Attractive Speaker Cables

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TKonrad.NOLA

Attractive Speaker Cables
« on: 3 Sep 2019, 11:43 pm »
My new place has hardwood floors and it is impossible to hide the speaker cables so looking for something that would look good just laying there.  Thoughts?

Lancelot

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #1 on: 3 Sep 2019, 11:47 pm »
 
I have hardwood floors also and my Wireworld 7 Mini Eclipse speaker cables have a gold finish to them and they blend in very well.

Jonathon Janusz

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #2 on: 4 Sep 2019, 03:13 am »
If you're happy with the performance of your cables, just not the look:

https://www.parts-express.com/brand/techflex/299

A roll of techflex (minus the big $$$ fancy bling connectors on the ends of course) would be a cheap and cheerful way to get the (in many cases exact same) look of many of the expensive brands of cables without having to change out your speaker cables.

Maybe some cheap and cheerful risers (small slotted wood blocks in the same wood/stain as the floors?) to get the cables directly off the floor would finish off the ultra high-end look once the cables are prettied up too.

It may sound kind of silly, but just getting the speaker cables to the right/needed length and no more such that there isn't a coil/pile of cable at one end or the other would go a ways to making the whole setup look neat and tidy.

DaveC113

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #3 on: 4 Sep 2019, 05:20 am »
If you're happy with the performance of your cables, just not the look:

https://www.parts-express.com/brand/techflex/299

A roll of techflex (minus the big $$$ fancy bling connectors on the ends of course) would be a cheap and cheerful way to get the (in many cases exact same) look of many of the expensive brands of cables without having to change out your speaker cables.

Maybe some cheap and cheerful risers (small slotted wood blocks in the same wood/stain as the floors?) to get the cables directly off the floor would finish off the ultra high-end look once the cables are prettied up too.

It may sound kind of silly, but just getting the speaker cables to the right/needed length and no more such that there isn't a coil/pile of cable at one end or the other would go a ways to making the whole setup look neat and tidy.

^Agree to check out Techflex. Wirecare.com is Techflex's retail outlet so they have everything on the Techflex website.... It's A LOT of stuff! I use cotton, overexpanded for fine-mesh look and regular. The heat resistant/scissor friendly white striped stuff is great for DIY, you can cut it with scissors and you won't melt it with a heatgun when you apply shrink tube. Speaking of, you can get some shrink tubing to seal the ends and a heatgun isn't too expensive either.

For cheap risers a pack of bamboo skewers and a pack of rubberbands would get you dozens of little tripods. You can tell people the rubber bands are special viscoelastic dampers. ;)

Stu Pitt

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #4 on: 4 Sep 2019, 09:45 am »
I was in the same predicament at my last house. The look of my Canare 4S11 speaker cables drove me crazy and I hated myself for it :) I bought some Techflex and heat shrink tubing, and never looked back. Highly recommended as a cheap visual upgrade that’s easy to do and looks great. I went with black with white tracer design.

Audiouser

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #5 on: 18 Nov 2019, 08:23 pm »
Have seen quite a few setups where Cardas cables are just run across the floor.  Some setups with basement or crawl access drill holes in the floor where the amp and speakers are located. 

barryso

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #6 on: 18 Nov 2019, 09:04 pm »
My cable riser of choice.  50 cents each at Ikea.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/vaesnas-tealight-holder-clear-glass-60259096/

PSB Guy

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #7 on: 18 Nov 2019, 09:47 pm »
I was in the same predicament at my last house. The look of my Canare 4S11 speaker cables drove me crazy and I hated myself for it :) I bought some Techflex and heat shrink tubing, and never looked back. Highly recommended as a cheap visual upgrade that’s easy to do and looks great. I went with black with white tracer design.
I was just going to suggest some Canare 4S11 from Blue Jeans Cable in black. It's what I use and I find it very pleasant looking as cables go. YMMV, I suppose.

Cornelis

Stu Pitt

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #8 on: 6 Dec 2019, 02:18 am »
I was just going to suggest some Canare 4S11 from Blue Jeans Cable in black. It's what I use and I find it very pleasant looking as cables go. YMMV, I suppose.

Cornelis
I have the gray ones. On my floors and area rug, they stuck out like a sore thumb. I had 30 ft runs of them, so that probably contributed heavily. They’re significantly shorter now, but I really dug the techflex look, so I kept it. I’m a bit OCD and hate clutter; seeing cables of any sort drives me crazy because they look like a disorganized mess even when they’re all nice and neat. Techflex works for me somehow.

srb

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #9 on: 6 Dec 2019, 06:19 am »
My cable riser of choice.  50 cents each at Ikea.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/vaesnas-tealight-holder-clear-glass-60259096/

That's the coolest, most beautiful 50 cent thingy I've ever seen.

A_shah

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #10 on: 6 Dec 2019, 07:49 am »
That's the coolest, most beautiful 50 cent thingy I've ever seen.
Wish had seen these earlier I would have saved good amount of money  by buying these and kept the wife happy instead of these fancy ceramic cable elevators , to justify my purchase I try to convince myself that these ceramic risers have an effect on my bass & treble ?
 So my question is do risers  make a difference ? do they have  to be a certain distance between the risers to effect the treble or bass  :scratch: and oh yes I have beautiful  cherry engineered wood over concrete floor :popcorn:

JLM

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #11 on: 6 Dec 2019, 11:14 am »
Decades ago there was a fad to use 24 gauge CAT-5 as speaker cable (very tiny, hard to see).  A bit later attended a local audio club meeting where two speaker cables were compared: a tiny wire in a flat clear sheath; and a grey garden hose monster.  Don't recall the brands/models, and of course they sounded different.  Which was better was up to the beholder.  As you might guess there was limited bass output on the smaller gauge wires, but otherwise performed well, so OK for small monitors, if visual aesthetics are more important to you than sound quality. 

Time for the OP to investigate wireless speakers.

rollo

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #12 on: 6 Dec 2019, 03:46 pm »
 To start go to Amazon and look for Fabric "Piping" comes in colors and different fabrics. Have fun. 


charles

twitch54

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #13 on: 26 Dec 2019, 09:13 pm »
My cable riser of choice.  50 cents each at Ikea.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/vaesnas-tealight-holder-clear-glass-60259096/

excellent choice ! but are they 'audiofool' approved !!

Don_S

Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #14 on: 27 Dec 2019, 12:19 am »
Since the topic has slightly morphed but still focused on attractive let me mention speaker cable risers I made. My audio rack shelves are 1.875" Claro walnut. I had some other walnut 0.75-0.875" thick. I laminated short blocks and then cut a groove into the top block with a router. They are very stable and attractive on my light tile floor and match the rack. I think they look better than the massive ceramic risers I use in a second system.

Making something similar to match wood floors would be a fun and worthwhile project. It does not take much material. I used scraps.

ketchup

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #15 on: 30 Jan 2020, 03:46 am »
Alpha Core Goertz

Scooterkuhn

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #16 on: 27 Feb 2020, 01:55 pm »
I am in the same boat. Ill be listening in!

mix4fix

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #17 on: 28 Feb 2020, 12:57 am »
Decades ago there was a fad to use 24 gauge CAT-5 as speaker cable (very tiny, hard to see).  A bit later attended a local audio club meeting where two speaker cables were compared: a tiny wire in a flat clear sheath; and a grey garden hose monster.  Don't recall the brands/models, and of course they sounded different.  Which was better was up to the beholder.  As you might guess there was limited bass output on the smaller gauge wires, but otherwise performed well, so OK for small monitors, if visual aesthetics are more important to you than sound quality. 

Time for the OP to investigate wireless speakers.

What about building a Cat-5 speaker cable? Don't remember the website, but it took miltiple cables intertwined and terminated with proper interconnects. It should have enough wire to handle bass.

Letitroll98

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Re: Attractive Speaker Cables
« Reply #18 on: 28 Feb 2020, 12:55 pm »
excellent choice ! but are they 'audiofool' approved !!

I have no clue about what is actually detectable, but Pierre at Mapleshade says you need at least 18" of rise above carpeted floor to be effective.  I've never done more than wooden 2x4s with a notch cause it looked better than laying on the floor.  I maybe, might possibly on somedays perhaps heard a tiny bit lower noise floor.  Anyone try highish risers and was there any difference?