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Solid copper vs stranded copper speaker wire?

Lossless said:
For those interested, 12 feet of Q-10 Signature stranded wire only cost $1,275.00 for each speaker.
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I thought this thread was about your perceived benefits of solid over stranded speaker wire. Why are you whirlpooling this into a cost discussion?

And to keep on topic, I use 12 ga. stranded OFC wire with crimped-on BFA bananas on each end. I don't move or swap out my speakers.
 
Lossless said:
High end Amplifiers use solid copper single conductor wire inside to connect speaker terminals to the audio output stage in the amplifier.
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I've seen that more on some old pioneers and marantz low end units than high end amps, McIntosh /passlabs/viva/ BA5000... So I would not make such claims.
 
I don't believe in differences in 16 gauge vs 14 gauge wire.
I can't believe there is any difference between solid and stranded wire.
I once bought some really nice 14 gauge multi stranded flexible wire from Parts Express. I listened to it for 5 minutes, disconnected it, and gave it away. I'm still scratching my head about that because "I know it doesn't make a difference".

Sometime I think I might give the solid wire a listen, I've got a lot of Romex in the basement.....
 
Lossless said:
The Brits are manufacturers of some of the most popular high end speakers. Bowers&Wilkins, Gale, PMC, Wharfedale, I think they might have some knowledge about speaker wires.

For those interested, 12 feet of Q-10 Signature stranded wire only cost $1,275.00 for each speaker.
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Sorry, but you are completely wrong. An 8' pair (what I use on my mains) of Q-10 Signature cable is $530 w/ locking Banana's. When I bought mine 10+ years ago the price was substantially lower.

FWIW: A 12' pair is $710.

Here's a link to the page.
https://silversonic.com/products/speaker-cables/q-10-signature/
 
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Oh, I thought you were calling me a twit :rflmao:

My "small package" consisted of two trailers with 28' dishes, one for the receiver, another for the transmitter, and, finally, one for the generator.
 
mac mini said:
I don't believe in differences in 16 gauge vs 14 gauge wire.
I can't believe there is any difference between solid and stranded wire.
I once bought some really nice 14 gauge multi stranded flexible wire from Parts Express. I listened to it for 5 minutes, disconnected it, and gave it away. I'm still scratching my head about that because "I know it doesn't make a difference".

Sometime I think I might give the solid wire a listen, I've got a lot of Romex in the basement.....
Click to expand...

For gauge, it depends on the length of wire and the impedance of the speakers used. Take a look at:

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

There is a chart down the page a bit, but the whole page is worth reading. Looking at the chart, there will be no audible difference between 16 gauge and 14 gauge wire used with 8 ohm speakers until you get over 48 feet in length. With 4 ohm speakers, you would need to get over 24 feet before it would matter. When it first starts to matter, the difference will be difficult to perceive (before it matters, it will be such that no human has ever demonstrated an ability to hear the difference in a properly conducted double blind test, though that does not stop some people from believing they can hear a difference anyway). For a two channel system, most of us keep our speaker wire much shorter than that, so in most cases, it will make no difference which you use. Even with my 3 ohm Apogee Stage speakers, I could use 16 gauge for the lengths of wire I currently use with them. So I can easily believe that you would not hear any difference between 16 gauge and 14 gauge in any listening you have done with your system.
 
I have some Audioquest solid wire I bought around '93, like OP's, but mine was flat. It was nice. I also had stranded wire, high purity etc. It was nice too. I combined them, and it too was nice. I also bi-wired, solid for the bass, stranded for treble. I heard no difference between any of the variation.

The first time I heard a truly 'better' wire it was XLO; I still use it. I have some Cardas and Linn speaker wire in a drawer and should try them again in a proper test. But I don't enjoy playing around with my system like I used to — only if I think something might be a big improvement: a real component (eg cartridge, tonearm, preamp, power amp, speakers etc). I don't consider wire to be a 'component' in that sense, the effects are minor. Important, yes, and every little bit counts. And redoing an entire system with better wire can make a very satisfying difference. Just my two cents (which are not even copper anymore, much less high purity).
 
This is what I use. Lots of fine strands of 12 gauge OFC at very reasonable cost.

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Its a slow night, I guess I can snap a pic for this thread.

I use Wireworld Eclipse 8 speaker wire. Have a pair of 24' cables for the run to the equipment rack.

20190126_201611.jpg 20190126_201629.jpg

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
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