jdyer Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 When I bought my Khorns, in the late 90's, the prevailing thought was to use large guage OFC speaker cables. Now there seems to be some shift in that thought, with Cardas introducing the SE line, which is intended for use with SET amps and very-high efficiency horns. The SE-15, which is for horns over 100db/1/1, is very thin, but with an effective AWG of 15, which is beyond my electrical understanding. Any thoughts on this will be appreciated. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 My favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Yep, simple but very effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Bob, Really! I think you might have picked a nicer color! The W.A.F. is the most import consideration in speaker cable. It has to at least be easy to hide. I know, don't tell me, you have brown carpets! Al K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 You guys! Talk about ineducable! You can lead a horse to water... I give up! That's right, put in just any old wire, the cheesier the better. That'll sound GREAT! DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Al, For internal wiring I like this 16 AWG hook-up wire since I could not find any of the color coded zip cord that PWK used. I also like the mini clips for connection to drivers. ($2.99 per dozen at Radio Shack) Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 LOL -- exactly the same thing I've been using over here with my network/cap experiments. I was so paranoid about doing it, I even resorted to doing an experiment with some of my 7/9 silver against the Rat Shack alligator clips. The silver wire and leads were wrapped and taped. If there is a difference, I sure can't hear it. Over the last two weeks, I've learned that I'm more FOS about some things than most on this forum. I'm soon to recant, which I hope will save me from the fires of hell. Bob -- the BEST wire is the tinned, stranded copper by Belden. Mouser has it for about $25 for a 100' spool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Dean, it's not you we're worried about, it's the rest of the flock that you lead astray! Bob Crites and Al K., too. The infamous "gang of 3"... Kids, don't listen to them - their like "electrical dudes" or something. The road to Hell is paved with solder connections and speaker crossovers! DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Yeah, Kind of funny that one can do picosecond spectroscopy (10^-9 seconds) with a single wire coaxial cable at pennies per foot but we are told by the manufacturers that we need super space age magic wire for audio. I am particularily ammused by the current trend for silver wire and connectors. Silver is very quick to oxidize unlike the now out of vogue gold. Resistance is not significantly different from copper or gold so why use it? From the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics we have the following data: Material resistnace (microhm-cm) Copper 1.673 Silver 1.59 Gold 2.35 Note, that's MICRO ohms (10^-6) You'd need a million linear cm of gold wire to work up a couple of ohms of resistance. I'd rather put the gold in the bank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Pendantism at its finest. For those of you with an open mind, try some silver interconnects and post your opinions. My bet is that they will become permanent additions to your system. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 D-Man, I'm actually schitzo on the wire issue. I see absoutely no reason to buy expensive wires but I do. I've never been able to hear the difference so I can't recommend it to anyone in good faith. I have to admit that there are some asthetic issues to the audio system, even if they're in the back of the boxes where no one but I will ever see them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I've got silver XLR's on my Mc SS gear which are pretty convincing. Tube gear doesn't seem as finicky, to my surprise. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 ---------------- On 2/10/2005 8:05:51 AM jdyer wrote: When I bought my Khorns, in the late 90's, the prevailing thought was to use large guage OFC speaker cables. Now there seems to be some shift in that thought, with Cardas introducing the SE line, which is intended for use with SET amps and very-high efficiency horns. The SE-15, which is for horns over 100db/1/1, is very thin, but with an effective AWG of 15, which is beyond my electrical understanding. Any thoughts on this will be appreciated. John ---------------- Back to your original question... I think Cardas is the King of Snake Oil. I think he used to be fairly serious but there's just too much money in selling the Audiophile Snake Oil for him to pass up. Just read the description on his latest audiophile capacitors. It is an absolute hoot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I would also say that it smells fishy. Large diameter wire is best for current, not small. I would be skeptical of anyone pushing small diameter wire (like they got a deal on it wholesale). And let's face it, speaker-wise, current flow is where its at, not waveguide technology, which is frequency sensitive. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veram Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 While you guys are at it, does anyone out there know the length of wire needed to do an internal rewiring of a Klipschorn? Veram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 I have needed about 22-24 feet for the two sides, get 12' per side to be safe. However, I suggest pre-measuring the needed lengths on yours just to be sure, as you might have a different idea than I do of how liberal to get. Expect to use 2' inside each woofer cabinet, for the run from the door or crossover to the woofer terminals. I suggest you get them in a continuous 12' length for each side, in order to cut lengths as needed, rather than trying to have them pre-cut. Naturally, try to establish each length directly before cutting, since you don't want to underestimate the run to, say, the tweeter. Here are some suggestions if you haven't done this before -- I truly suggest you dismount the tweeter, to make it easier to solder the leads on the terminals. A handle-type nut driver (if you have those little nuts) or an electric screwdriver makes dismounting and remounting much easier. One forum member had to remove the top of the upper cabinet to get his out, which could make soldering from there pretty easy. Be sure sure to keep everything in phase. Allot perhaps 6 hours for the job if you're as slow as I am. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdyer Posted February 21, 2005 Author Share Posted February 21, 2005 So, I'm not the only one considering it. 'Nuther question---if you're going to do it, why not use solid wire rather than braided? It's my understanding that the only advantage of braided is flexibility. Also, for you who have rewired, any sonic improvement? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 ---------------- On 2/21/2005 8:07:10 PM jdyer wrote: So, I'm not the only one considering it. 'Nuther question---if you're going to do it, why not use solid wire rather than braided? It's my understanding that the only advantage of braided is flexibility. Also, for you who have rewired, any sonic improvement? Thanks. ---------------- I dunno, having handled solid wire in dinking around with house wiring, I would NOT want to bend a bunch of it around terminals and screws to rewire a K-horn, and I don't see the point anyway. I think stranded must also be a lot easier to flow solder onto. As for sonic differences, I can only think of two reasons to rewire a K-horn: (1) a driving need, like you have an early vintage of Monster Cable or other chi-chi wire that turned out to sound horrible, or (2) you have good reason -- like trying it out and liking it! -- to think it will be an improvment. At one time, I rewired mine with silver and got to spend months listening to it break in, unfortunately. It had a little greater clarity than what preceded it, but I think had less bass fullness. Plus, the sonic quality of silver is supposed to be variable. Bottom line: be sure it sounds better, especially over time. These reasons surely would weigh differently from person to person. I happen to agree with D-man about good silver interconnects sounding better, though. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 21, 2005 Share Posted February 21, 2005 I'm also on D-Man's silver I/C bandwagon, only because I use them and it DOES sound better to me. Otherwise, I'd be telling you all that you're wasting your money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdyer Posted February 22, 2005 Author Share Posted February 22, 2005 I don't understand why so much emphasis is placed on interconnects as signal carriers and so little on signal carriers between amps and drivers. I'm sure there is an explanation and hope one of you tech guys will lay it out for me. I now believe that quality interconnects make a difference, yet if you look inside these things, they are largely the same---a strand of copper wire. So the differences must lie in the quality or manner of construction of the copper wire If that is the case, doesn't it stand to reason that signal carriers from amps to speakers would make as meaningful differences? Let me know if I'm all wet. I'm just having a hard time believing that the beat-all, end-all wire from amps to speakers is off-the-shelf lamp cord. And what happened to the Romex crowd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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