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I need help with speaker cable .

paulvo

paulvo

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi all , I just bought a pair of Cornwall ii last night . Currently I have a pair of bi wire speakers cable and it didn't works for the Cornwall . I need a pair of single wire . I hope someone in here can help me pick out a good pairs of speaker cable . My budget is around $100 to 300 for a good used . Thank you in advance .
 
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Can you explain more about what's going on?

Are they new or used?
Didn't work because why?
Because the speakers don't have bi-wire connections?
Or because they do have bi-wire connections but are missing the jumpers?
Or because they do have the bi-wire connection panel and jumpers but the back of the panel is not connected to the terminals of the crossover network?
Or because the original crossover networks supporting bi-wire/bi-amping have been replaced with ones that don't support bi-wire/bi-amping?
If so, what kind is it?
Did you try using only one pair of the bi-wire to connect in the usual non-bi-wire way to the back panel?
Or directly to the terminals on the crossover?
Have you tried them with some other simple wire yet?

First thing I would suggest is getting them running on any simple wire just to begin enjoying them... very nice speakers that will sound loud and clear with just 1/3 of a watt and continue that way up to very loud live level sound.

You will want to get them up and playing on something so that if you do get a different speaker wire you will have a reference against which to evaluate the ones you buy to see if you think they are better. Cornwalls are an efficient and easy load and a very undemanding speaker as far as upstream wire and amplification... and revealing of the same.
 
Thanks Pauln. The speaker has only two terminal for single wire . I don't know if I can connect two out put from the cable ( high or low ) to speaker and left the other two alone . My speaker is original , I'm thinking about up grade the tweeter and crossover . Do you think the up grade will give me significant improve in sound or not much ? Please give me you though . Thanks
 
You're making this way more complicated than you need to.

Sell your wire for $$

Go to Home Depot/Lowes and buy some 12v underground low voltage wire & call it a day. (I use the 12g low voltage wire)
 
if you have bi wire cable which has two positive legs and two negative legs simply connect positive to positive and negative to negative and use both sections as a single cable.
 
If you liked the cables you have, keep them. They will function fine by using just two legs on the Cornwalls. Just use the same two legs on the opposite ends to connect to your amp or receiver.
 
paulvo said:
Thanks Pauln. The speaker has only two terminal for single wire . I don't know if I can connect two out put from the cable ( high or low ) to speaker and left the other two alone . My speaker is original , I'm thinking about up grade the tweeter and crossover . Do you think the up grade will give me significant improve in sound or not much ? Please give me you though . Thanks
Click to expand...

I would connect the "low" pair of the bi-wires for now; they will be acting just like an ordinary pair of wires and should be fine. I use 16 gauge two-conductor cable... pretty much the same as what folks are suggesting about the underground wire at the garden section of the hardware stores.

"Heavy duty" is a rating that means it is designed for continuous service, as opposed to temporary short duration or incidental service. "Outdoor rated" means sufficient attention to the design and materials so that construction strength and function will withstand extreme conditions, so basically extra well built. Both of these are good qualities for speaker wires.

As far as upgrading things, I would suggest getting them hooked up first and living with them for a while to get their best placement and orientation for sound quality and other little minor details pretty well established - may take a few weeks of periodic moving them around to find the best arraignment, etc. All that is to become familiar with the way they sound at their best and maybe give you a chance to get some of the wire mentioned above or some commercial cables if you want.

Then, after you have had some time to get a good idea what these speakers do and how you like it, you may want to get in touch with Bob Crites. He knows EVERYTHING there is to know about your speakers and can recommend how to proceed; he makes replacement crossovers, has replacement parts and new original design parts, and has performed extensive research, etc.

His website is here, the link goes to the page with crossovers for the Cornwall - scroll down to the "Klipsch Cornwall" section to see... in fact you may enjoy studying his whole website, it's full of information that may add to your enjoyment of your speakers.

Hey, once you get them hooked up and playing, come back and tell how it sounds!
 
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If I may offer this as a suggestion...

Years ago some folks at Cal Tech here in California did a study on among other things speaker wire. What their results were lead to the issuing of a speaker cable and some interconnects branded BG Twisted Pairs. these were 3 stranded wires per side interwoven with an air-gap to add a specific (claimed ) capacitance which again claimed to be the ideal transference medium for speakers and allowed the lease resistance do to the matching of the impedance between amp and speaker 4-16 Ohms.

Well I purchased these little beggars and they were solid performers. Fast Forward about 20 years and recently came into some 6 wire control cable which gave me an idea.

I took 3 wires a side and twisted them together then soldered them and attached the ends to either Banana plugs or pin leads and I have to say they work surprisingly well! Total cost was minimal but if I had to buy the wire you can get either the solid (I used this since I had a spool) or the stranded for a good price at Home Improvement Stores. I priced out a 500 foot roll for under $60.00 and it the same wire you would use for a Sprinkler system.

I made some 15 foot leads for friends to try out and they run various exotic brands up to trying these Home Brews. The reports back were they found them to work very well in fact comparable to some leads they paid in the realm of $100.00 each for 16 footers. So for basically about $7-10.00 for a pair plus connectors it comes out as a success.

So here is a possible alternative for you if you don't mind a cable that comes in all colors as long as it is Brown. It is quite heave and will carry current so no worries with handling high current or wattage.

Hope that offers a less expensive way in case you still haven't decided on what to do and best thing about this is short runs would be less than $10.00 and again a 500' spool is really cheap.
Hermit
 
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