Surround sound speaker cable.

Posted by Duster (M) on April 21, 2012 at 12:22:36

Image: Canare 4S8 Star Quad Speaker Cable - 13 AWG Aggregate Gauge (16/4) for Surround Sound Application

After deciding to purchase very inexpensive speaker cable for a computer audio system surround sound application, and in hope of not falling into an unreasonable 'too cheap for audiophile purposes' budget, I settled on 70 feet of bulk Canare 4S8 Star Quad Speaker Cable (13 AWG aggregate gauge) with an adequate cross section for a 35 ft run to each surround channel. Additionally, at $0.62 per foot from Markertek, it's likely about as good as it gets for a purchase of cheaply decent speaker wire for any application.

Other than an adequate cross section, the most important aspect I sought for the particular application was that it be insulated with a low dielectric constant material such as PE (polyethylene) rather than typical PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which in effect would degrade the signal due to dielectric absorption factor, especially the potential to hear a more noticeable coloration due to the sonic signature of the added capacitance that a cross-connected 4-conductor star quad cable geometry cable may present. Additionally, the 2-conductor twisted pair cables I found available at a low price-point invariably had a very lazy twist ratio rather than tight as it should be, whereas a 4-conductor star quad cable involves an inherently lazy twist ratio due to the additional wires in the bundle, and that the self-shielding (and lowered inductance) characteristics of a star quad cable geometry does not require a very tight twist ratio to provide its noise reduction affect.

The Japanese-made build quality is excellent, and it's an easy product to terminate. The cable is very flexible and the outer diameter is not much thicker than a typical interconnect cable, so the visibility of the grey jacketed version is low on the radar for runs across a listening room. As for the sonic performance, I find the sound to be passible for audiophile purposes, in that, since the cable is intended to compete with typical zip cord speaker wire and inexpensive PVC insulated 4-conductor in-wall speaker cable, the fact that it doesn't suck is the highest complement required for the particular surround sound application. That said, it's price to performance ratio is quite satisfactory.

http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=64

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bulk-Wire-Cable/Speaker-Wire-Cable-Bulk/Canare-Corporation-Of-America/4S8-BLACK200M.xhtml

Cheers, Duster

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Topic - Surround sound speaker cable. - Duster 12:22:36 04/21/12 (2)

Canare 4s11 - bboroski 12:00:09 04/24/12 (1)

Canare 4S11 Speaker Cable Deal - cablesellforless@yahoo.com 19:35:23 11/27/12 (0)

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