The Thicker the better. Between the two you listed I’d go with thicker strands but the cables will be stiffer
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The better the copper, the better the sound. Triple C will sound better than OCC which in turn will sound better than OFC and so on. Of course cable geometry, construction, solid core or multistrand, plus materials used for insulation and sheath play a sifnificant role also. If making your own plenty to choose from big Japanese brands, Furutech, Nanotech, Neotech, Acoustic Revive, Oyaide (not order of preference). |
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Hi OP, In my family room I have runs of 35 and 25 feet. so expensive speaker wires are not practical. I made 4 individual cables using 10 gauge all copper Audtek wire from parts express. No silver for me! I soldered on spade connections both ends. ok I did use silver solder. Great value for longer runs or any runs. Any speaker benefits from bi wiring and eliminating jumpers. Audtek 10 AWG OFC Speaker Wire 100 ft.Audtek Electronics Part #100-029 Model: SKRL-10-100 |
@rbull11 - if you are "handy" - then take a look at this site http://www.image99.net/blog/files/d048bbacfce9bcad4a025be804771d9a-76.html They are excellent speaker cables that outperform many "branded products" Read more member opinions here... The thread discusses all cable types so you might need ot search for speaker cable comments specifically If you have any questions about the Helix cables just ask Regards - Steve |
+ 1 williewonka If the runs are really long, shorten them up. If you have to make your own unless it's an RCA don't solder anything if you can. Pressure weld or use securements of like alloy. Silver terminal ends use silver screws. |
From the test build I've made, the thinner the wire the better was the bass spectrum. My understanding is that the thinner the wire the more the whole cable act as a solid cables because the strands are more in electrical contact with each other as opposed to larger strands. Being more stiff, the larger strands will push off each other resulting in a sound more akin to a litz cable configuration. Resistance of wire is not linear, at low frequency it is function of the diameter of the wire and as frequency rises inductance takes over and the resistance rises. A larger diameter conductor will reduce the low frequency resistance, shifting the tonal response toward the lows end. |
Sounds like that will due as budget speaker cable. If you have speakers an an audio system that is focused on high sound quality. Then you need to look at high quality speaker cables manufactured in descrete lengths for the specific purpose. These will cost many hundreds or thousands of dollars. I have a very high end system, mine cost nearly $5K. The ones I had for the previous 30 years cost $3.5K. I would think of them as an active component in your system. 5 - 10% the value of your system. |
@petg60 What does triple C stand for? I know OCC is Ohno Continuous Cast. The Furutech mentioned above combines OCC with DUCC. I don't know what DUCC is either. Does anyone know? |
I understand OFC, OCC, UP-OCC, after that I could care less. I have a buddy that paid 10K for OFC/teflon/tungsten. They still sound great. He tried to sell them for 2K not even an offer. I'm very sure after new terminal ends, and adding a construct or two, they would be right up there with other great cables. The great thing about some older cables they are broke in and just need a little TLC. Terminal ends that are pressure welded with contact enhancers were rare 20 years ago. You can DIY for the cost of a few tools now.. Graphene dust, 2 ounces will last a lifetime for cable building. 50.00 dollars.. It's not what you use as much as how you use it.. williewonka used OFC at one point.. They were still great cables.. Some were wound the wrong direction, they still sounded good.. :-) |
Triple C is a different and an advanced forging process and stands for "Continuous Crystal Construction" Copper is compressed to 70% by forging tens of thousands of times by gradual application of pressure with a fixed angle and direction. (The constant angle continuation transfer forging method). By using this forging process, the transverse crystal grain boundary changes and becomes more longitudinal, crystals now have consecutive connections which makes current flow extremely smooth. In addition, by forging, the conductor density is dramatically improved by destroying the internal air grains. This, in turn, improves the conductivity and the acoustic signature of the copper. Now sonicaly with CCC you get a smoother, cleaner and more refined sound, better extension at extremes, tighter bass, but sacrifice a tiny little of mid sweetness and weight compared to PCOCC. This is my sounding understanding and experience of both technologies. OCC-DUCC = Dia Ultra Crystallized Copper, is coming from Mitsubishi industries, is a different forging method to OCC but still an optimal aligned long-grain molecular stracture is created. I have no sounding experience of OCC-DUCC, but may do for in my plans is a new speaker cable and that would be either Furutech DSS-4.1 (OCC-DUCC) or Acoustic Revive SPC Reference (Triple C).
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Thank you for the explanation @petg60.! Very helpful. That's a lot of technology for connecting our components.
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