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what's the best gauge for speaker wire?

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rhyno

(D)

i'm sure that 20ga and thinner is bad, but is it good thing to excessively thick (i.e. 9 ga or lower)?
any experiences on thicker wire?
TIA
rhyno

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Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Duster 15:13:35 03/01/06 (14)
For use as speaker cable; a large gauge conductor is often problematic, and is why some folks prefer a small gauge conductor. However; damping factor, rise time, current delivery, and how a loudspeaker's crossover reacts to wire resistance should be considered if selecting a small gauge speaker cable, IMHO.
My favorite design is multiple small gauge conductors placed in a woven litz geometry around a fibre core, which not only provides a large effective gauge, it also addresses noise suppression and mechanical vibration issues.
- Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Dawnrazor 19:57:25 03/01/06 (13)
  D,
  This sounds logical, and could be a good approach.
  What do you mean by "woven Litz"?
  How does that differ from a braid?
  - Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Duster 20:33:41 03/01/06 (12)
    My mention of such is VH Audio's CHeLA speaker cable. See VH Audio's web site for info.
    In simple terms: A woven litz is tubular, while a a more "simple" braid has no core (the wire's cross, but have no "center"). Some folks have placed a core into Kimber's lower cost speaker cables to great effect. Kimber also make a very fine core-based cable such as the Monocle that's similar to the CHeLA...
    - Litz has nothing to do with a core or not. - garth 12:47:28 03/03/06 (4)
      Litz is simply the use of multiple strands insulated from each other to achieve a larger guage. The same can is normally done with a stranded cable but in this case the strands are not insulated from each other and behave together as if they were a single large guage wire.
      The Litz construction achieves the same effective guage as the stranded but the behavior of the individual wires is like that of a single small guage wire.
      A hollow core may or may not have other benefits or problems but is not as such key to "Litz" construction.
      Mogami made a speaker cable with a hollow telfon core wound with OHC copper strands but it was not a Litz cable. And it wasn't half bad. This is 20 years ago before audiophiles "discovered" Cable!
      - I know that, and did not say otherwise... - Duster 14:39:00 03/03/06 (3)
        
        In Reply to: Litz has nothing to do with a core or not. posted by garth on March 3, 2006 at 12:47:28:
        
        I mentioned a woven litz design placed around a core. The core offers vibration damping, as litz wire is prone to a high level of mechanical resonance.
        
        The core offers vibration damping, as litz wire is prone to a high level of mechanical resonance. - garth 14:53:42 03/03/06 (2)
        
        In Reply to: I know that, and did not say otherwise... posted by Duster on March 3, 2006 at 14:39:00:
        
        And you know this and can site proof of it? Or is this just more hefebs?
        
        litz wire resonance - Duster 16:41:49 03/03/06 (1)
        
        In Reply to: The core offers vibration damping, as litz wire is prone to a high level of mechanical resonance. posted by garth on March 3, 2006 at 14:53:42:
        
        I can't find scientific white papers on the subject, but over the years I've read from George Cardas to even the likes of Monster Cable concerning the topic of litz wire being prone to mechanical/harmonic resonances. It's pretty common knowledge in AA... Cheers
        BTW, what's a hefebs?
        
        Oh, well if it's "pretty common knowledge in AA" then - garth 01:47:47 03/04/06 (0)
        
        In Reply to: litz wire resonance posted by Duster on March 3, 2006 at 16:41:49:
        
        it can't possibly be true! (-:
    - Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Dawnrazor 21:09:47 03/01/06 (6)
      Thanks. The woven part threw me off a bit.
      - Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - GiantPanda 23:05:02 03/03/06 (5)
        
        In Reply to: Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? posted by Dawnrazor on March 1, 2006 at 21:09:47:
        
        Mt experience is that the best wire for speaker wire is not wire at all but rectangular copper shim. You can get this by the tonne from allfoils.com or any of their outlets such as brassandcopper.com.
        A shim size that has worked well for me is the 75mm wide x 50 micron thick. Attach the respectives diagonally opposite along the shim length and cover with saran wrap. Now this sounds very cheap but the effect is one of the best I have heard for quite a while.
        
        Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Dawnrazor 01:38:58 03/04/06 (4)
        
        In Reply to: Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? posted by GiantPanda on March 3, 2006 at 23:05:02:
        
        Thanks for posting those links.
        How does what you are describing differ from copper foils, which do sound great by the way.?
        ALso, Glad has a new wrap that is called press and seal. It sticks to just about anything. Might work better than saran wrap.
        
        Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - GiantPanda 04:32:15 03/04/06 (3)
        
        In Reply to: Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? posted by Dawnrazor on March 4, 2006 at 01:38:58:
        
        Foil and shim are one and the same. Different words in different countries for the same thing.
        
        Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Dawnrazor 11:04:46 03/04/06 (2)
        
        In Reply to: Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? posted by GiantPanda on March 4, 2006 at 04:32:15:
        
        Sorry for speaking "american".
        Yeah, the shims are really good, and thens for giving a source. I was sourcing these from McMaster-Carr.
        why do you use Saran Wrap and not Teflon tape. Does the Saran Wrap sound better?
        
        Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - GiantPanda 08:31:01 03/05/06 (1)
        
        In Reply to: Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? posted by Dawnrazor on March 4, 2006 at 11:04:46:
        
        When you are wrapping meters of foil its easier to use the polyethylene film. dielectric difference between PE and Teflon is very small. 2.2 and 2.3 respectively. Though this may vary with what Saran use. Wrapping the Copper foil also traps a lot of air in the process and air is the best di-electric of all.
        But when experimenting the Saran is convenient. Teflon will take you longer to wrap the foil with. If its for DIY and you are interested in the sound then looks dont come into it.
        
        Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - GiantPanda 08:34:09 03/05/06 (0)
        
        In Reply to: Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? posted by GiantPanda on March 5, 2006 at 08:31:01:
        
        OOps correct info on the dielectrics:
        Teflon Dielectric: 2.1
        PE varies from 2.25 to 2.35
        More info at:
        http://www.boedeker.com/index.htm
14-gauge is a good compromise - Al Sekela 14:34:20 03/01/06 (0)
to balance treble and midrange, with Teflon insulation. Low-efficiency woofers may need thicker wire in a bi-wire setup.
Small is good is some case - dchan88 07:36:24 03/01/06 (1)
Small wire of 26ga is the perfect size for speaker audio signal transmission in some conditions. Even smaller guage is used for IC.
It is easier to conclude thick wire is bad, rather than vice versa.
- Agreed (Nt) - Dawnrazor 19:54:31 03/01/06 (0)
  Yes I really do!
Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - audiophile36 17:44:22 02/28/06 (4)
Thick wire tend's to have less transient snap,blurry soundstages and what some call time smear IMHO of course.If you have low impedance speaker's and a high power amp then thicker wire is recommended. It's best to use several smaller gauge wires to equal a single thick conductor if possible.For the average 6-10ft length of cable 9awg is totally over kill IMHO.

"If it sound's good it is good!"
-Ernest Lee Farley III-
- Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Dawnrazor 19:53:34 03/01/06 (1)
  What exactly do you mean by a "high power amp"?
  - Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - audiophile36 08:44:06 03/02/06 (0)
    An amp that put's out 200wpc or more.
    
    "If it sound's good it is good!"
    -Ernest Lee Farley III-
- Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - Artar1 16:37:11 03/01/06 (1)
  What gauge would you recommend for 22 feet of speaker cable connecting a McIntosh MC 2102 to a pair of Martin Logan Ascents?
  My thinking has led me to either Kimber Kable 8TC (9 AWG), Element Cable Double-Run Twisted Pair Bi-Wire (10.5 AWG), or PFN Symphony (9 AWG).
  Currently I am getting excellent results with Monster Cable Ultra 600 (12 AWG @ $1.00/foot) using Monster Cable gold-plated quick-lock connectors. I am very surprised that this "cheap" wire is doing so well.
  Thanks.
  - Re: what's the best gauge for speaker wire? - audiophile36 17:45:37 03/01/06 (0)
    Out of the options you listed and length needed I would suggest the PFN Symphony.
    
    "If it sound's good it is good!"
    -Ernest Lee Farley III-

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