[walkern]

I just ordered an LF 55 kit set from Hugh and am wondering what experienced owners recommend for internal (chassis) wiring.  Also, any tips for mods or upgrades (besides the Platinum input and drain caps which I've already read about)?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

Neil

[AKSA]

Neil,

Either pure silver OR pure copper, both stranded for flexibility, is just fine.  Whatever you do, don't use aerospace cable, which is silver coated copper.  It has a very bright sound, which is fatigueing to listen to.

I will supply the wiring between the power supply and the modules;  it's attached to the power supply, in fact.  This is tinned copper wire, good quality, multistrand.

Wire makes a small difference, but is, in my view, exaggerated.  By far the most important aspects are the basic design of the power supply and modules, the capacitors, and the operating points.  Only silver coated copper is a big no-no.

That is not to say I know it all.  There are plenty here who have lots of experience in wire choices, so they might care to comment!

Cheers,

Hugh

[andyr]

I just ordered an LF 55 kit set from Hugh and am wondering what experienced owners recommend for internal (chassis) wiring.  Also, any tips for mods or upgrades (besides the Platinum input and drain caps which I've already read about)?

Neil

Hi Neil,

I suggest you'll get a million & 1 wire recommendations.  My own philosophy is as follows:

*  I don't use stranded wire for signal (input and speaker output/return).  However, I have to use stranded wire for the +/- DC voltage rails and earth connections to the PCBs from the PS, in order to get a thick enough guage for the currents.  Hence I use 2.9mm^2 (almost 12g) automotive stranded copper wire for this (bought from an auto parts shop).

*  For input, I use teflon coated, 6N copper solid-core XLO wire (bought from Michael Percy).  I use 24g for ground and 2x30g wires for signal.  Tightly twisted together.

*  For speaker 'hot' & 'return', I use Vampire 21g >6N solid-core cast copper wire (with a polyurethane coating) - again bought from MP.  For a LF 55, I use 3 strands for each (twisted); for a LF100, 4 strands.

*  For mains wiring (fuse, switch etc.), I use standard builders' 2.5mm^2 solid-core mains wire.

Regards ... I know you will enjoy your LF55! 

Andy

[walkern]

Hey Andy,

Thanks so much for the suggestions!  I have ordered stuff from MP before, and never been unhappy with anything he sold.  Will get busy getting my wire together so when the boards show up from Hugh (next week) I'll be ready to go.

Neil

[PSP]

Hi Neal,
I cut my power supply board in half so I could locate each power supply board very close to the LF55 amp boards.  The wire from the PS to the amp boards is 16awg stranded copper and is just an inch or two long. This also lets me use shorter wires (~4-5 inches) from the speaker return (black, negative) binding post to the signal star ground on the power supply board.

For signal wires, I solder the input cap lead (e.g., a Sonicap Platinum or Mundorf Silver/Oil) directly to the center lead of the input RCA and solder the other cap lead to a pin on the amp board.  The signal ground wire is 21ga Vampire magnet wire, twisted around the input cap leads, from the input RCA ground pin to the ground pin on the amp board.

At one point in my audio life I removed all of the PCB soldering pins that Hugh supplies so I could solder wires directly to the board, thus eliminating an extra solder joint.  After a few months I found that flexing of the wire during mods had started to weaken the PCB traces which--of course--I repaired by adding another damn solder joint across the broken trace.  So, I advise using the pins that Hugh supplies.

For internal speaker wire, I use Teflon insulated 18ga 0.9999 solid core copper (from Michael Percy, of course).  Since the speaker output spades are fairly close to the speaker cable binding posts on the chassis, I only need 2-3 inches of this wire for the hot lead and--as I mentioned above--maybe 4-5 inches for the return. 

Good luck,
Peter

[whubbard]

I didn't use solid core wire, but instead cardas litz wire. I was very pleased by the results, but I couldn't say it would have been worse or better than solid core wire. I too got it from Michael Percy.

-West

[walkern]

Thanks Peter and West,

I just ordered Platinum caps and hope to be able to configure the boards close to the input connectors.

I've got an e-mail in to Michael for pricing on the various Vampire wire options, and will probably go with some combination of the various recommendations so far.

Neil

[AKSA]

Neil,

You can't go wrong with any of these recommendations, and your choice of Vampire will be fine. 

BTW, it will all supplant the wire already supplied with the modules/ps and this worked fine!!

Thanks folks for your comprehensive answers!

West, your system looks superb, lovely balance in the photos, arguably the only one I've seen of the Orion which actually makes it look lovely!!   

Cheers,

Hugh

[whubbard]

Thanks Peter and West,

I just ordered Platinum caps and hope to be able to configure the boards close to the input connectors.

I've got an e-mail in to Michael for pricing on the various Vampire wire options, and will probably go with some combination of the various recommendations so far.

Neil

Neil,

You can also download the catalog here:
http://www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf

It has all the pricing. [I think...]

-West