s the first time I’ve seen wire insulation described as fireproof.  If your speaker wire is prone to catching on fire, it may be undersized for your application.

 

You are absolutely correct, one cable, my error. Fireproof outer jacket = house fire and everything is burnt to a crisp,  but your $2900 speaker cables are A ok.

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1 hour ago, MC39693 said:

Friend (much richer than me) has crazy expensive graphene cables sitting on hardwood "tents", between his Octave monoblocks and his ProAc speakers.  Very nice setup.  Sounds amazing.

 

Meanwhile for fun, I made twisted CAT 5 cables (24 strands of 22 gauge ... should be about 8 AWG equivalent?).  Showed my friend.  He looked like he was trying to figure out if I was the crazy one.  All I know is, they were cheap, easy although a bit of time to make, and work well with my Heresy.  Gotta make a few more runs of those cables.

 

 

Outstanding!! :-)

Congrats! You created a new audiophile cabling technique! Now run with it! No pun intended!

John  Kuthe...

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