[martyo]

Just for the record "mark funk" is the master wire and rope maker, I would never ever do something that could be so controversial.  

[gjs_cds]

Every year I get the mapelShady catalog in the mail. I laugh at it, then shred it.
Wayner

Hey Wayner--say what you want about the voo-doo mystery products...  (I find them hard to swallow as well, and those products won't find a dime of my money.)

BUT!...The guy can make a really great recording.  Have you heard any of them?  The talent is usually ok-to-good, but the records are some of the best I've heard.  Even the AudioCritic (Peter A) says as much.

[turkey]

Wayner... did you have to?

12 gauge OFC, PartsExpress house brand. 

I'm using this too. It's the zipcord with the clear jacket that resembles the original product from that litigious wire company out on the left coast.

I got the 12 ga because it was not much more expensive than thinner wire, is the maximum size that fits in my banana plugs (Pomona clones, also from PE), and it is probably slightly superior to thinner wire since it has lower resistance.

On the other hand, I heard no difference between this wire and what I was previously using (~35 yr old 16 ga zipcord).

[turkey]

Mapleshade. Looks to be about 20 gauge, silver coated copper. Lively, clean and clear, with bass punch and power like mad.
This wire absolutely breaks the mold for requiring heavy gauge speaker wire to move this kind of current quickly. Maybe its the silver coating.

Every year I get the mapelShady catalog in the mail. I laugh at it, then shred it.

Wayner

I visited a local audiophlake a while back, and he was heavily into the Mapleshade stuff.

He has some sort of battery-biased power cords that looked like firehoses, and then speaker wire and RCA patch cords that looked like copper foil inside sausage casings.

He had all the cables hanging from his ceiling by pieces of string, so his system looked like some kind of mobile from an infant's crib.

The RCA patch cords were, obviously, unshielded, so there was noticeable hum and hash. (He had to turn out the fluorescent lights while listening to reduce some of the noise.)



On the other hand, I've heard some Mapleshade recordings and they sound pretty good.

[turkey]

I am still using the "old rope" speaker wire Martyo so generously supplied me (as seen at last years AudioKarma show).  It sounds as good as any I have used, and doubles in improving the listening experience if small pieces are burned slowly in an incense burner.

So that's how you survive those long Minnesota winters. You smoke a lot of rope.

[turkey]

The wire used in the anti-cabbels is just plain magnet wire. The stuff they wind motors with or make choke coils out of in your speaker cross-over. Not that it's bad, it's good clean copper and the stuff on the outside is enamel insulation. 14 awg is great.

It's fine for winding coils, but not anything I'd use for speaker wire or RCA patch cords.

[turkey]

Now I need to listen to them long enough to decide if they are keepers from a sonic standpoint.  What a pita!   

Maybe you should just get different speakers and a new amp?

[Scottdazzle]

The speakers and amp are great except for the speaker terminals. I'm very happy with their music reproduction.  I recommend them heartily to anyone who likes the sound of ribbons, planars, and tubes.

[gjs_cds]

He had all the cables hanging from his ceiling by pieces of string, so his system looked like some kind of mobile from an infant's crib.

Best mental image from AudioCircle... Ever. 

I'm just surprised this thread isn't in the galactic wastebin yet...

[martyo]

I'm just surprised this thread isn't in the galactic wastebin yet...

Most everyone has been pretty civil and open as you would hope, considering Wayner invited us all to share our sizes. 
I don't think it was made to be an ambush by the "wire police".

[Wayner]

Everyone has been real nice about the whole thread. There isn't any purpose to it other then to know where the heads of people are with respect to some of these issues and as suspected, almost all are very level headed about what speaker wire is, what it isn't and where to spend the dollars for better performance.

The fact is, if Belden would have a lesser gauge that was easy access for me on the internet, I would have bought the smaller gauge. 16awg would have been fine. The 12awg is fine, too.

It's not magic, there is not foo-foo fairy dust or smokable insulation, tho that might be a great product for someone to make, along with the hemp speaker drivers.

My only claim is that my systems sounds very nice and 99.99% of that is from the AVA electronics.

[rajacat]

Nothing foo-foo about hemp drivers.

[mjosef]

I use a 16ga. solid core silver wire for my 8ft. speaker wire. Before I used an 11ga. Audioquest copper, same length. They are both exceptional wires, and I would be content with either. I sometimes biamp and use both with the AQ on the bass. Both were purchased way below the MSRP (-60%+)
I had 12 Monster speaker cable before and found my current wires superior to that. I recently tried a typical 12 ga. extension cord wire and heard a notably reduction in sound quality. SO yes, for me, wire isn't just wire. I repeat...for me. YMWV. (Your Mileage WILL Vary).

[oneinthepipe]

Nothing foo-foo about hemp drivers.

And a bag of Doritos is included with every purchase.

(for the "munchies")

[TerryWI]

I use 8' Tara Labs RSC Prime 500 which they say is 14ga. "rectangular solid core".   I wouldn't know if that is good, bad or indifferent.  I bought them back when I wanted an audiophile cable that folks seemed to like, but didn't cost a whole lot.   I have also swapped it for Radio Shack 12ga. speaker cable off and on over the years and never could say for certain if I ever heard a difference.  But, it is sturdy and hasn't caused any connection issues.

[avahifi]

All I know for sure is that our 14 guage zip cord speaker wire is just as good as MIT cables as shown in a careful double blind test at the RMAF show and documented herein.

So my suggestion is that if you really want better sounding cables, make sure they outperform MIT cables.   

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[Zheeeem]

After months of frustration with spades coming loose whenever I moved a speaker or my amp, I decided to try bare wires. By way of explanation, I have VMPS RM30M speakers with terminals that are much too close to each other. The slightest movement could loosen one spade and short out the other terminal.  The amp is a Music Reference RM-200 that has screw down terminals and would loosen up after awhile and scare me the same as the speakers.  Music Reference and VMPS get two thumbs down from me for their terminals with regard to spades or bananas (impossible). 

So, I bought two pairs of Speltz anti-cables unterminated.  The bare wires go into the VMPS terminals with no problem and don't come loose. One problem solved. Unfortunately, two bare wires per terminal was impossible for the RM-200 to hold down.  So I went to rat shack and got some gold-plated circular connectors. I crimped the anti-cables into the connectors, screwed them on and the second problem is solved.   

Now I need to listen to them long enough to decide if they are keepers from a sonic standpoint.  What a pita!   

Gosh, Scott.  I don't have that problem at all with my RM30Ms.  A firm hand tightening seems to be secure enough, and there's at least 1/3 inch between the lugs. 

[Zheeeem]

I decided to get some new speaker wire for some reason, and I went back to Bluesjeans cable as they seem to make the stuff that I like with no claims for magic cables or things like that, just good plain old engineering. Mostly just common sense. The price is bit high, however you can have cables made to your length requirements. Enough free advertising for them.

I did get some Belden 12-gauge 5000UE wire and used that from my AVA 260EX to the Paradigm 40v.3's and from my AVA U70 to the Focal JMLab 908's. At some point I wondered if 12 awg is really off the wall to big. However, both systems sound really good.

The one thing I don't like about the wire is that it is really stiff. I ordered 50' and made 2 pairs 12.5' long. The other thing I like about the cable is that it is suppose to be really pure copper. Don't know if it's 6 nines or not, tho.

Just wondering what gauge your running with your AVA amp?

Wayner

I have no idea.  Really.  A friend made them.  The connectors are good.  And the wires are long enough to reach from the amp to the speakers.  They are also sufficiently fat to  boost my audiophile creds.

[mr_bill]

All I know for sure is that our 14 guage zip cord speaker wire is just as good as MIT cables as shown in a careful double blind test at the RMAF show and documented herein.

So my suggestion is that if you really want better sounding cables, make sure they outperform MIT cables.   

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Tell me more - documented where?
(I have to purchase new speaker cable!)

[Airborn]

Anyone know anything about this 12 ga. wire with bannana plugs for less than $20?  http://www.impactacoustics.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=3102&sku=29176
Appears to be recommended by Audioholics.  I think I'll order some just to compare with my current speaker cables and see if I notice any difference.