[lietuvis]

Where can I get about 200' of cable that can carry 50-100W and won't cost me a fortune. So far I am only finding places that sell MOnster Cable and that adds up to like $1 per foot.

Any on-line stores that do bulk cable and wall speaker outlets?

 

[DMF]

Monster isn't worth it for speaker wire. Go to Loews and get the big spool of 12Ga. 250' for $50.

 

[lietuvis]

I saw only 14/16/18 no 12 on Lowes.com

 

[Tex-amp]

partsexpress.com - http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....68978&desc=ASC

 

[DMF]

It's not racked with the speaker wire. It's over in cut-to-measure.


14Ga would do, though.

 

[Poncho]

Go to your local home center and find the wire for outdoor lighting like for Malibu lights.

 

[zekedmangina]

Home Depot sells 12, 14, 16, 18, etc. gauge speaker wire by the foot and by the spool. I just bought a spool of 12 gauge, 250 feet, for ~$55.

 

[programmergeek]

14 guage is what most people recomend but with the cheap wire I think 12 helps a bit because it is not so fine stranded and electrons run on the serface of the strands.

 

[Ray**W]

I second the Home Depot recommendation. While this kind of discussion can get cranked up, there is some info I picked up in another thread that I'll share.


12 gauge is likely "better" for moving the electrons. However, it tends to be much less flexible than 14 gauge. The piece that concerned me was that several folks mentioned that the 12 can fatigue the connections on the receiver and possibly loosen them. I opted for the 14 because of this.


I'm not sure of the validity of the issue, when I played with a piece of 12, it wasn't very flexible and had some serious heft to it in relation to the 14. The 14 has been terrific in performance.

 

[budiman]

If you want cheap, try this:

http://www.millionbuy.com/hitspw12250.html


12 gauge, 250 feet, less than $50 shipped. Cost is

 

[GoinGood]

I've been very happy with Sound King cable purchased at PartsExpress. Try part number 100-155. A 12 guage 100 foot roll is about $30.

 

[tvtech1]

Quote:

Originally posted by programmergeek 14 guage is what most people recomend but with the cheap wire I think 12 helps a bit because it is not so fine stranded and electrons run on the serface of the strands.

At what frequency do electrons begin to 'run' on the 'serface'?


Certainly not at any frequency being sent to a speaker.

 

[Poncho]

I rarely shop at Home Depot anymore. I've always found lower prices at competing stores (Menards in my area). They just want you to believe they have the lowest prices, but if you actually do some comparisons, they don't. To their credit I did pick up a DeWalt DW939 18V circular saw for $85 at a scratch 'n dent sale that only needed about $15 in missing parts.


Around here Home Depot staff runs the other way to avoid contact with people and I hate their excrutiatingly slow checkout lines. I went there looking for oak lumber to make furniture, and they were clueless. They tried to sell me regular pine construction lumber.


Electrons, having the same charge, repel each other and thus travel through the outer portion of a conductor. The current at the center of the conductor is zero. Also electrons flow ffrom negative to positive, but since electrons have a negative charge, we say current flows from positive to negative. Basic Physics.

 

[JoeJoe]

Would 12 gauge be to thick if you plan on biwiring?

 

[tvtech1]

Quote:

Basic Physics

LOL, yes, basic physics...and if you actually applied it, you'd see that skin effect is negligible at audio frequencies.

 

[sethwas]

Well,
http://www.markertek.com/


has choices and since they do bulk its a lot less. I got my Canare 4S11 biwire from them.


Seth

 

[kal]

Quote:

Originally posted by JoeJoe Would 12 gauge be to thick if you plan on biwiring?

That depends on the size of your amp connectors and your speaker connectors and/or how you plan on attaching the speaker wire.


I've bi-wired two runs of 12ga Home Depot in-wall stuff from my amps to my speakers. I soldered spades on the amp end since I couldn't shove two strands of 12ga wire through the binding posts. On the speaker end I simply pushed the bare through the 4 posts on the speaker end and twised. The holes on my paradigm speakers were large enough, yours might not be.


Bi-wiring 12ga gets you down to about 9ga. There's no such thing as too low a gauge.


Kal

 

[DoyleS]

I noticed a number of people selling a high strand count speaker wire on Ebay called Sheer Sound or Isotec. Just curious whether anyone has tried this or has any reports on it? The Ebay prices seem relatively low and it seems to have the right words wrapped around it. High strand count (105 strands on the 14 Gauge) and Oxygen Free.


..Doyle

 

[sethwas]

Well,

On these boards you will here 2 responses to that:

1) wire is wire is wire, get the cheapest you can find at a certain guage/content level.

2) wire is wire to a point. The name on the brand are meaningless, but that doesn't mean the wire is a lie. Get what you like cosmetically and build quality wise -within budget- and you won't be disappointed.

For majority of purposes (any system under $10000) anything over $5 a foot is a waste.


If you want my personal opinion, anything over $3 a foot is a waste for mains, and anything over $1 a foot for the rears is a waste. That still gives you alot of big name brand stuff though.

What does that mean as far as shopping goes?

Look for the lowest model line a cable manufacturer makes, and get the highest version of this line.

Sorta like buying a loaded 3 series instead of a base 7 series.

Thats just mind over matter though. No real science. So you know you have a name/quality product, but you didn't break the bank.

Plus when you 'think' something sounds better, thats all that matters.


Seth

 

[DMF]

Quote:

Originally posted by JoeJoe Would 12 gauge be to thick if you plan on biwiring?

Anything is too thick for bi-wiring. Except for certain special cases, bi-wiring is a waste of $$ and copper. (Unless, like a previous poster, you're going to run a redundant pair anyway.)