[FredT300B]

Line arrays use great lengths of internal wiring, usually 50' or more per pair. One is tempeted to use generic speaker wire, but it doesn't make sense to me to use cheap wire in any speaker having high quality drivers and crossover parts. Better "affordable" alternatives are available.

I first discovered my favorite when I built a pair of DIY speaker cables with it and they sounded much better than the generic OFC cable I had been using. The improvement in detail wasn't subtle, it was clearly audible. I've been using 12 AWG Belden 5000UE as the internal wire in all my speakers since then. It's  available from Blue Jeans Cable for $0.38/ft.

What internal wire do others use in their line arrays?

[KCI-JohnP]

Hi Fred,
I think this is an interesting subject. I think that my new LS-9's are going to be wired with Vampire wire though I'm not sure which type or gauge. now you've got me thinking....

John

[Mike B.]

I believe purity and configuration of wire is important. I used Vampire continuous cast copper wire in my line sources. Over 100 feet of it. I also use Bybee filters for each driver array. All connections are soldered.

[S Clark]

 I've been using 12 AWG Belden 5000UE as the internal wire in all my speakers since then. It's  available from Blue Jeans Cable for $0.38/ft.

What internal wire do others use in their line arrays?

Sure has gone up it 3 weeks.  It is now $.61 per foot!

[KCI-JohnP]

It seems all metals are sky rocketing in price, gold is at $766 an ounce right now. 

[FredT300B]

WOW!  The Belden has gone up quite a bit. I use the gray jacket type and strip the gray jacket off the twin leads, so the 57 cent type will work as well as the 61 cent white jacket. I've also used Apex Jr teflon insulated silver plated copper for tweeter wiring. It's a bit on the bright side and very revealing. Sounds like John won't be rewiring his LS-9's with 12 ga gold wire. 

[Avalon]

Hi Fred,
thanks for your efforts and interesting topic.

Good to compare price/performance, since line arrays consume a lot of wire.  Besides the differences in wire, there's the potentially daunting universe of combinations (I'm a dealer).  I also think it's not just a case of which wire, but how it's implemented…

Amusing when clients and reviewers of e.g. Linn Klimax ($$$) wonder whether a more expensive speaker wire or i/c ought to be a better match than Linn's own ($), based on price, or its performance in another system.  Since every wire has parameters which can interact with the rest of the system in a complex manner unrelated to its price tag, it often really is a worthwhile shortcut to follow what the designer used to voice the whole.

Danny seems to like Vampire CCC, so I'll stick it in my custom LS-9 too, my first line array.  For a different project, I may use the Belden, thank you. 

Meanwhile, may I touch on implementation, because, whilst we may debate the best wire to use in a certain combination, there may be more certain benefits to pursue. 

Folk at RMAF have speculated that back EMF may have caused a certain amp/line array combo to not quite "hit it".  Ignoring the room for a moment(there's a laugh!), one could easily suspect all the wire too!  But true, 80 feet or so of wire is one of many issues a single amp has to deal with. 

Linn have long promoted active amplification (as has the pro world).  By giving each amplifier a much easier task, this gives a clearly audible improvement over passive bi-wiring and tri-wiring (that also reduce complex interactions within speaker cables by reducing the bandpass that each carries).

I'm considering wiring each driver in my LS-9 directly backwards to its own Cardas terminals.  Not sure if total wire would be reduced, but for each driver, it would be drastically less.  Series/parallel mystery eliminated!  Vibrational effect on within-cabinet wire reduced!  I'd use an external active crossover and 7 x 6-channel Linn amps of high performance, albeit possibly below the $50K Dodd monster – but think of all the obstacles removed per channel!  Amp/speaker matching seriously simplified and back EMF a fraction of "normal". Total amp retail = about half the Dodd.

It would no longer be a standard LS-9, but the lure to deviate (in this manner) is compelling!  I'm thinking of a wool-lined box to shield and carry an external wiring harness if I need to revert to something approaching original topology.  I may have to use silver paste on all those terminals but I could then (to some extent) test the effect of different wire.

Comments on my crazy idea most welcome.
Before I totally lose it, would Bybees on each driver be total overkill???

Sorry if I've morphed your thread a bit!
Nigel