Investigating speaker wire: recommend two that sound obviously different

The bigger difference has to do with the gauge and purity content of the conductors themselves.
It's very easy to make one's own high quality speaker cable: using 12-gauge stranded, automotive grade, primary wire you can find in a hardware center or automotive store...but the wire has to be American stock and not the cut-rate imported zip cord (which is VERY brittle and oxidizes beyond recognition).
Thicker gauge wire (14awg and under) means less resistance on the higher frequencies as well as better current transfer...two things the amp/speaker interface BENEFITS from the most. In my experience: going from 16 to 14-gauge made an immediate change; in both, the bass "tightening up" but *especially* in the treble no longer having a crystallized grain to it at louder levels --- it now having, instead, (for lack of a better description) a transparent "fluidity" without any sense of strain.
Now, I ultimately went with 12awg because it was the most the connectors on my stuff (all vintage) could fit. However, the improvement from 14 to 12 -and I would presume this would apply to experimenting with any gauge thicker than 12(?)- did not create any further a drastic upgrade in output sound as going from 16 to 14 had.
 
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In my experience they all sound different, one from another, and in different systems ..

Try a couple of whatever you consider fairly expensive, but affordable cables from an audio retailer who will let you return them if they don't suit you ,,
Then compare them to couple of garden variety cheapo but new wires of at least 16ga. ..
Only you can decide for your ears in your system...
They all sound different.. there really isn't a one size fits all answer to cable questions.
 
I replaced a set of "anticables" with some lower echelon WireWorld and was pleasantly pleased with the difference.

I have a somewhat long run, about 20 feet.
 
Woah ..
Been gone from this audio passion for a couple decades ..
Looked at the cable prices in Audio Adivisor and gulped, swallowed hard, and understood why so many people are copping an attitude..
Every component in the chain affects the sound .. In the past, I bought and used many high end cables ..
I've designed and constructed my own homebrew cables ..
Cables make a difference, but the price of some these are stratospheric, and absurd ..
Now I understand why so many folks are on the hunt for reasonably priced cables that still sound good ..
 
As an audio signal contains the standard 20 to 20KHZ frequencies it also may contain much higher components. Take the example of a step function (or something like the lead edge of a square wave). Fourier analysis tells us that this can be modeled by the summation of many sine waves some of which may be outside the audible spectrum. This got me thinking of what type of wire was designed to pass higher frequencies? The answer is CAT 5/6. I built speaker cable using three CAT5e runs per side (striped used as ground and solid as positive. The result was a huge increase in perceived detail. Astonishing improvement IMHO.
 
As an audio signal contains the standard 20 to 20KHZ frequencies it also may contain much higher components. Take the example of a step function (or something like the lead edge of a square wave). Fourier analysis tells us that this can be modeled by the summation of many sine waves some of which may be outside the audible spectrum. This got me thinking of what type of wire was designed to pass higher frequencies? The answer is CAT 5/6. I built speaker cable using three CAT5e runs per side (striped used as ground and solid as positive. The result was a huge increase in perceived detail. Astonishing improvement IMHO.
Mine, presently retired. I've been seeing other wire.
IMG_20170420_214345430.jpg IMG_20170420_214422960.jpg
 
FWIW ..
I've found good interconnects in the car stereo section of a big box electronics chain .. blew their overpriced interconnect line out of the water ..
(went back and bought all of the 6 pairs that were hanging there after I listened to them..and returned the overpriced samples)
Doesn't hurt to look into what they're doing with speaker cabling either ...

(The interconnects look like 18ga stranded speaker wire with RCA's on the ends ..
In the past I've found that parallel wire sounds much more open than coaxial in interconnects.. YMMV)
 
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Curiosity. I'd read about " Anti-cables" and wanted to try a homebrew low capacitance variant. The shunt capacitance of the cross-connected cat-5 is relatively high.

Interesting. I would expect that shunt capacitance would cause high frequency roll off - but if anything I would say my CAT5E version leans towards the bright side. As always these things are system dependent.
 
Interesting. I would expect that shunt capacitance would cause high frequency roll off - but if anything I would say my CAT5E version leans towards the bright side. As always these things are system dependent.

14AWG speaker wire has about 17pF/ft and 0.2uH/ft capacitance- measured with the two runs open for capacitance and shorted for inductance. it also measures at about 5mohms loop resistance/ft. It does have skin effect in audio frequencies.
!2AWG speaker wire is barely different as far as capacitance and inductance is concerned, but it has lower DC resistance and an earlier onset of skin effect.
CAT5 also has about 17pF/ft and a slightly reduced inductance of 0.17uH/ft. it measures about 30mohms loop resistance per foot (it's generally 22AWG) , but there's no significant skin effect at audio frequencies.
Why it might sound "brighter" I can only speculate. Have you checked the frequency response of your system before and after?
I can measure differences in both in room response and measured frequency response at the input terminals of my speakers as a function of cable when I use different power amps, but that's due to the difficult load that the speakers present, the variations in the output impedance of the power amps, the stability margins of the amps, and the impedance of the cables.
In any case it can be simulated and is measurable with no magic involved.
Perhaps the increased resistance of your wire has some positive effects.
Perhaps, with 3 runs in parallel, the reduced inductance and higher capacitance does something- but you would get exactly the same effect by paralleling three 14AWG runs, but with lower resistance.
 
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14AWG speaker wire has about 17pF/ft and 0.2uH/ft capacitance- measured with the two runs open for capacitance and shorted for inductance. it also measures at about 5mohms loop resistance/ft. It does have skin effect in audio frequencies.
!2AWG speaker wire is barely different as far as capacitance and inductance is concerned, but it has lower DC resistance and an earlier onset of skin effect.
CAT5 also has about 17pF/ft and a slightly reduced inductance of 0.17uH/ft. it measures about 30mohms loop resistance per foot (it's generally 22AWG) , but there's no significant skin effect at audio frequencies.
Why it might sound "brighter" I can only speculate. Have you checked the frequency response of your system before and after?
I can measure differences in both in room response and measured frequency response at the input terminals of my speakers as a function of cable when I use different power amps, but that's due to the difficult load that the speakers present, the variations in the output impedance of the power amps, the stability margins of the amps, and the impedance of the cables.
In any case it can be simulated and is measurable with no magic involved.
Perhaps the increased resistance of your wire has some positive effects.
Perhaps, with 3 runs in parallel, the reduced inductance and higher capacitance does something- but you would get exactly the same effect by paralleling three 14AWG runs, but with lower resistance.

I already use three 6ft runs of 5E per speaker so resistance should not be an issue. Not saying that they sound bad - to the contrary they are incredibly detailed and smooth. Just need the right speaker. Right now connected between Fisher 400 and LS3/5As with awesome results. Best speaker cable I have.
 
I built a pair of these:

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/Low-Inductance-DIY-Speaker-Cables/

I had previously been using #16AWG lamp cord from home depot. The new cables are audibly different from the old ones. I think the fact that my run is quite long makes the difference especially audible, since at 25 feet, the inductance of the #16AWG cable is significant within the audio band.

If you're shopping for a speaker cable, try and find one which is optimized for low inductance and low resistance. These characteristics can ensure that the signal at the speaker terminals are as identical to the signal at the amplifier terminals as possible.
 
I built a pair of these:

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/Low-Inductance-DIY-Speaker-Cables/

I had previously been using #16AWG lamp cord from home depot. The new cables are audibly different from the old ones. I think the fact that my run is quite long makes the difference especially audible, since at 25 feet, the inductance of the #16AWG cable is significant within the audio band.

If you're shopping for a speaker cable, try and find one which is optimized for low inductance and low resistance. These characteristics can ensure that the signal at the speaker terminals are as identical to the signal at the amplifier terminals as possible.
16 AWG DC resistance is about 4mohms/ft- and that's for solid for which there are standards but not for multistrand for which there are none. Multi strand is often higher, say 5mohms/ft. For a loop this becomes 10mohms/ft- so your 25 ft runs are 0.25ohms or there about which is excessively high.
The inductance of a standard two conductor side by side wire is almost insensitive to AWG at about 0.2uH/ft (5uH for your run) but it is reduced by the number of runs in parallel- so three 16AWG runs will give you c. 0.07uH/ft (1.7uH and 210mohms at 20kHz for your run) and about 80mohms DC resistance.
If you want less inductance than this you need to go to either more and smaller conductors or to Litz wire with a comparable DC resistance.
 
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