Tweaker's Asylum

12 Guage Solid Wire

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In Reply to: Clarification posted by Sean on May 26, 1999 at 21:20:51:

I'm no expert on speaker wire, but last week I replaced my 12 guage Monster stranded wire, with 12 guage solid copper wire I purchased at Home Depot. The wire was 10 cents a foot, so I spent $3 to experiment. I don't know any specs on the solid wire, but I guess it had a PVC jacket. The sound was definitely different. After a few hours of listening, I determined that the bass was much more prominent, but it was so loose and undefined that I decided to take it out. The wife said it sounded "muddled" compared to the old wire. Maybe I would have had better luck with 14 guage in the twisted configuration.
Newbie Question: in the twisted pair configuration, is the "twisted pair" split out at termination so that one becomes the "+" and one the "-", or is the twisted pair terminated as one "+" lead and one twisted pair terminated as the "-" lead?

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Re: 12 Guage Solid Wire Sean 22:57:51 5/27/99 (2)
While you can run several sets of wire in a twisted pair / weave configuration (ala Kimber, etc), my experience has been with a single + and a single - conductor twisted around each other. It is important that the twists be spaced closely with minimal air space between the two conductors. I have never tried running parralel runs of solid wire, like standard lamp or speaker cord. I have no idea of how this would sound. Evidently, not very good.
Since you already invested in the solid wire, it's time to do some "sperimentin". After all, you've got a long weekend coming up with nothing better to do, right ??? : )~
Break out a low speed drill or cordless screwdriver and stick the two wires into the chuck and tighten them down. You can run the drill at low speed and slowly twist the wires around each other. Take your time. While you will lose some overall length due to the twisting, it is important to keep them tight and evenly spaced. Give this a try and see how it turns out. I'd be interested to see what you think of this. Sean
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- Re: 12 Guage Solid Wire JMP 07:35:04 5/28/99 (1)
  Thanks, I may try that with some 14 guage, the 12 guage is just too stiff to work with. I also tried the 12 guage with my center channel speaker (RS PRO CS5) which sounds "dark" to begin with. The results were not good, everything sounded very dark and muddled in my HT setup.
  - Re: 12 Guage Solid Wire Sean 10:31:36 5/28/99 (0)
    I can believe that the 12 gauge is a pain in the butt to work with !!! Read BobM's responses to the solid twisted design. It tends to sound much smoother and slightly lean, surely not "dark" or "muddy".
    If your going to buy 14 gauge, save the time and effort and just pick up some pre-fabbed solid 14 copper twisted pair. It's still VERY cheap and should be available via almost any electrical supply house or wire distributor. Good luck. Sean
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