home depot 14ga orange speaker cable

rosconey · « **on:** 29 Jan 2005, 05:47 pm »

i just went to hd and bought a 25ft extention cord of this to try-lots of good talk over at aa.
funny thing is i was using the hd 12ga yellow extention cord for speaker wire.so far they sound the same-less than a hr

Carlman · « **Reply #1 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 06:16 pm »

I wish there was a 'Home Depot, Lowe's, Hardware store, etc' type of cable shootout.

I'd like to hear the results of THHN wire or other recipes... Is there enough experience to start such a thread?

My guess is just about all copper stranded wire sounds about the same in the 12-16ga variety but it's just a guess.

-C

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 06:29 pm »

Carl/Rosconey,

I haven't tried the Home Depot 12 or 14ga, as I'm truly happy with my Mohawk CAT-6 cable on various speakers I've paired it with.

If you're running subs, check out the THHN 6 ga (it's green color at Lowe's). It's sooo cheap and the sub sounded so much better than with the Sound King 10ga (which degraded the sound performance of the speakers I found relative to Kimber 4TC and the CAT-6) I used prior to it. I think it was something like $0.50 foot.

corwin99 · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 06:48 pm »

I've got a set of the Home Depot HD-14 halloween cables.. they sounded good to me at first... then i replaced them with some Audioquest Type 4 which was a bit tipped up, but was more precise.. then i ended up switching to a 4x14AWG cable from home depot that i biwired that sounds much better than the audioquest. Also sounded better than the Alissa Tweaks cables and quite a few others. Right now i'm working on my own speaker cable to best all of them.

beat · « **Reply #4 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 07:03 pm »

Quote from: Carlman

I wish there was a 'Home Depot, Lowe's, Hardware store, etc' type of cable shootout.

I'd like to hear the results of THHN wire or other recipes... Is there enough experience to start such a thread?

-C

I thought there was one somewhere but this was as close as I found.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/interconnects/speakercable2p1.php

maybe it is in face off 1

JoshK · « **Reply #5 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 07:27 pm »

In this price class, lest you not forget Canare 4S11. Markertek has it for $.59/foot iirc. Anyway, it is OFC spaced with cotton as dieletric. Its consistency with twists and spacing also couldn't be matched by DIY. It is super easy to make star quad or biwired speaker cables from. All you have to do is terminate!

JoshK · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 07:35 pm »

$.69/ft and here is the link ....

Canare 4S11

Its 11awg in aggregate which should make good sub cables in star quad and you could use 4S8 to biwire monitors internally.

Davey · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 07:36 pm »

That's not HD extension cord. It's now "Rosconey Music Hose MkIV Platinum Edition."

Wow your friends.

Davey.

Carlman · « **Reply #8 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 07:50 pm »

I used the Canare 4s11 with OK results... nothing special... that's been my experience with just about every stranded copper cable, though. The only time I've ever had a 'wow' when changing speaker cable was going to solid copper Tara Labs on an AKSA 100w amp. It's just the perfect combo. I found Audience cable to be great on a tube amp also but otherwise, regular zip cord sound pretty good too.

Beat... I thought there was a better comparison of this type somewhere also.. might've been another forum but it's been a year since I saw it. I may be thinking of the one linked, though... Thanks.

nathanm · « **Reply #9 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 09:10 pm »

I just replaced my formerly too-short rear surround cable with Home Depot extention cord. Except I got the cool blue "flexible at low temperature" kind so I could install my liquid nitrogen Constant Cryo™ pumping system and still enjoy the benefits of flexibility. With the addition of two hardwood blocks on either end and placing a metal, velvet-lined attache case in my closet the sound improved beyond my wildest dreams.

rosconey · « **Reply #10 on:** 29 Jan 2005, 09:26 pm »

i bought one of those cold temp blue cords for work

some cock sucker stole it the first fuckin day i had it-
my groneburg cables are too short and i dont want to spend big $ on speaker cables because i dont have any real decent ic's-so thats where im spending money right now- a whole 60$ for silver ic's for a start.

might be somthing to these cables after all

Hogg · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 Jan 2005, 01:32 am »

My cable is being delivered tomorrow

Jim

Mudcat · « **Reply #12 on:** 1 Feb 2005, 04:44 pm »

Quote from: beat

I thought there was one somewhere but this was as close as I found.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/interconnects/speakercable2p1.php

maybe it is in face off 1

Naw, you've got the correct link.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/interconnects/DIYSpeakerCablesp1.html

As far as lintening to the cables, I did listen to them, and while I could not discern any differences (wooden ear drums) I'm setting up a new experiment to measure the dBV of the cables using several speakers pairs (Mirage Omni 7, Sapphire SB, and dBX Soundfield V - yeah, the ones DAK sold in the mid 80's). What I hope to accomplish is when two cables are compared, what the measurments say should be audible (dBV ratios greater than 0.5) and what is actually audible via test equipment (calibration mic and decent spectrum analyzer, sillyscope etc..). Sort of continue the work of Fred Davis (JAES. vol 39, No. 6, 1991 June) and R.A. Greiner (who ever that is, but was referenced by Davis a lot).

jonwb · « **Reply #13 on:** 1 Feb 2005, 05:20 pm »

Quote from: Carlman

...The only time I've ever had a 'wow' when changing speaker cable was going to solid copper Tara Labs on an AKSA 100w amp. It's just the perfect combo.

I too was impressed with the Tara Labs cable combo'd w/ the AKSA touring amp. (man, I miss that amp). I didn't realize that that cable is solid copper (not stranded). Makes sense now that I think about it, the stuff was pretty unwieldy.

Now for possibly the dumbest comment yet offered... anyone tried plain old romex? Again, a little unwieldy perhaps, but once you bend it like you want where's it gonna go? I might have to give that a try...

I'm also wondering if this (romex) might be better for the bass drivers on my speakers and maybe some DIY CAT5 cables might be best on the tweeters. Or some other combo...

mattybumpkin · « **Reply #14 on:** 1 Feb 2005, 05:54 pm »

I am currently using the orange cable hooked up to some Merlin TSM-MX's. Good thing Bobby doesn't know! Anyway, It is OK but the Merlins do show the shortcoming's of the HD cable, there is considerable grain and edge that I am now aware of. Not from the rest of my system either.

Regards,

"M"

Red Dragon Audio · « **Reply #15 on:** 1 Feb 2005, 06:00 pm »

You tinkering types ought to try solid core magnet wire. Many benefits over stranded copper extension cords.

-You can get it for about the same price or less
-Solid core is better sounding IMHO than cheap stranded copper.
-You can use it to make interconnects; just use really fine gauge wire 30awg
-Ultra thin and very tough coating are less harmful than thick PVC coatings
-Speaker wire can be made of 14-20awg. I'd going with thinner for the highs but you really don't need to have it so thick on bass range either. maybe 14awg at the thickest unless you have really long runs over 20ft.

Local electric motor repair shops will have the stuff on big spools that they'll sell for cheap.

beat · « **Reply #16 on:** 1 Feb 2005, 10:52 pm »

Quote from: jonwb

Now for possibly the dumbest comment yet offered... anyone tried plain old romex? ...

I can't remember who, but someone here at AC does use romex. I've also heard someone say once that they use auto jumper cables.

neergan · « **Reply #17 on:** 2 Feb 2005, 07:25 pm »

I've tried various DIY cables. I just auditioned the Home Depot 14/3 orange/black stripe extension cord. It was quite good, better than standard zip cord. But, my DIY Jon Risch cross-connected Belden 89259 are far superior. Maybe the HD-14 needs longer break-in. I can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on cables. See photo at http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/spkrcbl1.htm.