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Speaker wire update-- Don't use extension cords!

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I tried the orange/black HD extension cord as speakerwire, it worked, but, I love my 20yr old lampcord, and that's a fact! :thmbsp:
 
BrocLuno said:
I was an ET for NOAA National Ocean Service maintaining sonar systems and such for something like 14 years. They are really mostly just high frequency audio systems (60 KHz to 250 KHz) depending on application. So we had long runs of cable from the through hulls on ships to the Sonar Lab - maybe 200 ft? Marine grade wire was the only way to keep them running over time. The key is the fully tinned wire. It works like a charm.

You can buy the wire from on line marine suppliers like West Marine, Boaters Friend and such. It usually comes in red/black for 2 conductor in what ever gage you want. Makes great speaker wire - highly recommended for any critical application. :yes::yes:
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Cool! A marine hardware brother. I have always used 12 awg wire for speakers, but I am certainly curious over a 10 awg for an upcoming project. I actually purchased a pair of Rapport speaker wires from an old friend. I want to start by using the woofer portion of those for the bass connections and the 10 gage marine for the mid and high connections. I am making bi-wire crossovers for a pair of Klipsch Forte IIs which were factory shipped with single connections. I will try to A/B the marine wire with the Rapport mid/high wires and see how different they are. I have never used Rapport wires before so I have no specific expectations there. Ah well, waiting for fishing season to arrive, what else am I gonna do with my days? :D
 
We had some leftover Okanite 138Kv 1000mcm CU Transmission cable leftover when splicing a failed underground cable.
Tried that but, @ 9lbs per foot it was hard to manuever into the shape I needed to terminate to the amps :rflmao:
Ended up just throwing it into the scrap bin.

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olson_jr said:
I love it when folks respond to 12-year-old threads.
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Having been accused of behaving like a 12yo might qualify me to respond to the OP.

When I wired Burger Yachts the flexibility of marine "romex" made everything easier, especially in tight spaces and J boxes. Marine cable has many fine strands to survive vibration and flexing. However, some have maintained that soldered (tinned) wire isn't good for audio nor are multiple strands of wire contacting each other. I've seen, supposed, photos of audio signals (apparently the upper harmonics) showing "good" & "bad" varieties of cables. Not having A/B'd them, a B & S might also be involved; so marine wire may be just the ticket, depending on the facts and our ability to hear different distortions.
 
Do I detect yet another "Cable War" ensuing?

Z2134, can you imagine what welding cable would do for your sound?

Glad to see most...lightening up this day.;)

Q
 
Just want to say most consumer grade extension cords are made with CCA wire these days. That's along with underground low voltage wire and especially prevalent with zip cord speaker wire. It's not always labeled as such so the scrape test will tell the tale. When you see silver being exposed you know you have CCA (Copper Clad Aluminium) .
 
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Bigerik said:
Or, the cable just sounded better.....
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Possible. But if you carefully read the OP he's all over the place. Comparing different gauge wires, then admitting the problem was due to oxidation...... but then claiming the improvement was from the new wire. :crazy:
 
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Famous speaker manufactures say use zip cord 18 ga. or larger depending on the length of the run. Specialty high end cable manufacturers say all kinds of things.... And some experienced, objective, well spoken members at AK say they have been surprised at hearing a discernible difference between cables. Me... speaker wire, I used to know... now I don't know. At this point in life I'm not curious enough to mess around with speaker wire runs... guess that means I don't really think it will make a difference... but I don't really know. Just one of those things....
 
Making sure you have pure copper wire and not clad is a good thing as previously posted. Checking your connections periodically at both the output terminals and speaker terminals is also good. Check them for a good mechanical connection and make sure they are corrosion free. After making new connections to screw down output terminals retighten them after 24 hours. My experience has been that after the initial tightening and compression of the wire. The next day I can almost always tighten them further using the same amount of pressure. If I check the same connection after a second 24 hour period they are fine. So I am assuming...that vibration and moving of the equipment after the initial tightening is the reason for this...?
 
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