toddverrone give me a call when you get back. The prices that I quoted are for a long run, necessary as to my audio setup. A regular speaker wire pair would most likely be between say 6 to a 8 foot pair in total. Obviously the shoter length of speaker wires, the greater the cost. When I eventually made my present wire system I had by chanch all the wires that I am presently using so there was no added cost at the time. As this is a very simple process to actually put it all together, one can figure out beforehand what exactly to order. The only actuall work is cutting and stripping the 12 Jenna Lab 18 gage hook up wires. Is very simple and just takes minutes to do.By th way, if using the same mono Baskim King amplifiers as Arnie Nudell and Paul McGowan, possibly the same $900, one foot pair of MG Audio Design speaker wires that I myself am using in my own speaker wire configueration. That is something to think about.
Help me build speaker cables please!
Howdy!
I’m looking for input on some home brewed speaker cables. I’m currently using cables I made from braiding 8 lengths of CAT 5 plenum cable together. They’re terminated in silver plated BFA bananas and set up as a biwire configuration at the speaker end. I love their sound, but think I’m ready to try something made from higher grade metal. I’ve been doing a lot with silver in my system and have loved the change in sound almost every time I’ve gone from Cu to Ag. The only place I like Cu better is in the PCs for my amps. That said, I’m leaning heavily towards making a set of solid silver speaker cables, using .999 silver wire from Rio grande. I’ll insulated them with teflon spaghetti tubing and possibly terminate them with silver plated BFAs.
Where I’d love some input is here: do I do one run of 10awg, or biwire 12awg to the woofers, 14awg to the tweeters and mids? I’m using a dared tube preamp and monoblock Ghent audio class D amps (500w into 4 ohm) which drive floor standing RBH 1266 SE/R speakers. They are 4 ohm and have side firing 12" speakers. They like a lot of juice and sound their best when given what they want, hence my desire for large diameter cables.
Cost wise, it’s only $50 more expensive to biwire. I liked the change in sound when I first biwired, but I also went from blue jeans twisted pair 12 awg to my braided CAT 5, which has a combined 9 awg. So I’m not sure if it was the biwiring or all the other differences that improved the sound.
Also, any other ideas for superb sounding DIY SCs are welcome.
Danke!
I’m looking for input on some home brewed speaker cables. I’m currently using cables I made from braiding 8 lengths of CAT 5 plenum cable together. They’re terminated in silver plated BFA bananas and set up as a biwire configuration at the speaker end. I love their sound, but think I’m ready to try something made from higher grade metal. I’ve been doing a lot with silver in my system and have loved the change in sound almost every time I’ve gone from Cu to Ag. The only place I like Cu better is in the PCs for my amps. That said, I’m leaning heavily towards making a set of solid silver speaker cables, using .999 silver wire from Rio grande. I’ll insulated them with teflon spaghetti tubing and possibly terminate them with silver plated BFAs.
Where I’d love some input is here: do I do one run of 10awg, or biwire 12awg to the woofers, 14awg to the tweeters and mids? I’m using a dared tube preamp and monoblock Ghent audio class D amps (500w into 4 ohm) which drive floor standing RBH 1266 SE/R speakers. They are 4 ohm and have side firing 12" speakers. They like a lot of juice and sound their best when given what they want, hence my desire for large diameter cables.
Cost wise, it’s only $50 more expensive to biwire. I liked the change in sound when I first biwired, but I also went from blue jeans twisted pair 12 awg to my braided CAT 5, which has a combined 9 awg. So I’m not sure if it was the biwiring or all the other differences that improved the sound.
Also, any other ideas for superb sounding DIY SCs are welcome.
Danke!
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- 103 posts total
Todd - an 18 gauge twin lead mains cable is rated to handle 10 amps at mains voltage see http://www.stayonline.com/reference-circuit-ampacity.aspx And - that is continuous power - it can handle much higher transient spikes - and music is just a series of transient spikes - not a continuous current draw - e.g. like an electric motor. I do not believe your amps, driving your speakers would come anywhere near the current limitations of an 18 gauge cable - even when driving them at insanely high volumes. Granted, transient spikes could reach fairly high peaks in current levels But the higher quality signal conductor you are using will handle those fast moving transients with ease. Once the current is "used up" i.e. by moving the drivers in the speakers - the residual current in the neutral is, by comparison, quite small. So - you might be thinking that the neutral should be of a smaller gauge at this point ? Wellll - that larger gauge neutral conductor is required to keep the neutral side "of the entire circuit (amp included)" as close to zero volts as possible. So the "thicker pipe" will conduct that residual current away very quickly If you are still concerned - you could use 16 gauge for the signal. To answer your question - my amp is 50 watts (but those are NAIM WATTS) and my speakers are 89db - only one db more than your own speakers. NAIM is a high current design the uses a large toroid transformer. Even at high levels it’s always been cool to the touch. Which may be an indication that the "real time" current drawer is actually quite low. Hope that helps :-) And keep us posted as to your progress |
Thanks! I will keep you posted. I understand the big neutral conductor. Makes sense. I'm just so sceptical of going less than 12 gauge for the signal. I could do 12awg signal then 2x12awg for neutral.. thoughts? And I'm glad I'm experimenting again with cheaper materials. I just blew my budget for silver wire on records and pool chemicals. Ha! |
Todd: Actually I am only using the same exact Odyssey Khartago extreme amplifier that Johnathan Vallin wrote about a few years ago. Supposidly it is the same ampliier that Alan Wolfe of Magico personally used to evaluate his speakers. Although it is rated at 110 watts, I am using an Audio Research tube LS27 line stage preamplifier at high gain. On my Martin/Logans they work great. Still it is the next upgrade I would make if I had the money. In my personal opinion, a true high quality tube amplifier is the way to go, but it is not practical for my situation. Anyway, with my speaker wire combination. there should be no problems at all. Actually right now, depending on the audio source being used as well as the type of music being played, a readout on my LS27 of only 10 to 12 is usually sufficient. That is very low, although again, that is on it's high gain setting. One would not believe how "big" a 110 watt per channel amplifier can perform. |
- 103 posts total