Speaker wire quality

[Alex]

Does better speaker wire make a difference to the sound??

[maxfield]

Yes.

[fuzzy]

yes. the thicker the better as i believe the bigger surface area around the circumference of the cable conducts the sound better. or so im told.

[maxfield]

yes. the thicker the better as i believe the bigger surface area around the circumference of the cable conducts the sound better. or so im told.

Not always the case.

Also material used...

[bodger]

is it basically down to thickness of wire? i recently bought some off ebay and it looked good on the picture, when it arrived it looked like the type of thing you would wire a door bell with, looks good quality but just very thin, am in two minds whether to use it

[Alex]

how do you tell how thick it is

[maxfield]

Looking at it you can usually tell...

[Alex]

they all look the same on ebay

[maxfield]

Hmmm, it should tell you.

Post up a couple of links.

[fuzzy]

how do you tell how thick it is

a simple look at it will give you an idea. i think the way it works is a cable thats described as 10mm is not 10mm thick but measures 10mm around the circumference of the actual copper wire and not the plastic cover. compare how it looks against something like your home hi fi speaker cable although unless your going for top end stereo components i dont think you'll notice that much a difference. you will see the difference of the high end cables compared to normal 2 core speaker cable in the shops.

[Alex]

might just get something like this then

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Boss-Audio-12AWG- ... dZViewItem

looks ok

[maxfield]

12 AWG is the diameter.

[fuzzy]

not sure what 12 awg means though .i dont htink it will be 12mm around the circumference as it says its american and they still use imperial sizes

[Alex]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Speaker-wire-cabl ... otohosting

so theoretically this should be better ^^^^^^^

[maxfield]

Yes.

[fuzzy]

thicker is always better. your wife should be able to tell you that

[Alex]

lol if i had a wife

[maxfield]

Yes but surely you've blasted a few over your way?

As I said earlier it also depends on material. Copper is a good conductor. Which most cabling is.

[Alex]

Yes but surely you've blasted a few over your way?

As I said earlier it also depends on material. Copper is a good conductor. Which most cabling is.

yer lol

cheers for help might aswell get some better wire then for when i put my components in

[fuzzy]

isnt gold plating regarded as a better conducter? you do see gold plated cables.

[maxfield]

isnt gold plating regarded as a better conducter? you do see gold plated cables.

Yes.

Gold is a great conductor, that's why it's used.

[Heyho]

Guys, the usual method of measuring speaker cable size is the AWG scale - but the lower the number, the thicker the cable.

Look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

So 22awg is much thinner than the 12awg. The 12awg is actually pretty thick, and a bit overkill for most speaker applications. From memory, I think I'm running 16awg for my mids, and 18awg for the tweeters. 16 should be more than adequate for most systems. As long as the cables are copper (which most are, and nearly all oxygen free) then all should be OK.

[bodger]

that crap i bought is 26 gauge, think its worth using as im only doing a 4 speaker setup from headunit

[fuzzy]

that crap i bought is 26 gauge, think its worth using as im only doing a 4 speaker setup from headunit

26 guage will be like doorbell wire according to that wikipedia link.

[bodger]

in the bin it goes then

[maxfield]

Americans making things complicated again.

[bodger]

just bought som 16 guage philips wire of flea bay, oh well its not like ive already run half the wires

[breezebreeze30]

ello mate.... not sure iv uv tackled ur sounds issues.... but heres a few things that may help u....
i set up my own system- 2 12'' kickers...wired at 1 ohm. zero AWG for 40 fardad cap... infinity perfects all round. fuses and spare battery, uprated alternator.

basically i used 12AWG..i can CONFIRM that was pointless using this... stick to 14... its PERFECt. u wont have trouble routing it around the car. n it wont make a mess near the door hinge...
i was running 100 rms from a JBL to the infinities and the wires NEVER became hot... thats what will cause problems... iv tampered and seen systems using super thin wire not even fit for a doorbell produce amazing.. semi amazing sound.but i wudnt advise this..what ALSO makes a difference is the way in which u terminate the wire... make sure u get a nice air tight clip to compress the wire to resist as much oxidation as u can... this helps maintain good contact.. excellent conductivity and will prevent excessive oxidiation of ur wire which will in turn singe the ends of ur EXPENSIVE wire...but what WILL make the biggestest difference is the strands... the higher the better... more surface area.!!! good luck

and WHY do i belive 14 is perfect???? i have the silver spiral QED anniversary wire in my home audio setup which normally cost 30 a METERRRRR.... .i have it triwired n can confirm its NICE... but bollocks at the same time.... no point going balls out in the area...so stick to 14.... UNLESS ur system is worth 2k plus.....



Mr singh....

[tlee]

Do you really think expensive heavy speaker cable is worth it? I mean, look at the wire on the speaker that connects your terminals to the drivers............makes you think?!?!?!?!

[BadDave]

On the american wire guage(AWG) the higher the number, the smaller the diameter of the wire

The 12 awg cable in the link posted above would be more suitable


As an example

4awg would be standard fitt battery cable
2awgor 0awg would be good for the power feed to a fused distribution block in a multi amp setup
8 awg would suffice for most low-mid power amps

[buzz6353]

guys a good source for speaker wire is a hi fi shop called ritcher sounds
most big cities has them and they are on line

also anywhere that stocks Autoleads as they do a good OFC (oxygen free copper) 2x1.3mm cable that is well priced

[miniblob]

Hhhmmm, there will always be different opinions on this!!

It's not just the thickness, it's the quality of the materials, the way it's made, terminated and how it's insulated, both +ve and -ve from each other and from external interference.

No speaker wire should ever get hot in a standard audio setup!!!!!!!!! Regardless of the wattage put out by your amps!!!

The wire connecting the terminals to the drivers will vary depending on the quality of the it you buy - it may look thin, but it may be very high quality oxygen free silver, or similar - or if they're cheap speakers, it may well be bell wire!! Also, they are only running a very short distance from the terminal to the driver - the longer the distance, the better the cable you want - with distance come losses!!!

There is no such 'perfect' speaker cable - it'll be different with every install and also different depending what type of sounds you want from your system!! Some cables can make the music sound 'warmer', some sound more 'open', some can lose treble (or bass) and some will lose quality or volume (effectively) above certain lengths, meaning you strain the amp more to get the same volume levels.

Unfortunately, you do generally get what you pay for, so as long as you're in a reputable store - the more expensive the cable, the better it will sound (generally!).

At the end of the day though, a car is such a poor environment for audio, there are so many compromises that you may well not notice any difference, unless you've got a lot of soundproofing in place and some very high end components and are used to very high end or competition standard equipment/results!!!

Ok, boring myself now!! Good luck!!