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Cables for LaScala?


ebrandon

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Hello All!

 

I have a pair of LaScalas that have been fully upgraded with new Bob Crites tweeters, squawkers, and crossovers.   I drive them with an Elekit TU-8600 tube amp.  Sounds great!

 

My question is this:  I'm using $1/foot audioquest speaker cable sold by Best Buy, mostly used by them when they run cable through peoples' walls.  I've terminated them myself with screw-on banana plugs on the amp side, and crimp-on lugs on the speaker side.  Total investment about $30.

 

Partly I went this homebrew route because I don't know who even sells ready-made speaker cables with banana plugs on one end and lugs suitable for LaScalas on the other.

 

Anybody recommend some speaker cables that might be better than what I'm using?

 

Thanks!

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Hello All!
 
I have a pair of LaScalas that have been fully upgraded with new Bob Crites tweeters, squawkers, and crossovers.   I drive them with an Elekit TU-8600 tube amp.  Sounds great!
 
My question is this:  I'm using $1/foot audioquest speaker cable sold by Best Buy, mostly used by them when they run cable through peoples' walls.  I've terminated them myself with screw-on banana plugs on the amp side, and crimp-on lugs on the speaker side.  Total investment about $30.
 
Partly I went this homebrew route because I don't know who even sells ready-made speaker cables with banana plugs on one end and lugs suitable for LaScalas on the other.
 
Anybody recommend some speaker cables that might be better than what I'm using?
 
Thanks!

LOWES 16ga lampcord.


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I’m making up my own cables using MIT cables. I have 3 sets that are about 9’ long

How long of a cable do you need?

These came from a single 49’ run speaker cable that cost 1200 dollars back in 2001

Not that I would spend that kind of money

At a point it’s all snake oil

Just use good copper wire and good ends

These have 8 wire runs in them. 4 are 12ga and 4 are 10 ga So five white and five black

I’ll take a pic later to show how it’s made up

 

 

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5 minutes ago, carlthess40 said:

I’m making up my own cables using MIT cables. I have 3 sets that are about 9’ long
How long of a cable do you need?
These came from a single 49’ run speaker cable that cost 1200 dollars back in 2001
Not that I would spend that kind of money
At a point it’s all snake oil
Just use good copper wire and good ends
These have 10 wire runs in them. 6 are 12ga and 4 are 10 ga So five white and five black
I’ll take a pic later to show how it’s made up


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That sounds great.  I too have good, old, high quality speaker cables lying around.  What I don't know is how to terminate the cable on both ends better than the janky way I did.

 

Look forward to seeing your pictures.

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I buy 12g zip cord/speaker wire from Monoprice by the 100' roll when on sale and it is more than I need for 20' to 24' runs. When I set a speaker up for more than temporary listening I use crimp fork ends and fasten them to the screw down section of the bannana input plugs so I don't have to worry about things working loose.  

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Wire size is of less concern with La Scalas because the current flow will always be so low the losses and induced magnetic field will be so low.  Roger Russell from McIntosh has a wire size chart on the web.  Look at it and choose one size larger for your length to have some overkill. 

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On 9/26/2019 at 9:17 PM, wuzzzer said:

If you want the best for what you already have, remove any connectors that you've added and use a bare wire connection at both ends.  The fewer connectors the better for the best signal transfer.  Just ask Trey Cannon, Klipsch engineer.

 

I love this suggestion.  Makes sense, and it's the least expensive advice I've gotten in 20 years of doing this hobby.

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2 hours ago, ebrandon said:

 

I love this suggestion.  Makes sense, and it's the least expensive advice I've gotten in 20 years of doing this hobby.

 

Just passing along what I've learned here.  When engineers who have worked for Klipsch for many, many years give advice, I tend to listen.  🙃

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Bare wire, tight screws, retightened every decade or so, and, as John A so wisely says, one size larger than Gow recommends for your distance.   http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable

 

On the other hand, some wire companies provide low resistance, low capacitance speaker cable at a very low cost, for those who feel slightly more comfortable with it.  

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While I could entertain the idea that one connection per wire end could be "cleaner" than two per end, I certainly would suggest tinning the ends over merely twisting up some bare wire.

 

As for me, banana plugs are the way to go.  Don't need tools to occasionally break / remake the connections, they easily pass enough current for the task, and they're tidy.

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On 9/26/2019 at 8:33 PM, ebrandon said:

 

That looks like nice, affordable, cable!  If you used this, how did you terminate it?

 

I recommend the Karma Kable as well.  The SS refers to the colours, Silver and Smoke.  Either 10 or 12 gauge would be great.  I’ve been using some 8 AWG Karma Kable for about 15 years, and when I bi-amped the La Scalas in the process of converting them to JubScalas, I went with 10 AWG Karma Kable for the tweeters.  No corrosion, since the very fine copper strands are tinned, and those fine strands make the cable very flexible and easy to work with.  You can cut it easily with a box cutter.  As well, the Karma Kable is in a twisted pair configuration, which rejects interference, which has to be a good thing.

 

As for terminations, I ordered the Audioquest BFA bananas.  They’re a bit different from the banana-shaped bananas, in that they’re hollow cylindrical tubes, but they have a much larger contact surface, and can be adjusted with needlenose pliers to fit tighter or looser.  You can order them from several suppliers.  If you go with 8 gauge cables, they’ll fit in, but the set screws will stick out so far that the little sleeves won’t slide back on.  No problem, it’s easy to find heat shrink tubing, in either red or black, so that makes a tidy job.  The connectors for the speaker end are called barrier strip spade connectors or spade lugs, since that’s what the black plastic box-like thing is, a barrier strip.  Getting the right size can be tricky, since they have to be just right to fit into the barrier strip.  I wound up going to a couple of local car audio shops.  The bonus is that they’re super cheap, like a few pennies each.  They come in crimp on or solder on.  Either works fine, but it’s worth it to spend the $5 or so for a crimping tool, since it will do a better job than regular pliers.

 

An Internet search may turn up some audio grade spade lugs, but make sure they’re the right width, because they come in too wide, too narrow, and just right.  Hope this is helpful.

 

Lastly, lots of folks will tell you 16 gauge lamp cord is fine, because the masters of audio used it forty years ago, just like performance cars used to have 8” wide wheels and tires.  Yes, lamp cord will definitely do the job, but the bigger cable will do it better.  This is a site for fans of high performance speakers, so why wouldn’t we want to address any little detail that could limit the performance of our speakers, especially when it doesn’t cost much?

 

CAUTION :  Flame War Alert!

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On 9/29/2019 at 5:34 PM, glens said:

While I could entertain the idea that one connection per wire end could be "cleaner" than two per end, I certainly would suggest tinning the ends over merely twisting up some bare wire.

 

As for me, banana plugs are the way to go.  Don't need tools to occasionally break / remake the connections, they easily pass enough current for the task, and they're tidy.

I am not a normal situation with all the switching back and forth that I do but I have noticed some types of banana plugs tend to loosen up on their own and if you do not regularly check make for bad connections. The other problem is how well the sets make contact together over time and some are quite loose which causes connection problems. I like the convenience of them but I am using fork end crimp connectors and tightening down on those and have less trouble now. In the course on a busy month I might switch things around dozens of times though so my problems are not normal.

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