Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions My speaker cable quibble

Interesting...wonder if it's worth it.

Whoops... that link starts out with a bald-faced lie.

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FYI, since the conductive properties of silver are about double that of copper, an 8 AWG pure silver conductor will closely approximate the properties of 6 AWG copper. In practical terms, that means you can reduce those nine 12 gauge silver wires to six.

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Pure silver is, at best, 5%-8% lower in impedance than annealed copper. For some backup, read this (thanks Google)

The story suggests you use 16ga. silver. Even giving silver 8% over copper for it's conductive properties, that puts it at about 15.5AWG.

Meaning? 14ga. lamp cord is still more conductive (and less brittle, cheaper, comes right off the roll ready to use, shall I go on?)

Bren R.

Psshhhh. What a typical response from someone who doesn't trust his ears but instead uses his brain.

*ahem* I HAVE run single blind ABX tests as well... only thing I haven't done is judged wire on taste.

"This has a somewhat acrid bouquet... the undertones are unmistakably PTFE, the consistancy was a bit crunchy which belied its 6N oxygen-free nature..."

Bren R.

Speaking of lamp cord, I located this instruction on DIY and have read some pretty good feedbacks:
"The cable I chose and which performs so well comes in a variety of jacket colors - I used red and white. On the outside of the jacket is the following: "E51583 (UL) AWG6 CU TYPE MTW OR THWN-2 OR THHN GASOLINE AND OIL RESISTANT II OR AWM 600 VOLTS VW1". It's a 19 strand cable, with the internal wires having at least two different gauges (maybe more).
"Construction. For each speaker side you'll need two sections of the above cable. I used the red jacketed cable for the positive and the white for the return. With the red (pos), I ran the cable in the direction of the writing on the outside (reads from the amp to the speaker). On the white return (neg), I ran the lettering in the opposite direction (reads from the speaker to the amp). Then I put a very gentle twist on the cables of about 9 twists for the eight foot pair that I built. Repeat for the other speaker. Spades? Because the cable is 6 awg, they are pretty thick. I didn't have spades on hand with eyelets large enough to accommodate the diameter of the cable, so I trimmed it down a bit while spreading the eyelet open a little. When it all came together, I soldered it up and forgot about it. Don't sweat the kind of spades to use - it isn't going to make a huge difference anyway. After all this, you may find out that the cables sound better reversed - no problem, try anything you desire. Break-in takes a while. But, don't get crazy worrying about it. Let everything play out and you'll ultimately be happy. It has been observed that direction of the wire varies depending on location it is purchased - try it both ways just to be sure.
"This is an especially effective solution for systems using high power amplifiers into 4 Ohm loudspeakers. Don't think, however, that this cable will only work with one amp and one speaker - it will work with everything. Try it, the best speaker cables you may ever need may cost you about fifty bucks."

pmbuk, copper is a better conductor than silver unless they are corroded. In any case, feeling trollish are you?

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With the red (pos), I ran the cable in the direction of the writing on the outside (reads from the amp to the speaker). On the white return (neg), I ran the lettering in the opposite direction (reads from the speaker to the amp).

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This is just plain silly... conductors aren't directional - if they were... how would they know which direction to melt the copper ingot in the extruding process? "Jesus, Bill... you melted that all wrong... now the electrons are all facing the wrong way!"

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Then I put a very gentle twist on the cables of about 9 twists for the eight foot pair that I built. Repeat for the other speaker.

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For what? Common mode rejection? Not on a driven speaker cable. What's good for unshielded bit-perfect data isn't for speakers.

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Spades? Because the cable is 6 awg, they are pretty thick.

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That's just overkill unless he's running the speaker wire from a different state.

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After all this, you may find out that the cables sound better reversed - no problem, try anything you desire.

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After all, at this point you're just gooning around... try using French Toast for spades, too.

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Break-in takes a while.

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0 ms to be exact.

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It has been observed that direction of the wire varies depending on location it is purchased - try it both ways just to be sure.

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Everyone wants to think they can get that weeee little bit more out of their investment... everyone wants to be God's unique little snowflake. Better to hope your anus will issue creamy ice-cold dessert treats upon swapping ends of the cable - you've got better odds.

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Don't think, however, that this cable will only work with one amp and one speaker - it will work with everything.

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It will also work for carrying 40 amp mains loads.

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Try it, the best speaker cables you may ever need may cost you about fifty bucks.

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Or $0.35 a foot if you just close this browser window and quit trying to beat the reality of physics.

Bren R.

Well, I'm glad that myth was debunked.

I'm going to respectfully have to disagree on that one. Using the conductivity of copper as the base (5.8e8 S/m), silver is the only metal @ 1.05 x copper that has a higher conductivity.

For reference, gold is less at 0.70 and aluminum is way down there at 0.61

Contentious environment here, dude.

I cannot express fully how weary, utterly, I am of hearing these gentlemen argue about speaker wires.