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Speaker cable

Last post Sep 06, 2008, 3:49 PM by soulstyle. (5 replies)
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Posted on Sep 05, 2008, 8:20 PM

Speaker cable

Quick question peeps. A friend of mine who has some good audio kit in his home, says he uses standard 230v rated 3 core flex cable to wire his speakers. He says its better than most high end speaker cable.


Is this true or should i look at installing good quality speaker cable?


Obviously its a lot cheaper and would save some serious cash on the install of my own system

Posted on Sep 05, 2008, 9:03 PM

125683

Re: Speaker cable

Well theoretically it is because mains cable has to be 100% pure copper otherwise the impurities in it could melt when the current is passed through it. but i dont really know if it is in practice, sorry.

Posted on Sep 06, 2008, 8:17 AM

125683

Re: Speaker cable

There is a school of thought that says any suitably thick bell wire (2 core) will do the job. So a 2 core 5 amp mains flex will work for example.


There is also a school of thought that says that all speaker cables sound the same.


However (as a generalisation due to the length of the speaker cable) the cable does have elctrical properties - it has a certain resistance, capacitance and inductance. These properties can be influenced relative to each other by the design of the cable and this can potentially have an audible effect on the sound you hear.


So your friend is not wrong in that if he likes the sound then that's great as it works for him. Of course that's not so say that you'll like the sound in your set-up so you might want to try something else.


 


 

NAD 515BEE, NAD C325BEE, KEF IQ5SE's, Silver anniversary XT, Chord Crimson interconnects.
Panasonic TX32-LZD80 and DMR-EX77EB

Posted on Sep 06, 2008, 3:40 PM

125798

Re: Speaker cable

thanks for the replies guys. i passed by his place again today and must admit, everything sounds spot on.


i guess this is a question with many different answers and views. i am wiring mine tomorrow and still cant decide what to do. guess i will just have to standby my own judgement, cause once its in them walls and plastered, thats it!


thanks

Posted on Sep 06, 2008, 3:44 PM

125912

Re: Speaker cable

If it's going in the wall then put it in in conduit and put in a waxed cord as well so if you want to pull something different in later you have the chance to change it. That top hat stuff will work fine.

NAD 515BEE, NAD C325BEE, KEF IQ5SE's, Silver anniversary XT, Chord Crimson interconnects.
Panasonic TX32-LZD80 and DMR-EX77EB

Posted on Sep 06, 2008, 3:49 PM

125915

Re: Speaker cable

I have some 20mm plastic conduit, because i was gonna do just that. Thanks


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