Have you ever skinned a speaker cable?

Skinned a few cats in my day :), lol. I have used cable slitters to do this job. Have fun!

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/cable-slitter

Why on earth do you need 5 ga. cables? Do you have a 5 mile run to your speakers?

-RW-

As a point of information, two 10 gauge wires in parallel are equivalent in terms of resistance to 7 gauge, not 5 gauge.

I believe that for any gauge a factor of two change in resistance (which would occur if two identical wires were paralleled) is the equivalent of a difference of three gauge sizes, to a very close approximation.

Regards,
-- Al

Almarg: Thanks for the contribution!

I don't really "need" 5 guage wire but I need to satisfy my curiosity.
I currently use Harmonic Tech Pro-9 which, IMO, dumps current like nobody's business -Really great macro dynamics. I have some HT Pro-11 that I'd like to experiment with to see what will happen (i.e., if I skin and double it).

Yes, I know I have too much time on my hands...

I've seen a Youtube of my speaker cables being cut to pieces. I does not affect my opinion at all. The following is why I picked my cables. A local audiophile and equipment collector loaned me a large amount of cables to audition in my system. All the product was from well respected companies, at the time. I liked the brand with the stupid looking plastic box present in the cable run. MIT cables just sounded better with my gear and in my room. Funny, I tried not to like them. I hate those crazy looking plastic boxes but sometime it's not about how it looks but how it sounds.

I currently use Harmonic Tech Pro-9 which, IMO, dumps current like nobody's business -Really great macro dynamics.
Dweller

What does that mean?
I wish this forum had those little emoticons so I could use the one with the guy scratching his head.

Dweller,
I am in the process of "skinning" some HT Pro-11+ cables right now. I will have a really short double run for bi-wiring from a pair of monoblocks. The outer two layers are simply PVC with the outer layer for protection and to make them look huge, and the inner layer for damping. They then have a non-woven fabric and cotton in with the twisted pair. I will keep the fabric in-place, wrap them with a special teflon tape I use to hold shape and then I plan to wrap them with a foamed material for further damping and then techflex. The end result will not be as thick, and will be much more flexible without all the PVC material. I don't want to totally unwrap the fabric and cotton materials since I think it is important to maintain the exact spacing and twist that only the machine winding can provide. I am going to also upgrade the spades to Furutech OCC with gold and crimp them with a hydraulic crimper.

I am anxious to try the "skinned" wires against my Pro 9+ (which I also like) because the Pro 11+ uses all 24awg wire while the Pro 9 versions use a range of wires including 20, 22 and 24 awg. I think having all 24awg may be a benefit, compared to having some of the larger sizes and the variety of sizes, but maybe not since the new Pro-11 Ref now uses the variety of sizes. My previous comparisons show both to be very well textured and smooth with good body and perhaps a bit more "boom" to the bass with the Pro-9, which I believe may be related to the various sized wires and the larger 20awg wires, while the Pro-11+ may be a touch clearer and more natural sounding....or maybe that is my imagination.

Regarding the skinning, get a good utility knife with a new blade for the outer PVC which is tough. Maintain a constant depth of cut that doesn't penetrate the inner PVC too deep. Run one slit down opposite sides, pull it free of the inner casing and then pull each side simultaneously. It comes off hard but certainly can be done once you get it started. Change the blade often. For the inner (more flexible) PVC, use a sharp blade and again cut two slits on opposite sides while staying away from the wires. Pull the two sides simultaneously and you will be left with the wrapped wires. Another good thing about this wire, is that the dielectric is a foamed teflon and can be stripped with your fingernails.

Good luck with your project.

Mitch2: Man, you're aces!

Timrhu: What do you think it means?

Update: I purchased some WBT "Midline" (less than $1000 ea. LOL) banana plugs for the amp end of my HT Pro-9s.

Since these have been reterminated many times, the wires that connect to the equipment are short.

I decided to remove about six inches of outer jacket to reveal more wire.

The outer coating was tougher than I thought and the inner
wires are wrapped as Mitch2 said.

The large (woofer) conductor uses 8 Teflon coated 20 gauge solid core wires (no foaming here) and the small (tweeter) conductor uses smaller (22? 24? gauge).

Some of the 20 gauge were broken but I was in a hurry so I did my best and twisted everything together and screwed on the WBTs. I didn't have the patience or a good wire stripper to do the job right but will return in the future (where does one purchase a precise stripper for 24 gauge wire?).

The sound does not appear to be affected.

Given the toughness of the Pro-9 outer jacket, I've changed my mind about skinning the darned thing.

Why would you do that??

As I said before, easier to skin a cat. LOL :)

02-02-14: Ebm
"Why would you do that??"

"Because it's there".

Seriously, the Pro-9 is more than 15 years old and I'm thinking of new speaker wire in the near future.

I wanted to strip off the outer casing to see how the inner wire would sound on its own.

For new wire I'm thinking: Wireworld Eclipse-7, Synergistic Element Tungsten, Nordost Tyr/Valhalla series I or Shunyata Python Ztron.

Anyone have advice?