[budyog]

I ran across this wire in search of some 10 ga Wire King wire at my local audio store. It is a 10 ga silver at only a $1.25 per foot. Very flexible. I soldered spades on it and I am using it for my subwoofers.
I am going to also try it for my mains in the near future and hear if I hear a difference between this and my belden 5T00UP 10ga.
I don't think it is actual silver wire except for the color. I cant seem to find any specs on it.

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/web/prods/speaker_wire.asp

[95bcwh]

Looks like Monster cables to me..

I ran across this wire in search of some 10 ga Wire King wire at my local audio store. It is a 10 ga silver at only a $1.25 per foot. Very flexible. I soldered spades on it and I am using it for my subwoofers.
I am going to also try it for my mains in the near future and hear if I hear a difference between this and my belden 5000 10ga.
I don't think it is actual silver wire except for the color. I cant seem to find any specs on it.

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/web/prods/speaker_wire.asp

[TheChairGuy]

I once bought Sound King 10ga from Parts Express (looks like they no longer carry it...or it's the same thing under their own Dayton brand now)

It sounded pretty lousy on my main two chennels...but worked well on my sub (at the time).  The best sub wire, however,  was the 6ga (green jacketed) THHN stuff bought at Lowe's for about $0.75 a foot.  But, as good as it sounded on the sub, it was that awful on the mains. 

Brian Cheney of VMPS turned me on to the THHN 6ga......it really is a great sub cable, but, conversely an awful main speaker cable.

I don't use a sub anymore....and have found the Alpha-Core MI-2  (10 ga) to be the best overall choice (least tradeoff and the only speaker wire that ever sounded like a definite upgrade over all else tried in the past).

[budyog]

Looks like Monster cables to me..

You can do what I did and probably what a lot of other cable sellers do and that is put a nice colored nylon jacket over it (WireCare.com), some nice spades, (Audioc.com) and some black and red heat shrink, (WireCare) and wallah, you have a $500 per inch cable!

I have another Idea. The city street crew is repaving my street, I am going to have the asphalt roller roll over it a few times 1st and then make it look pretty. Will flattening out the cable help it sound better?

Sorry, but I am not a big spender when in comes to my ICs and speaker wire, but I do like heavy gauge speaker wire.

[Carlman]

Looks like Monster cables to me..

Sorry, but I am not a big spender when in comes to my ICs and speaker wire, but I do like heavy gauge speaker wire.

Clearly you're not a big spendor... I doubt your apology but.... greatly appreciate your contribution to this thread... very helpful. (sarcasm in italics)

That wire could possibly be silver-plated copper but not likely... It's probably some other silver-colored metal.  Hope it works out... experimenting with cheap cable is fun.. I would recommend the THHN wire at Lowe's also, but in a 16-ga for your mains... Better yet, there is some in-wall wire at Home Depot in a gray jacket which I think is 16-2 configuration that blows me away at how good it is.

BTW, I have found (based on a/b comparisons) Monster's XP basic (14ga I think) to be very good cable and a worthwhile upgrade to the speaker cables that come with HT in a box or mini-systems... which is usually 18ga at best.  Monster isn't all bad... especially for the typical consumer.  AC is full of non-typical consumers, though.

Best of luck,
Carl

[TIC]

The web site says it is "tinned" OFC (oxygen free copper). So, it is likely no better or worse than any other 10 guage OFC copper wire, unless the tinning has some sonic affect. But based on the rest of the content of the web ad, I'd suggest that the wire is tinned for purely cosmetic reasons.

Pesonally, for inexpensive cable, I like the Home Depot extension cord that has gotten a lot of press. I've tried it and it is pretty good. It cost well under $20 for 50 feet.

Enjoy,

TIC

[warnerwh]

Knukonceptz.com sells a cable that has actual silver plating for a 1.50 a foot. The insulation is Polyethylene so it should last for the rest of your life.

The cable I have settled on is: http://cgi.ebay.com/50-12-AWG-Silver-plated-Teflon-wire-MIL-SPEC-BLACK_W0QQitemZ250032178065QQihZ015QQcategoryZ32833QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Then buy some quality z type bananas also from Knukonceptz and or spades from Luminous audio on audiogon. http://cgi.ebay.com/KnuKonceptz-BFA-type-Banana-Plugs-4-8awg-Speaker-Wire_W0QQitemZ220020796485QQihZ012QQcategoryZ32838QQcmdZViewItem

The guy who sells this wire will sell you shorter lengths of different colors if you email him, at least he did for me. He also carries other gauges.

This stuff has a heavy silver plate and is teflon insulated mil spec wire. It will cost about 50 bucks to make a nice 8' pair of cables but they're very nice.

[TIC]

Hey Warner,

I love the BFA Z-Plug style bananas. For me, they are the best of all worlds. They have great surface area, they stay very tight in the binding post because they have continuous outward pressure and they are simple to use. Also, they are the only bananas that work with some of the British amps because they have that stupid pin in the center of the plug. The Z-plug fits right over the pin!

How do you connect the Z-plugs to your cable? Are you soldering or just using the screw in a solderless setup? Just curious. Also, I've only used Nordost's Z-plugs. They are crimp or solder only. I think I'll try the ones you linked to. I have some of the Home Depot extension cord laying around. I think I'll make a new set of cables!

Enjoy,

TIC

[budyog]

What about the "counter-rotating conductor twists" in the Stinger wire. You don't get that at Home Depot! It is now a must have for that perfect sound. I swear I was being counter-rotated last night when I was listening to "Los Endos" by Genesis. Whoa. I had to hold on. The bass must have been counter-rotated to my ears. Whatever it is, it is amazing. Or was it the El Jimador?

[warnerwh]

TIC: I've just been using the screws to terminate. There's two screws, one on either side, that are offset.  Usually I also like to solder in addition to the screws but didn't worry about it this time. If you solder try to use a propane torch because it's fast if you're careful. Using a soldering iron or gun will take forever.

Everyone who's tried those BFA bananas has liked them. As you say they have excellent contact area, are easy to use and fit snugly, unlike standard bananas. Until I tried these I wouldn't use bananas. I realize Knukonceptz isn't any high end name but the bananas are very well made and much less expensive than a high end name company would sell something like that for. Their silver plated speaker wire I like too as it will last forever and is cheap! It is proprietary to them and is made in China but not as inexpensive as HD extension cord.

The nice thing about that wire is the Polyethylene insulation which is pretty inert to everything. Then with the silver plating it will last forever. After I had some Monster cable turn green on me I'm afraid of inexpensive copper speaker cable. The extension cord wire is probably fine however.

[mca]

Warner,

Do you twist the wire or just run it straight? Do you put it in some sort of sleeve or cover or just bare? I bought a set of the bananas and batch of wire from Ebay to make a set of speaker cables and IC's.

[budyog]

Just an FYI, I have been emailing a Brian Miller in the technical department at AAMP of America a few times and he has clarified for me that the Stinger Expert series wire is tinned in actual silver.

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/web/prods/speaker_wire.asp

Just thought I would pass this information on. 

Happy listening 

[Soundbitten]

Is their a benefit to running double pairs of speaker wire ?

[budyog]

Is their a benefit to running double pairs of speaker wire ?

I guess that would depend on the gauge of the wire.  I use to like 12 gauge until I found 10 gauge. Now I use 10 gauge wire to all my speaks. Even the Stinger Expert wire and I will say it again. It is nice wire!