Speaker wire.
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It is not hard to find. Lamp cord of appropriate gauge from your local home improvement store will do the job. Avoid "speaker wire" from the same place unless you know exactly what it is because, as you found, you may wind up getting CCA. If you want an on-line source, try monoprice.
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I recommend that you go to the Monoprice website and purchase product #2791.
That is a 100-foot roll of 14 gauge 99.9% copper speaker wire, for $25.
Almost all speaker wire is pure copper; CCA is not commonly sold as speaker wire. I very much doubt that "lots of stuff' that is CCA even exists; you are not well-informed on the subject.
That is a 100-foot roll of 14 gauge 99.9% copper speaker wire, for $25.
Almost all speaker wire is pure copper; CCA is not commonly sold as speaker wire. I very much doubt that "lots of stuff' that is CCA even exists; you are not well-informed on the subject.
I am not trying to start a debate. I am just trying to get some correct information. I just started looking for wire a few days ago and this is what I found. I went to Home Depot as was suggested by a post. I found it online and read the (1) review of it by a guy who installed it only to find out it was CCA when he soldered it. If it wasnt for this guys post I would be sitting at home right now not writing this but listening to my new wire downgrade with a big grin on my face. The wire was RCA speaker wire and I guess it used to be pure copper until the price of copper doubled so they switched to CCA to keep prices reasonable and margins intact. It does not say CCA on the roll. I resumed my search for wire on Ebay and most of the reasonably priced stuff was CCA and not everything clearly indicated it was CCA it was only after doing some digging that I find out it is CCA. One thing that is clearly labeled though is that the Copper is 100% pure and oxygen FREE! which is kinda pointless now that the wire is primarily aluminum. Uninformed as I am I am trying to inform myself with not much luck as now I am skeptical that anything I buy that is not ten bucks a foot monster cable is not CCA. Someone who is informed should make a list of brands and vendors who sells pure copper speaker wire. I have sent emails to a couple venders including monoprice asking if the wire is CCA. Have not heard back yet. I am talking about the outside the wall stuff not in the wall.
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In 30 years in audio as a hobbyist and professionally, I have never even seen CCA so you are projecting a lot from one posting.
When visiting on of the largest cable (mainly power) manufacturers here, I asked what the purity of the bulk stock from the foundry was, and was told 'four nines'.
When visiting on of the largest cable (mainly power) manufacturers here, I asked what the purity of the bulk stock from the foundry was, and was told 'four nines'.
Here is an interesting article. Note they are talking about communication wire not speaker wire. I thought that in wall speaker wire would be ok cause it has to meet construction codes and firing ratings etc. But it apparently is not garuanteed either.
http://www.cablinginstall.com/index/display/article-display/4838983421/articles/cabling-installation-maintenance/news/network-cable/cat6/2011/3/CCCA-CDA-warn-against-copper-clad-aluminum-cables.html
http://www.cablinginstall.com/index/display/article-display/4838983421/articles/cabling-installation-maintenance/news/network-cable/cat6/2011/3/CCCA-CDA-warn-against-copper-clad-aluminum-cables.html
A chart comparing materials.
http://www.hmwire.com/New%20PDFs/Comparsion_Chart_Copper_Clad_Aluminum_with_Copper_and_Aluminum.pdf
http://www.hmwire.com/New%20PDFs/Comparsion_Chart_Copper_Clad_Aluminum_with_Copper_and_Aluminum.pdf
FWIW RCA is not the RCA of old. The brand is licensed to a number of companies. Audiovox markets RCA branded speaker cable.
Don't be so sure of that. If they stock RCA brand speaker wire like the one near me, the odds are it is CCA. Mediabridge also markets CCA spearker wires, except they say the wire is CCA.
FWIW RCA is not the RCA of old. The brand is licensed to a number of companies. Audiovox markets RCA branded speaker cable.
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It would seem all there is out there is CCA wire. If you want copper wire its 3 to 4 times the cost for OFC vs CCA.
in the example above a vehicle loses 2 amps and 100 watts just using a few feet of CCA wire vs OFC.
This may well be the weakest link in most peoples home audio systems if they are using aluminum wire with less conductivity.
I did not want to start a new thread so sorry for resurrecting this one.
So the question is............. how many have copper all the way to the electrical outlet, and aluminum after the amplifier LOL.
the utube video here shows 100 percent power transfer with copper (no amperage loss)
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Not true. CCA has been through periods of popularity, several times, but it's far from all there is.
It's an extreme test, 40 amps in the circuit. And the reduction in output power between 509W and 408W is one whole dB. The actual power loss in the wire is 77 watts, not 100. And clearly the wire is undersized.
To get 500W into a 6 ohm speaker load you run about 9A at 55Volts. That's very different.
There is some CCA in home wiring, but I've never seen CCA speaker wire. Ever.
I have 100% copper in the electrical circuits and speaker wires. It wasn't even a question during the addition build 12 years ago.
No it does not. There is loss in copper too, just look at the numbers. There's a .62V drop across the copper, and a loss of about 30 watts. That's not 100%.
Strikes me both wires are undersized for the application. This demo is for a automotive powered amp. The wire load is nothing like a residential speaker load, and nothing like residential wiring loads either (20A and 120V). The demo relates only to that specific set of conditions, it's not translatable to other conditions without proper scaling.
Note that the battery also has internal resistance, as can be seen by the battery voltage readings. Not that it means much, but it's also a factor in that test.
It's easy to tell whether you have copper or copper-clad-aliminum - just cut off the end and look at it carefully. If it's solid wire of a gauge suitable for speakers - 14 or 12, it will be pretty obvious. If it's stranded, it will be more difficult and you might need a magnifying glass. I believer aluminum wire is illegal in the building trades for wires smaller than 6 or 4.
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The copper losses are pretty small, and they could be smaller with even higher gauge wire.
The test they are making is not that flawed at all. Its not the only one available either.
For those with super subwoofer systems pushing thousands of watts, a more profound effect.
Conductivity of aluminium is 60 percent of copper.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=12+gauge+speaker+wire&_sacat=0
a 10 gauge speaker wire search on ebay and the very first one shows up as CCA
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Ga-Gaug...h=item4d83525277:g:kZgAAOSwPVFcGaGR:rk:1:pf:0
And 95 percent of all the wire there is CCA
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pyramid-Au...h=item1eab87a149:g:KYsAAOSw9KhZ74yN:rk:1:pf:0
a same search for oxygen free copper only pics up 30 items. Hence my point DD. And easily five times the cost.
CCA is the almost the entire speaker wire market now, and it seems you have to watch out for liars who are claiming CCA is just as good as
copper. Many are saying you need at least two gauge higher of CCA to equal the resistance of copper wire. Seems to make sense. I even seen
one car audio guy show that his cca wire was starting a fire, melting away the insulation. A further claim by someone else also said wire gauges
imported from abroad, are not the same as USA AWG, and this is where most of the wire now comes from.
It used to be just Monster Power was bad at false advertising.
The test they are making is not that flawed at all. Its not the only one available either.
For those with super subwoofer systems pushing thousands of watts, a more profound effect.
Conductivity of aluminium is 60 percent of copper.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=12+gauge+speaker+wire&_sacat=0
a 10 gauge speaker wire search on ebay and the very first one shows up as CCA
https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Ga-Gaug...h=item4d83525277:g:kZgAAOSwPVFcGaGR:rk:1:pf:0
And 95 percent of all the wire there is CCA
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pyramid-Au...h=item1eab87a149:g:KYsAAOSw9KhZ74yN:rk:1:pf:0
a same search for oxygen free copper only pics up 30 items. Hence my point DD. And easily five times the cost.
CCA is the almost the entire speaker wire market now, and it seems you have to watch out for liars who are claiming CCA is just as good as
copper. Many are saying you need at least two gauge higher of CCA to equal the resistance of copper wire. Seems to make sense. I even seen
one car audio guy show that his cca wire was starting a fire, melting away the insulation. A further claim by someone else also said wire gauges
imported from abroad, are not the same as USA AWG, and this is where most of the wire now comes from.
It used to be just Monster Power was bad at false advertising.
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I do not need any wire. Most of the time I need to buy on ebay as in Canada, you just cant buy anything you want or need here. Just being in my Country means you will pay twice as much for most things you can buy straight up. We pay freight costs, import duties, Taxes, and money exchange. All of which are higher here.
Last thing I expected was for some DD to start making arguments supporting CCA wire, and pebble picking about what is or is not close enough to 100 percent transfer.
Last thing I expected was for some DD to start making arguments supporting CCA wire, and pebble picking about what is or is not close enough to 100 percent transfer.
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