Good and cheap speaker cable

[Taowolf51]

Hey guys, I'm looking to bi-wire a new pair of speakers I picked up (B&W 685), and was wondering if anyone knows of a good and relatively inexpensive speaker cable that I could preferably purchase from Amazon (Prime).

At the moment, I have this cable, which I got for free:
http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=4605

It's...alright. I wouldn't have bought it, but it's serving me well enough at the moment.

I'd say my budget is pretty low, unfortunately, about $50 at most, $30 preferably. However, I don't need much cable, since I'm near-fielding the 685s and the amp is pretty close (my current cable will be used for my Monitor 7s which are not in near-field, I am at the moment switching the cable each time I want to listen to different speakers). I'd say about 5 feet per connection, so about 20 feet of cable.

 

[sebrof]

Just a suggestion, linked is the White Lightning Moonshine DIY cables. That's what I use in both my systems. On one systyem I do like they do but with no terminations. In my other system I took the wires out of the white sheath, put them in the flexible mesh covers and terminated with spades. They look pretty good.
I will not give you my impressions how they sound because I never really A/Bd them with anything else. I'm too busy swapping amps and speakers and room treatments, but one day I'll take the time to listen more closely to cables.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html

 

[Wigwam Jones]

Lamp cord. Works great.

 

[RichPA]

There is better speaker cable out there (in my opinion, let's not start a cable debate), but I'm not sure you're going to significantly improve relative to what you have on a $30-50 budget with a restriction to buying on Amazon. If you want to try something different, I think you can get AudioQuest bulk cable on Amazon in that price range. Or go to Blue Jeans Cable and buy Canare 4S11 for $1.35/foot. You'd be in your price range and have a bit of money for spade or banana DIY termination.

 

[Taowolf51]

Just a suggestion, linked is the White Lightning Moonshine DIY cables. That's what I use in both my systems. On one systyem I do like they do but with no terminations. In my other system I took the wires out of the white sheath, put them in the flexible mesh covers and terminated with spades. They look pretty good.
I will not give you my impressions how they sound because I never really A/Bd them with anything else. I'm too busy swapping amps and speakers and room treatments, but one day I'll take the time to listen more closely to cables.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html

Wow, these look like they may be exactly what I'm looking for. Now to find a walmart close to me. Hm...

Lamp cord. Works great.

I'll keep it in mind, that may be in the same light as the Moonshine DIY.

There is better speaker cable out there (in my opinion, let's not start a cable debate), but I'm not sure you're going to significantly improve relative to what you have on a $30-50 budget. If you want to try something different, I think you can get AudioQuest bulk cable on Amazon in that price range.

I'm not looking into a significant upgrade at the moment (I'll probably upgrade to better cables later), I'm just looking to get more cable to biwire on the very low budget I have at the moment. Essentially I now have 2 pairs of speakers and enough wire to use only one pair. I'm just looking for enough to use both without accidentally getting poor quality wire.

EDIT:

Or go to Blue Jeans Cable and buy Canare 4S11 for $1.35/foot. You'd be in your price range and have a bit of money for spade or banana DIY termination.

Now this brings up another question. I have banana plugs and other terminations at the moment, but I don't understand whether they have a sonic purpose or simply make it easier to connect. Wouldn't it just be something else to get in the way of the cable and connection?

 

[62sunbeam]

Low voltage lighting wire for outdoor lighting.

It's excellent and very cheap.

It's all I run except one pair of monster cables I have in my HT setup.

The Monster Cable has a clear vinyl cord down the center which I can only assume is to help it look thicker. I'm not a big fan of tricks like that.

50 feet of 14 gauge LV wires at Lowes will set you back well below your budget.

Good luck

Eric

 

[PioneerGuy75]

Lamp cord. Works great.

:thmbsp:

 

[Taowolf51]

The Monster Cable has a clear vinyl cord down the center which I can only assume is to help it look thicker. I'm not a big fan of tricks like that.

Pretty much, it's also a pain to deal with, since it doesn't like to stay in the center and usually sticks the hell out.

I'll take a look at the outdoor lighting cable. Is it any different than the power cable used in the White Lightning Moonshine detailed above?

 

[cwall99]

Lamp cord. Works great.

I third or quadruple that!!! :thmbsp:

However, if you absolutely feel the need to spend money on cables, I'd go along with the low-cost Blue Jeans cables. The 685s are a nice little speaker (I have their older uncle, the DM-603 S3s that I also have bi-wired and bi-amped), but don't go super deep. You may want to consider saving up for a subwoofer to provide a little more of a bottom end.

While cables are one topic that's almost guaranteed to get an argument going here (hence the earlier comments), the benefits of bi-wiring is another topic that's not necessarily a settled thing either. I'm in the camp that says bi-wiring without bi-amping isn't worth it.

Not saying you shouldn't try it. Knock yourself out, but I wouldn't expect any difference in the sound (other than a little placebo effect). But that's just me.

 

[bluesky]

There is better speaker cable out there (in my opinion, let's not start a cable debate), but I'm not sure you're going to significantly improve relative to what you have on a $30-50 budget with a restriction to buying on Amazon. If you want to try something different, I think you can get AudioQuest bulk cable on Amazon in that price range. Or go to Blue Jeans Cable and buy Canare 4S11 for $1.35/foot. You'd be in your price range and have a bit of money for spade or banana DIY termination.

:thmbsp:

Never heard Blue Jeans cables myself but 'everyone' loves em. Never heard a bad thing said about them...EVER.

I'd buy Blue Jeans in a heart beat. And if you ever get 'designer' cables...it's nice to have a set of Blue Jeans laying around for other projects!

Who knows, you just may end up loving blue jeans!! I love both blue and black jeans. RLs fit great but nothing beats good-old-Wranglers. Wear them to the end of the earth!!

Good Luck!

 

[cwall99]

Now this brings up another question. I have banana plugs and other terminations at the moment, but I don't understand whether they have a sonic purpose or simply make it easier to connect. Wouldn't it just be something else to get in the way of the cable and connection?

Bananas make connecting your speakers a breeze (well, they will for sure on the speaker end of things with those 685s). Whether they'll make connecting easier on the amplifier end of things depends on your amp and whether its binding posts can accept banana plugs.

I suppose in the most purist possible approach to cables, any additional connection in the signal chain introduces the potential for signal degradation, so lots of folks just like bare ends on the wire.

If you have a lot of connections, say, like on the back of a home theater AVR, you'd like bananas for the simple reason they make connecting things that much easier. But if you're working with a stereo amp or receiver, I wouldn't expect that you'd really care that much about how easy it is to connect the cables in back.

If you plan on swapping your speakers in and out with other speakers (that are also equipped to deal with banana plugs), then, by all means put bananas on the speaker ends of the cables. But if you only have the one pair of speakers, I don't see any real sonic benefit to them.

It all depends on your preferences, needs, wants, desires... Well, maybe not so much the desires thing, but...

 

[cwall99]

Oh, one other thing... And let me apologize in advance if I'm insulting your intelligence, but .... Be sure to take out the jumpers between the binding posts on the speakers (that's probably more important for bi-amping than just straight bi-wiring, but if you don't take out the jumpers, you might as well just run a single pair of wires.

 

[sealy]

The thrift store for extension cords. Usually a dollar or less. I've also used outdoor heavy-duty extension chords. Got a 50 ft. chord for $4 at a thrift store. It has 3 separate strands inside, so you're getting 150 ft.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

The thrift store for extension cords. Usually a dollar or less. I've also used outdoor heavy-duty extension chords. Got a 50 ft. chord for $4 at a thrift store. It has 3 separate strands inside, so you're getting 150 ft.

Great way to go, if you can find extension cables long enough; I usually find only 12 footers, not quite long enough for my uses. However, they often have a huge bin of cables, including the usual cheap RCA interconnects, and they're generally a quarter apiece. So there's that, although not speaker cable.

 

[sealy]

You probably know what those plastic wire twisting thingeys are, the kind that electricians use to twist electrical wire together? They come in different sizes and are cheap. A simple and effective way to string shorter lengths of speaker wire together without significantly effecting the signal.

 

[PioneerGuy75]

You probably know what those plastic wire twisting thingeys are, the kind that electricians use to twist electrical wire together? They come in different sizes and are cheap. A simple and effective way to string shorter lengths of speaker wire together without significantly effecting the signal.

Wire nuts?

 

[Renzor213]

I agree with the the zip(extension type) cord, commonly known as speaker cord, at places like Radio Shack and Parts Express. I bought a 50' spool of 12 gauge, and what I use. Really don't see how you'll get any better than this.

 

[Copa1934]

Lamp cord. Works great.

Kind of funny in a way. I've used Lamp/Zip cord for years, usually 18-14ga. I've been in business now for 6 years (servicing Sewing machines and Vacuums) and replace bad cords all the time. Dawned on me that the 16-14ga wire used would be excellent. Best part is the leads are black and white making it infinitely easier to identify (I'm technically color blind and some cords are very difficult to determine which lead is which). They're worked great for me and will often be in lengths from 20'-50', usable. Stopped throwing the salvageable wires away. Now I tin them and save them. Other nice thing is the sheath. Being different colors I can use one color for "L" run and another color for the "R" run. disadvantage? They're usually round, so they don't lay flat. For my use it's not an issue, but for other that could pose a problem concealing them.

 

[BMWCCA]

I'm very happy with my 6-Moons White Lightning cables I use in my bi-amp setup using JBL 4345s and Crown amps. I used Neutrik dual-bananas because I like the fit.

It's been discussed here several times. Try this link:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3456165#post3456165

 

[bobbyonions]

Wire nuts?

Not all of us.