Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Difference in cables....

Hey Guys,

I recently upgraded a lot of gear in my system and I need to "freshen up" my cables. Speaker cables are one thing I always cheaped out on, I figured "its all the same thing". Right ?

I just read some of Alan's " Whats in a cable " article and it was a good read. So I figured since ill be placing an order with Axiom for the QS8's this weekend I might as well check out the cable section on the site and grab about 50 to 75ft of Axiom's bulk speaker cable. At $1.06/ft I thought it was an ok price until I found this 12AWG Monoprice Cable this comes out at .23/ft so besides the fancy ruber finish on the Axiom cable, what makes the Axiom cable almost 5 times the price?

I aint knocking the product here, just trying to understand the difference between the two and where should I put my money.

And heres another interesting read some of you might like
about some DIY Cables I found elsewhere... might test this one also!!

Any info between the Axiom Cable and Mono would be appreaciated!

The Axiom speaker wire is a fine, high strand count wire that is very supple and flexible, a very nice wire. Monoprice wire is quite a bit stiffer and utilizes much less strands, but you are correct, sound wise there is no difference...... I have both and have flip floped wires and I couldn't hear any difference.

I would suggest if the wire is visible to buy Axiom, it looks really nice with the rubber casing and lays flat like wire should. If the wire is hidden or you do not care if it looks like ordinary speaker wire then buy Monoprice.

Joe, there's no difference in sound, and to its credit Axiom doesn't claim any. Besides the fancier jacket the Axiom wire is composed of smaller strands and therefore is more flexible. Whether that's worth the difference in price is an individual decision. I use standard lamp cord for all my speaker wiring.

Hey Jake/JohnK,

Most of the wire will be hidden... so there isnt much use in spending close to $100 for speaker cable that will be tucked behind the wall unit.

What about this "Resistance per Meter" factor... The Monoprice shows the 12AWG cable at 0.0072ohm and Axiom has it at .00341ohms. Does it change anything ?

And John, you should read that DIY link I posted up if you havent already... its a cool read.

Those resistance numbers mean very little in the lenghts you would use in a house, basically thay are saying they offer 0 resistance. You would have to have a run of 100m of the Monoprice to have a resistance in the wire near anything that would affect sound quality and about 200m for the Axiom wire.

cool. then i'm sold with the Monoprice.

Then again, shipping is a pain with Mono, theres always duty fee's on anything over $20 US and UPS LOVES slapping on hefty charges!! So it might cost me and extra $15 to $25 for a nicer and more flexible cable on a 70-100ft run.

Guess I have time to think it over

Thanks guys!

Joe, the Axiom number is per foot, not meter. Standard 12ga copper wire has a resistance of about .003 ohms per foot, and both of these are around that, with some differences in measurement being unexplained(and unimportant).

Thanks Jon!

I just checked out monoprice with shipping info and all other extras and i'm looking at approx $80-$90 for 100ft. I might as
well get the Axiom cable for an extra $15.

Can I run the Axiom in-wall ? I didnt notice anything CL2 rated. The cable would be in-wall for about 6ft for the surrounds, should that cause an issue ?

Axiom has in-wall cables. They have a white coating.
http://www.axiomaudio.com/in-wall-audio-cable.html

I do not believe I have ever noticed the bulk in-wall wire from Axiom, but it is only 14 gauge, not a big deal, it is better than the 16-18 gauge wire the 'pro' company just ran in my new house I appear to have failed to state I wanted at least 14 gauge, prefferably 12 for my speaker wire runs, all well, at least they are short runs and I can pull thicker wire at a later time if I want.

Hey EF,

I noticed those after I posted... thanks!

But i'm still curious about the original question, can the Axiom regular cable be put in-wall for a short distance or can it really cause an issue ?

Heres a pic of older setup with the Energy surround. Below it is a cable hider. Ill be putting the QS8 in that same spot and I want to pull the cable in-wall behind the QS8 and pull it out at the bottom. Then the rest of the cable is tucked away under the heater and can't be seen...

you can put any cable in a wall, however, it won't meet code.

You 'can' run regular speaker wire in wall but if you ever move or the house is inspected for some reason and they notice it as not FT4/CL3 rated(cdn specs) or at least CL2 then you nay have a problem.

I know, and I wouldn't do it with a power cord either... I just wasn't sure if theres a risk with a speaker cable ?

I would remove it before moving...

It's realtively low voltage/amperage so no real issues with them overheating etc. The sheathing is just to slow down the burn time while inside the wall.

btw, are those surrounds to high ? I was always wondering if I put them at the proper height.

ok. So its safe to assume "this" cable can't/won't start a fire or anything ?

They shouldn't start a fire unless you are very unlucky and happen to short them to some power lines.

The surrounds look to be about the right height, 2-3' above ear level is the recommended height but if you are running QS's they are very forgiving and many of us run them much higher than that with great results.

sweet.

yeah, a pair of QS8's will go on the side walls (where the Energy is) and the other will be between the picture frames.

Should give a nice result!

I bought 200' feet of that 12g Monoprice wire (the in wall rated one though) for my room a few months back, no problems with it other than it's hard to strip... No big deal there.

I started a thread a couple days ago about QS8 placement, Axiom recommends anywhere from 1 - 5 feet above the listener's ears. I was concerned I had put them too low.

Joe, the possible problem with behind-the-wall speaker cables and interconnects isn't that they might start a fire, but that if there was a fire that reached them, the PVC(polyvinyl chloride)standard jacket material would burn and release dangerous fumes. Codes vary between the U.S. and Canada and local interpretations also differ as to what's required, but various jacket materials which prevent or at least delay the noxious fumes are available.

Thanks for shedding a little on that John. I know thins might sound wack, but I always read it like "If theres a fire, you wont be covered". Meaning, if the cable isnt CL2 rated IT COULD cause a fire for some odd reason... I honestly don't think a 6foot stretch of cable in-wall will cause that much dangerous fumes! And with the house burns down, I don't think people will know the difference between whats the smell of what in there!

(*knocks on wood for luck*)

BTW, where can I read up on these codes ??

Sweet!

That takes me back. I'm gonna be chanting that all day at work. Up up, down down. . .