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What Is Best Speaker Wire for Vintage Speakers

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rcm3232

New Member
Hello Everyone, Would like/appreciate your input on, "What is the best speaker wire to use with Vintage/Early 1970's Audio Equip./Speaker set up?" What's best wire gauge, wire material, with your recommendations for wire plug connectors-yes/no. Just trying to learn how I can get the Best/Most out of my equipment.
Thanks for your input/comments, in advance.

rcm3232
 
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Many times there is no "best"
What is the best food. What is the best car. What is the best color.
Unless you have long wire runs 14 or 16 gauge should be fine. You might be limited by the size of the terminals on the source or speakers.
Many people recommended using 100% copper, not copper clad aluminum (CCA).
 
lamp wiring is pretty good and pure copper, too. second hands have old laps and similar stuff. don't be fooled by expensive spkr wiring that may have alloys mixed in. there's silver dipped copper wiring that's pretty good and on the bay. not cheap.
 
The heaviest gauge that your binding posts will accept is the best gauge. Use OFC……not CCA.

Do this and you will be fine.

CCA = The suck

Exotic stuff is for modern exotic speakers that are highly resolving. It has its place, but from the sound of it, you don’t have a use for it.
 
These are always fun threads lol.

I use low-voltage wire that I bought at the local box store. Works fine.
 
Opinions on wire are like armpits. Everyone has one. My armpit suggestion is two fold. First, if your speakers have the cheapie wire connectors like these:
https://www.parts-express.com/Two-Conductor-Speaker-Terminal-260-300 then,

Replace them with binding posts like these: https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-BPA-38G-HD-Binding-Post-Pair-Gold-091-1245
Then select a good grade of 14-16 ga. wire. OFC copper like the old style Monster cable is a good basic choice. If you want to go slightly better, check out Blue Jeans cable. Quality wire at reasonable prices. Terminate your wire with banana plugs like these: https://www.parts-express.com/Gold-Plated-Screw-Type-Banana-Plugs-18-12-AWG-4-Pcs.-091-356 This makes connections and speaker swaps secure and easy.

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
For vintage speakers you should only use vintage wire! Just kidding! I would buy decent wire. Not the cheapest nor expensive. Like Hobie1dog said, something middle of the road. You can always upgrade later if you feel the need.
 
On February 21st, 2001, the Audio Engineering Society interviewed Edgar Villchur.
This is what Villchur had to say on the topic while discussing the legendary Live vs. Recorded Concerts.

“We couldn’t afford to use auxiliary equipment that compromised the quality of the performance. …we used two 60 watt Dynakit amplifiers… …for the forty or fifty feet between the amplifiers and the speakers we used number 18 zip cord. …for those people who are listening, if they take that comment to be a criticism of the current enthusiasm for esoteric speaker cables, they would be entirely correct.”
 

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Use copper wire, 14 gauge will be fine unless you need Wires longer than 50 ft. Unless you have serious interference like a radio station next door nothing more is necessary. You can, of course, spend half a million on esoteric stuff, but when I was buying "vintage" equipment new we all used lamp cord from the hardware store. My Dad, the electrical engineer, used some surplus foyr conductor telepone wire. Worked fine. In fact, I couldn't tell a difference whe I replaced it with 12 gauge wire.
 
I picked up 250' of 18 gauge lamp cord from an estate sale a while back so that's what I usually use.
I personally cant tell a difference between different gauge copper wire as long as it is 18 gauge or lower but I do not like copper clad aluminum, it just sounds worse.
 
I fear poor @rcm3232 has run crying and screaming from his computer. Hope he finds what he needs ;) If he has been writing this down, he has a lot of choices...:)
 
Even Lowe's sells 14-gauge "speaker wire" by the foot. Buy what you need and enjoy the music without over-thinking the question.
 
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