Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Speaker Wire

Hi all,

I currently have cheap Home Depot 12 gauge wire running all my speakers. Will there be any noticable difference if I upgrade to a higher quality wire (for the fronts anyway), such as the bulk wire offered here?

Thanks for your comments,

Din

Copper is copper. 12 gauge is 12 gauge. Stick with your Home Depot wire.

Really!

(and I don't mean to sound trite about it - I'm serious)

thumbs up to that.. i am running 12/14 gauge from home depot, and having no probs. dont buy into the hype, that high end stuff is just not worth the cost.

bigjohn

There are perfectly legitimate reasons to buy more expensive wire, like the Axiom wire, which is quite handsome. "Because you'll hear a noticeable difference in the sound of your speakers" is NOT one of them (though there are those who believe otherwise). Regardless, "Because I like it," and "because I want it" are two perfect reasons for purchasing anything.

or "Because the little voices in my head told me to spend money" is also a valid reason. Just don't listen to the voice every time you hear it.

! "Because I can't afford it" is a perfect reason to NOT buy anything.

Some of the higher priced wire is more flexable. That might be something to think about if routing is an issue.

Another way to set your mind at ease. There are many owners who even recommend the Home Depot 12 ga.

Save your money and buys some CDs and DVDs.

Especially lately, all the money I'm 'saving' by living frugally mysteriously gets spent elsewhere. Saving isn't all it's cracked up to be.

the last time i saved up any money, i spent it on some damn speakers and a new receiver.

dont know what the hell i was thinkin

bigjohn

Agreed. All the money I'm saving is going towards new cycling gear/bikes and ipod accessories... That ipod grows accessories like a weed.

I bought 12 guage for all my speakers on an Ebay store very cheap, but not cheap quality. Works just fine, avoid Monster Cable, it is a scam

pretty much the ONLY reason to get Monster Cable is if you can get it real cheap. at least that's what i keep tellin myself, i ended up getting it for about 60 cents/foot (cheaper than on their website) and thats including the middle man. plus his "measured" (arm's breadth= ~3 ft)75' ended up being about 95', god bless him! (i bought a denon 3805 from him a week after!)

Totally agreed. I have three 6-foot lengths of 12-gauge Monster cable for my front channels. A salesmen threw them in for free when I bought my previous speakers (Paradigm Monitor 9s). The little rubber stress-relief grommets near where the the banana plugs are crimped on are kinda shredded, but the cables work perfectly fine. Can't complain. In fact, I'm not allowed to since they were free.

the "I can't believe you are going to spend that much on stupid wire" voice in your head (or is that over your shoulder) isn't a valid reason NOT to buy anything either.

In fact, a good reason TO buy expensive wire is so you can come here and post about it and start a lively discussion.

Din, there's certainly higher priced wire, but if you're talking about sound quality, "higher quality" doesn't exist.

check out this faceoff from audioholics pretty neat.

A related question;
Is there any reason to replace old speaker wire? My mains are running on 12 gauge that is about 12 years old (the bananna plugs have long since fallen off, and I just have the bare stipped wire plugged into the speakers, and the surrounds are running on 8 year old 14 gauge. Besides upgrading the surrounds to 12 gauge, is there any reason to replace wire as it ages?
TjB

This is an interesting question. I don't know if it makes a difference, but if I'm reusing old speaker wire, I clip off about an inch on the ends as a matter of course. If there's a lot of oxidation, I usually just toss the wire. It's hard to say whether this would really make a difference, but it makes me feel better. On the other hand, if there's no oxidation, I wouldn't really worry about it.

If the copper is not turning green - you're fine, no need to replace.

yeah, any of the the green stuff (oxidation layer) would increase the resistance of the connection. now whether or not that would cause a voltage drop large enough to affect the speaker, i dunno... better to play it safe and cut an inch or two off the end to be safe. but other than that it should be fine to reuse it.