What gauge wire are your speaker cables?

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Wayner

What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« on: 7 Feb 2009, 06:31 pm »
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

rlee8394

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #1 on: 7 Feb 2009, 07:41 pm »
I'm using BJC Ten White (5T00UP) (White jacket, 10 AWG). I bought it for the no BS claims on their web site. I also use their audio cables as well.

Ron

baumer

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #2 on: 7 Feb 2009, 07:56 pm »
I use BJC Canare 4S11 cable (14 gauge) between my AVA 260 and my Songtowers. I actually ordered the wrong cable, since it has four strands
instead of two. I didn't feel like sending it back so I twisted them together to make two strands total (really beefy strands!). It sounds just fine
to me.

Doug

oneinthepipe

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #3 on: 7 Feb 2009, 07:58 pm »
My speaker wires are also Belden 5000UE (12 gauge).  Previously, I used a quad cable of 14 gauge wire from monoprice, and there were 2 wires per terminal (as with baumer's system, posted above).  I don't know what the gauge equivalent is with 2x14 gauge.  Maybe it is still 14 gauge. 

I realize that this is controversial, but there was a difference in the sound with the Belden wire.  I didn't know if there would be a difference in the sound, although I had been told that the Belden wire was very good.  Someone had given me an old pair of KEF C65 speakers, and I needed more speaker wire to connect the speakers to an old integrated amp and a television for my kids.  The KEF C65 have bi-wire terminals, and my SongTowers have single-wire terminals, and I decided to use the 4x14 gauge wire for the KEF speakers.  My previous main listening speakers, a pair of Spendor, had bi-wire terminals, which is the reason that I had the 4x14 wire.

Anyway, I was in my chair, listening to a Vienna Teng album while I prepared the Belden wire. I used identical connectors and shrink wrap for the Belden wire to the connectors and shrink wrap that was on the monoprice wire.  After I finished preparing the Belden wire, I routed the wire from the back of the amp to the respective speakers, following the path of the monoprice wire.  Then, I turned off the preamp (which also turned off the CDP and DAC that are plugged in to the preamp's AC outlets), and then I turned off the amplifier.  I disconnected the monoprice wire and connected the Belden wire, then I turned on the amp, and then I turned on the preamp.  I had not touched the volume control.  I hit the play button on the CDP.  The album started at the beginning rather than where I had stopped.  However, the volume seemed a little louder than before, and the sound seemed a little fuller, which I know could likely be related to volume.  I listened for a while, regardless of the volume setting, and the system sounded better.  I am sure that there are a lot of variables, including the placebo effect, ambient noise, my mood, the strenuous exercise that I received from stripping the speaker wire, etc.  (I wasn't drinking, and Michael Phelps wasn't visiting, either.)  :lol:  Then, after a while, I shut everything down, did a quick switch of the cables, making sure the polarities were correct, etc., and played the album again, and there was clearly a difference in sound.

I didn't conduct any tests; no measurements, no quadruple double-blind tests, no anything.  I believe that wire is wire, but maybe the Belden is the better of the two wires.  I bought 50' for 19.24 plus shipping online, although I could have driven over to You-Do-It Electronics a few miles away and purchased the wire for the same price, but we had a snow storm, and I wasn't in a rush.  I used a total of about 20' for the speaker cables.  If speaker wire does have an effect on the sound, the Belden wire wasn't a very expensive method to achieve an improvement.  If the wire doesn't matter, and there was some other reason that the sound seemed better, I needed more wire anyway, although I could have saved a little money if I had purchased some zip cord.


charmerci

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #4 on: 7 Feb 2009, 08:16 pm »
WAYNE!!!

A SPEAKER WIRE THREAD???? :nono: :banghead:

You sure like to play with fire, don't you?

Wayner

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #5 on: 7 Feb 2009, 08:31 pm »
It's a wire gauge thread. There is nothing magic here, just good conductivity. I also want to find out where the heads are of fellow AVA owners. Yes, we are secretly gathering information so we can manipulate your minds through clever advertising gimmiks....... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Not.

The real fact of the matter is I personlly and professionally love Belden wire products. We use them at work and the performance is top notch. Quality is top notch. Price is sensible. This speaker wire is .61 cents a foot. Not 5 or 10 or 100 dollars per foot...61 cents. With a pair of 12.5 feet of cable, that is $15.25 for the pair. No it's not as cheap as Franks favorite at Rat Shack, but for 12awg wire, not bad.

Wayner  aa

boycephoto

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #6 on: 7 Feb 2009, 08:32 pm »
More fuel for the fire,

Analysis Plus Oval 9, Monster Cable Reference Z2. I like the sound of the monster better and it is 1 quarter the price. 

Dave 

Watson

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #7 on: 7 Feb 2009, 08:50 pm »
I use BJC Canare 4S11 cable (14 gauge) between my AVA 260 and my Songtowers. I actually ordered the wrong cable, since it has four strands
instead of two. I didn't feel like sending it back so I twisted them together to make two strands total (really beefy strands!). It sounds just fine
to me.

You ordered the right cable. All Canare speaker cable is four strands... that's what the "4" in 4S11 stands for. You're supposed to twist each coloured pair together, as you've done, to produce a net gauge of 11AWG. That's what the "11" stands for.

I use this too. It's good cable. Though I've heard that the slightly smaller gauge Canare sounds a little better. I'd probably go for that if I had to buy it again, plus it's cheaper.

ecramer

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #8 on: 7 Feb 2009, 09:04 pm »
 :lol: I've moved on but i have both the belden and the canare wires bought from BJC i was happy with both of them. but upgradious bit me and i got some other wire

baumer

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #9 on: 7 Feb 2009, 09:11 pm »
You ordered the right cable. All Canare speaker cable is four strands... that's what the "4" in 4S11 stands for. You're supposed to twist each coloured pair together, as you've done, to produce a net gauge of 11AWG. That's what the "11" stands for.

Well that all makes perfect sense! Thanks for the info.

I have my electronics in one room and my speakers in another. I'm running about seventy feet of this stuff through the basement and up into
my living room to my speakers.I figured that the extra thick cable would work better for my situation.

I even surprise myself sometimes!!!

orthobiz

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #10 on: 7 Feb 2009, 09:23 pm »
This thread is for me! For me!

I've been waiting to ask...
I have ridiculously thick PS Audio Statement cables based on 6 gauge technology.
They are so thick and so stiff that I have to use cable elevators so I don't break anything off my Ultra or my Dahlquists. And at 8 feet, my new room configuration barely has room for them to reach in a serpentine fashion (reference: The In-Laws). Think: cables too long, room too short.

http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/description/xstream-speaker-cables1?cat=cable-classics

So, is it possible that these monstrosities can be HARMFUL to the sound? Like too much of a good thing?
Or, are they simply unnecessary?

Anybody wanna make an offer?

Paul

gjs_cds

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #11 on: 7 Feb 2009, 09:42 pm »
Wayner... did you have to?

12 gauge OFC, PartsExpress house brand. 

rockadanny

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #12 on: 7 Feb 2009, 10:29 pm »
11 guage, I think? Or was it 9? I built my cables from a recipe I found on Audioholics: three CAT-5 (twisted) per terminal (so six per speaker). Whatever that equates to.

richidoo

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #13 on: 7 Feb 2009, 10:58 pm »
5ga JPS SuperConductor 3   :thumb:

So, is it possible that these monstrosities can be HARMFUL to the sound? Like too much of a good thing?
Or, are they simply unnecessary?

As any lady audiophile will attest, you can have too much length, but never too much girth. ;) 

oneinthepipe

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #14 on: 7 Feb 2009, 11:09 pm »
As any lady audiophile will attest, you can have too much length, but never too much girth. ;) 

Wayner commented that his wire was overly stiff, but he is no lady.

martyo

Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #15 on: 7 Feb 2009, 11:22 pm »
10ga. Belden 5T00UP and Bi-wired.  aa  8)

Same wire as rlee8394 except not the white.

Brett Buck

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #16 on: 7 Feb 2009, 11:51 pm »
Just wondering what gauge your running with your AVA amp?

     I have 12-gauge on one system, and 16-gauge on the other. Neither is anything demanding in terms of run length. I got the 12-gauge because it was on sale.

     Brett

TerryO

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #17 on: 8 Feb 2009, 12:09 am »
My speaker wires are also Belden 5000UE (12 gauge).  Previously, I used a quad cable of 14 gauge wire from monoprice, and there were 2 wires per terminal (as with baumer's system, posted above).  I don't know what the gauge equivalent is with 2x14 gauge.  Maybe it is still 14 gauge. 

Pipe,
The old rule of thumb for estimating equivalent wire gauge achieved by doubling a run of the same gauge wire is to simply subtract "3" from the nominal gauge of the wire.

example: Two wires of 14 awg is  14-3 = 11 awg, so two 14 awg positive and two 14 awg negative would be pretty much the equivalent of a 11awg positive and a 11awg negative wire.

Best Regards,
TerryO

geezer

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #18 on: 8 Feb 2009, 02:30 am »
My speaker wires are also Belden 5000UE (12 gauge).  Previously, I used a quad cable of 14 gauge wire from monoprice, and there were 2 wires per terminal (as with baumer's system, posted above).  I don't know what the gauge equivalent is with 2x14 gauge.  Maybe it is still 14 gauge. 

Pipe,
The old rule of thumb for estimating equivalent wire gauge achieved by doubling a run of the same gauge wire is to simply subtract "3" from the nominal gauge of the wire.

example: Two wires of 14 awg is  14-3 = 11 awg, so two 14 awg positive and two 14 awg negative would be pretty much the equivalent of a 11awg positive and a 11awg negative wire.

Best Regards,
TerryO

A year and a half ago I bought a pair of Gallo 3.1 ref spkrs. When the seller installed them, and he learned that I was going to connect them, as has been my habit, with 14 ga zip cord, he was shocked (so to speak). Since he couldn't stand the idea of connecting AVA 550s to the Gallos, he insisted in providing a set of speaker cables for me (at no charge). I thought it would be impolite not to use them, so they're still connected.

I don't know anything about them, and I'm asking anyone who is familiar with them to tell me what they think of them. The cable has four 16 ga wires within a purple sheath. The wires are paralleled two by two so it's equivalent (according to the above rule of thumb) of a pair of 13 gauge wires. The printing on the sheath says "waveguide 3".

Can anyone enlighten me?

oneinthepipe

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Re: What gauge wire are your speaker cables?
« Reply #19 on: 8 Feb 2009, 02:38 am »
A year and a half ago I bought a pair of Gallo 3.1 ref spkrs. When the seller installed them, and he learned that I was going to connect them, as has been my habit, with 14 ga zip cord, he was shocked (so to speak). Since he couldn't stand the idea of connecting AVA 550s to the Gallos, he insisted in providing a set of speaker cables for me (at no charge). I thought it would be impolite not to use them, so they're still connected.

I don't know anything about them, and I'm asking anyone who is familiar with them to tell me what they think of them. The cable has four 16 ga wires within a purple sheath. The wires are paralleled two by two so it's equivalent (according to the above rule of thumb) of a pair of 13 gauge wires. The printing on the sheath says "waveguide 3".

Can anyone enlighten me?

They are 4 conductor, 16 gauge wire.

Here is the link:     

http://www.straightwire.com/custom.html

This is their description of a particular interconnect, not a speaker wire:   

"All dynamic constraints are eliminated; remaining is the most holographically believable soundscape, capable of transporting the listener to the original recording space. With Crescendo, music more than captivates the listener. You'll distinguish each musician and their instrument. Without the slightest hint of grain or glare, you'll take in every ounce of detail, allowing you to hear the entire performance venue. This component is for a select few who have the resources and environment to truly appreciate such a cable."