What do you do with the third conductor in the 2534?
Speaker wire
- Thread starter scootsity5
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- cable speaker cable wire
I think you are referring to the shield.
The end going to your source, ie turntable, cd player etc is soldered to the barrel end of the rca, while the end going to your pre, or amp input is floated, ie: left unconnected.
I was taught this method long ago, and don’t remember the source, I think it is a Japanese thing.
If I get a bit of time later I will pull one of mine and get a pic of it for you. I also really like Cardas eutectic solder, it flows very nicely, and leaves a shiny joint, I guess I’m just used to using it, and don’t forget the flux, I use Cardas as well.
Happy Listening, yard work calls for me….
Oh, I generally use coax for RCAs, the shield is the ground conductor.
I use plain old 12g speaker wire from Parts Express. Nothing fancy and crimp fork connectors which work well with my Crown amps and commercial inputs to the speakers. I could get away with a smaller gauge but there are times I have some pretty large systems hooked up and better safe then sorry. I tinker a lot so banana plugs are out because they can become loose gradually and start messing with your sound quality. I fail to see the benefit of expensive wires. At times I have had listeners over who tell me about their great wires. I ask them to bring them next time they come over but somehow they never do. I figure I know why.
Seems pretty reasonable. I just want it to be really soft and pliable. That's really what my post was asking if people had any opinions about working with or using any specific cable. All of the cables being discussed are under $5/ft which is basically in the good, reliable speaker wire category.
I just purchased some https://a.co/d/07n3itlx and it's very very flexible. Very pleased. The 12ga and the 14ga. Worked well with the deadbolt connectors.
I made a couple sets of wires for my main and office systems using Canare S411 and spade connectors but I was having trouble with the screws in the spades coming loose (every time you move the wires around they work themselves loose) so I just bought a set of Worlds Best Cables (WBC) made with Canare S411 and soldered on gold plated spades. These wires feel stiffer on the ends than my homemade ones. If you want your wires to be limp and lay where you want get the Mogami (I use Mogami wire in my XLR interconnects)
WBC cable link:
First pic is my home made wires, second pic is the WBC:
WBC cable link:
Amazon.com: WORLDS BEST CABLES 5 Foot - Canare 4S11 – Audiophile Grade - HiFi Star-Quad Bi-Wire Speaker Cable Pair with Eminence Gold Spade Connectors : Musical Instruments
Amazon.com: WORLDS BEST CABLES 5 Foot - Canare 4S11 – Audiophile Grade - HiFi Star-Quad Bi-Wire Speaker Cable Pair with Eminence Gold Spade Connectors : Musical Instruments
www.amazon.com
I also recommend Supra Cables. I have owned cables from many of the manufacturers mentioned in this thread and Supra has become my go to brand. I talk a little about their cables in speaker build thread I posted here in the DIY section of the forum a few months ago. There are some good sellers located in the US - Madisound and Sjofn HiFi (zendada) on eBay; I have purchased from Sjofn HiFi with great results.
I ended up going with some mogami star quad that ends up around 11awg.
Thank for all the guidance, all!
Thank for all the guidance, all!
So I finally got an hour or two to build my cables and stupidly, didn't measure the binding posts on my speakers before soldering. They can accommodate 14-12 awg, and the ends are pretty close to 10 awg. There are the obvious ways to deal with this (solder on bananas probably make the most sense), or cutting the solder joint to fit.
Anyone got some clever ideas to save me some time (and tracking down bananas)?
Anyone got some clever ideas to save me some time (and tracking down bananas)?
I'm tempted to try those neutrik jobs (NYS508) with both bananas set in plastic, they seem to use a set screw, so they should be fine with the tinned ends. Only issue is they won't go over the cable jacket, but I think that's fine, they'll hold the twisted wires just fine.
whoaru99
Epic Member
Mogami 2964 works well for unbalanced and I like Belden 1505F too.
I use these whenever I can. Put some shrink tubing on the wire first. Crimp, then solder. Slide the shrink tubing over the crimped/soldered part and shrink down to insulate.
Here's what my DIY, CAT5 cables look like. Electrically, they're 12g. Physically, more like 10g.
Attachments
whoaru99
Epic Member
It's not particularly clever but I'd probably just trim away enough to make it fit.
Alternately, you could solder/splice on a piece of 14 or 12ga solid copper.
I'm worried I'd have to take off way too much. I'm going to try to neutrik plugs. I'll report back.
whoaru99
Epic Member
I suggest it doesn't really matter for 1/2 inch. But, I understand the thought of it causes a lot of angst for the typical Aker.
Oh, my concern wasn't conductive, it was more practical/physics. Each conductor is two conductors twisted together, it would be hard to trim them without thinning going into the twist and potentially making them less resilient/more prone to breaking.