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Wiring up my Paramours and Theater 4 Pi Loudspeakers- Help!

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Hi guys,
I'm starting up the assembly of my Paramours and a pair a' Pi's and am looking for advice primarily on wiring the speakers. Many people wire the Pi's with heavy gauge wire to run with high power amplifiers. Since I'm primarily going to use the Paramours with these 101dB rated speakers what internal/ crossover wiring and what "speaker" cabling would you recommend. I prefer DIY to keep costs down. I anticipate building long interconnects and short speaker cables. The crossover is going to be mounted externally and I probably will hard wire all speaker cable connections,ie. no binding posts except at the amp. Should the interconnects be shielded?
Somewhat related: the Theater 4 Pi's have a relatively low woofer impedance at resonance @52ohms, I believe it is. The design calls for a zobel network across the woofer of an 8 ohm 100W resistor and a cap of 20uF. Do these woofer characteristics have any impact on the output stage of the Paramours? ...or the Coupling caps? Can the 100W resistor be de-rated to lower wattage due to the 2.5W of the Paramours? What is your opinion of Zobels in the first place?
Thanks for anyone's help and opinions! I'll post a review on completion and break in. I also look forward to Till E's upcoming review on his similar system!
Garland

Follow Ups:

Re: Wiring up my Paramours and Theater 4 Pi Loudspeakers- Help! - Wayne Parham 13:26:27 01/06/02 (5)
Hi Garland!
You wrote:
> > Since I'm primarily going to use the Paramours with these 101dB
> > rated speakers what internal/ crossover wiring and what "speaker"
> > cabling would you recommend.
Use high quality, 18 guage, stranded copper hookup wire. Do not use thin single-strand wire, such as is often used to wind electromagnets. Also do not use a larger single-strand, solid core conductor - Use stranded, copper wire instead. You can use some of that audiophile "monster cable" stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it - There is no difference between this and a good, standard interconnect of equivalent size and braid except price.
> > I prefer DIY to keep costs down. I anticipate building long
> > interconnects and short speaker cables. The crossover is going to
> > be mounted externally and I probably will hard wire all speaker
> > cable connections,ie. no binding posts except at the amp. Should
> > the interconnects be shielded?
Shielding is not necessary, but you might use a twisted pair or at least run them close together, the way zip cord is made. If the cable is very long, you may want to use something larger than 18 guage. Make certain that the length of the wire adds no more than half an ohm. You can consult wire guage charts to find resistance per foot for standard interconnects. And don't forget that you must double the wire length when calculating resistance of your interconnects, because you have a balanced pair ("plus" and "minus" leads).
> > Somewhat related: the Theater 4 Pi's have a relatively low woofer
> > impedance at resonance @52ohms, I believe it is. The design calls
> > for a zobel network across the woofer of an 8 ohm 100W resistor
> > and a cap of 20uF.
The Zobel is for de-peaking the resonant created between the voice coil and capacitor in the second order Butterworth low pass filter that makes the woofer crossover. It is a high frequency phenomenon, and not related to the woofer's impedance at resonance at all. Do not omit the Zobel.
> > Do these woofer characteristics have any impact on the output
> > stage of the Paramours? ...or the Coupling caps?
Typically, where impedance peaks, power coupling is reduced. That's why we strive to use speakers with a very linear impedance curve. I've seen 100 ohms at resonance is actually quite common, and some woofers reach as hight as 200 ohms. 50 ohms is very good, so I think you'll find that the speakers and amplifier will work well together.
> > Can the 100W resistor be de-rated to lower wattage due to the 2.5W
> > of the Paramours?
Yes. You may use non-inductive 10 watt resistors instead. For that matter, you could use a 5 watt or a 2 watt part. But the 100 watt component only costs ten dollars, quantity one at full retail. It is easy to mount and assures that if you ever play your speakers on a larger amplifier, they'll be ready for it.
> > What is your opinion of Zobels in the first place?
I don't like them, because I like to have a minimum of reactive devices in circuit. But don't forget that in electrical filters, some reactive devices cancel others, so adding them actually removes reactive effects. That's what the Zobel is doing here.
Take care!
Wayne
- Re: Wiring up my Paramours and Theater 4 Pi Loudspeakers- Help! - signals 08:13:55 01/07/02 (3)
  > Use high quality, 18 guage, stranded copper hookup wire. Do not use thin single-strand wire, such as is often used to wind electromagnets. Also do not use a larger single-strand, solid core conductor - Use stranded, copper wire instead.
  
  Mind if I ask what your reasoning is behind this? Lots of people seem to dislike the stranded wire (I know it's all opinion), just wondering why you think it's best.
  I've wired my Straight 8's per Doc's instructions, and the woofers are all done with twisted pairs of Doc's 20.5ga magnet wire. A thin single strand wire used for winding electromagnets. Seems to work pretty well to me, but I haven't tried any other types of wire, yet. (They're still breaking in.)
  -Kevin
  - Re: Wiring up my Paramours and Theater 4 Pi Loudspeakers- Help! - Wayne Parham 12:02:59 01/07/02 (2)
    Hi Kevin!
    You wrote:
    [about my suggestion to use large guage, stranded copper wire]
    > > Mind if I ask what your reasoning is behind this? Lots of people
    > > seem to dislike the stranded wire (I know it's all opinion), just
    > > wondering why you think it's best.
    If the wire was very short, then it would not matter to me on tube amplifiers because resistance would be low. But in high power applications - which many π speakers are ideally suited for - then the small guage wire might act as a heater or fuse, and become a servicing problem.
    And more importantly, for long wire runs - like would be used as an interconnect - wire resistance becomes significant and changes the characteristics of the motors and of the crossover and compensation filters. That's the main reason I suggest that people not use it with π speakers.
    Please see my crossover document and you'll get an idea of how much design effort was made in my speakers, and exactly what the effects of series resistance are. It modifies driver and filter peaking, or system Q.
    > > I've wired my Straight 8's per Doc's instructions, and the woofers
    > > are all done with twisted pairs of Doc's 20.5ga magnet wire.
    > > A thin single strand wire used for winding electromagnets. Seems
    > > to work pretty well to me, but I haven't tried any other types of
    > > wire, yet. (They're still breaking in.)
    If that is what is called for by the manufacturer of these speakers, then that's what should be used for all the same reasons I mentioned above about π speakers. Nominal resistance is expected in the conductors within the π speaker design. But the Straight 8 design obviously uses the very thin wire's characteristics to its advantage.
    So the point is that it is probably wise to stick with the manufacturer's recommendation.
    Take care!
    Wayne
    - Re: Wiring up my Paramours and Theater 4 Pi Loudspeakers- Help! - Doc B. 13:34:46 01/07/02 (0)
      Just to clarify I recommend a twisted pair of the 20.5 ga. magnet wire for each pair of woofers. This is equivalent to 18 ga. going to each pair. The four sets going to the four pairs together work out to the equivalent of a 13ga. or so conductor in total. This is what I use in my speaker cables also, so in actuality I am employing a fairly heavy gauge conductor in the 8's.
    - Thanks, Just curious... I always like explanations (nt) - signals 12:07:06 01/07/02 (0)
      -Kevin
- Re: Wiring up my Paramours and Theater 4 Pi Loudspeakers- Help! - DRCope 20:42:29 01/06/02 (0)
  Well, here's another viewpoint to confuse the issue. While I heard no difference between 22 gauge solid silver wire and 18g Jena Labs stranded copper in my Paramours, When I tried the Jena as speaker wire, I really hated it. Replaced it with HGA Super Silver II bulk (3 22g strands braided) and really loved it. Big improvement over my Nordost Flatwire, which had been my reference for quite a while.
  Have since replaced it with HGA Silver Lace speaker cable. (Very short runs - a single six foot length cut in half - thankfully!) Even more body, vivid tones, relaxed presentation, which is the direction the Super Silver had already started in.
  We can try all these flavors out in two weeks, if you like . . . just have to do in on your, or someone else's amps. My amps have the spkr cable soldered to the OPT's!
  
  Keep your ears and your mind open.

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