[gringo117]

Hello fellow hobbyist,

I was wondering whether there is any downside of using multi-strand wire (the strands not isolated each separately) vs solid wire within the speaker, so used to connect components of the crossover with the terminals and speakers.
I have bought new upgraded components for the crossover and accidentally a multi-strand wire. It is an OCC 14ga wire. So the quality of the copper and the gauge should be fine.
This is a question whether the strands crosstalk is an issue.

Thanks in advance for any info on this.

[Speedskater]

Most internal loudspeaker wiring is multi-strand. Solid conductor wire is rather stiff and might be subject to mechanical vibration.
No, the strands will not crosstalk. They are all sharing the same signal.

[mijostyn]

Speedskater is right. The reason wire is stranded is to make it more flexible. Compare the wire you have to 14 gauge Romex. There are all kinds of interesting arguments over which type of wire is better of a specific purpose. Most of them have no basis in reality. Electrons could care less.
The single most important issues are gauge and induction. Because loudspeakers are low impedance devices you want the series impedance of the wire to be as low as possible.
The Lower the gauge the lower the series impedance. Lower gauge also gives better current handling. Your 14 gauge will be fine. You could actually use a higher gauge for the midrange and tweeter. To lower induction twist the wires together. If you are using zip cord pull the wires apart then twist them together. To understand why this works go here
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair

[mikeeastman]

mijostyn, just to clarify by lower you mean smaller gauge wire?

[Speedskater]

To clarify: The thicker the conductors, the lower the end-to-end resistance & low frequency impedance.
But at tweeter frequencies the series inductance starts to creep into the equation. So the closer the two conductors are to each other the lower the inductance.
Conductor thickness itself, has little to do with inductance. (it's all about closeness)

[mijostyn]

Lower gauge means thicker wire. 12 gauge wire is much thicker than 18 gauge wire.
Inductance is lowest when wires cross at 90 degrees to one another and highest when they are parallel. That is the beauty of the twisted pair. The wires are close to each other but always approximating 90 degrees to one another so inductance is much lower with a twisted pair. Kimber Kable takes this to the extreme with their speaker wire. It is the best until you have to terminate it:)

[Speedskater]

In a 2 or 4 conductor cable, inductance is lowest when the conductors are very close to each other. Thin insulation and twisting will lower inductance. Braiding not quite as much. (the conductors are about parallel to each other, but the current is flowing in opposite directions, that's 180 degrees)
Cable inductance only matters for a few loudspeakers that have very low impedance at high frequencies. (think Apogee and some Martin Logan speakers)
But most other loudspeakers have rising high frequency impedance, so induction doesn't enter the picture with them.