General Forum

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Ben — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:05:59 GMT

After reading http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

I have abandoned buying thick, impressive looking cable, and an now back to using 'basic' 14/16 gauge cable!

Have a search for the Philips 16 Gauge on google, its nice quality, and is reasonably priced. Although I have used 1 or 1.5mm2 2 core flex for installations where the wire is hidden.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

stotty1111 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:26:09 GMT

hi all

just to add some info - i used cable from maplin (uk supposed electronics shop - now toys etc) with great effect on various speaker systems -n a cleaner crisper sound to my jaded ears - details

Oxygen free(i think) by Eagle

label details - Speaker cable - High quality - 2 core - extra flexible - flat profile - 1.0mmx2 x 126/0.1mm ref E635

this cable when used with maplin screw terminaled speaker din plugs works for me especially with the ease of plug connection!

hope this is of use - haven't had time to check maplin.co.uk website but suspect it is still available

salut a la france

tony s

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

bambam — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:42:11 GMT

Very helpful - thanks very much. I just wanted to be sure there wasn't something specific that I should go for - common sense told me there wasn't, but always worth checking!

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Puncher — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:53:26 GMT

Alex:
Jandyt:

Green coloured cables will a clearer, sharper and more rounded sound than inferior, mauve cables.
Red cables give a really quick sound whereas orange cables tend to be a bit tangy.
All this must be true, it's on the internet.
Andy T.

Okay okay, I'm not trying to say that some speaker cables will sound better than others because of the way they feel or look (the only difference you'll find from what I can tell is related to the resistance of the cable, and the difference is still negligible), but a good cable will last longer.

Good lad - you know it makes sense

I would say that normal, PVC insulated wire of 1.0 - 1.5 mm2 CSA is OK for almost all B&O amps & passive speakers. (I include the "almost" in case there are some I haven't remembered).

Bear in mind 1.0mm2 wire is approx. 0.019 Ohms per metre and 1.5mm2 is ~ 0.013 Ohms per meter (x2 as it is a twin cable). Compare this to your 4 or 8 Ohm speakers (this is a first order approximation). For longer runs use bigger cable - simple!

I'll leave their relative frequency response for audiophile mags to discuss

As a "sanity check" look up the B&O supplied cables for their best/most powerful passive speakers and ask yourself "why would they sell undersized cables for speakers that cost that much if a simple increase in cable spec/size made the speakers sound better).

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Jandyt — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:49:33 GMT

Wasn't having a do at you Alex, just got my Holsten and Biodiesel mixed up.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Alex — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:40:43 GMT

Jandyt:
Green coloured cables will a clearer, sharper and more rounded sound than inferior, mauve cables.
Red cables give a really quick sound whereas orange cables tend to be a bit tangy.
All this must be true, it's on the internet.
Andy T.

Okay okay, I'm not trying to say that some speaker cables will sound better than others because of the way they feel or look (the only difference you'll find from what I can tell is related to the resistance of the cable, and the difference is still negligible), but a good cable will last longer.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Craig — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:09:42 GMT

Jandyt:

Green coloured cables will a clearer, sharper and more rounded sound than inferior, mauve cables.
Red cables give a really quick sound whereas orange cables tend to be a bit tangy.
All this must be true, it's on the internet.
Andy T.

Andy have you been on the Holsten again?

Craig

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Jandyt — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:06:04 GMT

Green coloured cables will a clearer, sharper and more rounded sound than inferior, mauve cables.
Red cables give a really quick sound whereas orange cables tend to be a bit tangy.

All this must be true, it's on the internet.

Andy T.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Puncher — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:58:23 GMT

Alex:
Puncher:
Alex:

You can tell the difference between a good and bad cable by it's 'rubberyness'. Good cables generally feel soft and rubbery, whilst a bad quality cheap cable feels like plastic.

What? All the XLRs/Jacks I've bought which feel cheap 'n plasticy fail within months, wheras I've got some good quality jacks which go back 30 years when my dad bought his guitar.

They'll be plugs then - I thought you where talking about cable.

The cable to which you infer will likely have an EPDM (rubber) sheath. This gives the cable the properties of abrasion resistance, flexibility, long flex life and general all round ruggedness. Just the job for a guitar or mic lead that is continually scraped along the floor, bent at all angles and then wrapped up again at the end of the night. You may, by now, have noted none of these properties are high up on the list of requirements for speaker cables.

Plain old PVC insulation will do perfectly well for speaker interconnects. As has been mentioned earlier a reasonable cross sectional area is by far the most important requirement.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Craig — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:19:41 GMT

ChrDH:

You can't use too thick a cable as you have to be able to fit it into the terminals of the din-plug in booth ends

Very true, I once tried to replace the wire on some S30's with some 2.5mm cable. That was about as big as I could go with the speaker connectors.

Craig

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Alex — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:31:51 GMT

Puncher:
Alex:

You can tell the difference between a good and bad cable by it's 'rubberyness'. Good cables generally feel soft and rubbery, whilst a bad quality cheap cable feels like plastic.

What? All the XLRs/Jacks I've bought which feel cheap 'n plasticy fail within months, wheras I've got some good quality jacks which go back 30 years when my dad bought his guitar.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Graham1982 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:29:54 GMT

Yeah, what is all this cack I have heard about cross-wiring speaker cables and stuff like that. I use relatively thick speaker cables but I buy online then you don't get all the nonsense from sales staff that in the main don't know what they are talking about.

The worst example of similar rip-off behaviour I have heard of was when I was working in Curry's as a student. DVD players had just started getting cheap - like £20 or so and this little old granny had bought one. For an add on sale, the salesman sold her one of those oxygen free, gold plated nonsense scart cables for £70. In the end I just gave her a scart from one of the display models.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Puncher — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:20:47 GMT

Alex:

You can tell the difference between a good and bad cable by it's 'rubberyness'. Good cables generally feel soft and rubbery, whilst a bad quality cheap cable feels like plastic.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

Alex — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:25:10 GMT

Agreed. Good mains cable will do the trick as well as any other cable, as long as it's got a low resistance and feels good. You can tell the difference between a good and bad cable by it's 'rubberyness'. Good cables generally feel soft and rubbery, whilst a bad quality cheap cable feels like plastic. This is only a general rule of thumb though, there are some exceptions.

Re: Speaker cable gauge?

wirralsimon — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:50:31 GMT

There is a lot on nonsense spoken about speaker cables in the Audiophile community and you can end up paying a fortune.

A relatively inexpensive medium thickness OFC cable should be more than adequate for the job, you should pay no more than a couple of euros a metre at most.

Simon