14/4 wire for speakers- good idea? Bad idea?

@argon66 - you might want to consider the Van den Hul CS-122 bulk cable.

VdH’s D-352 provides better bass, but it’s a little more expensige

The CS-122 is a great sounding bulk cable and extremely well made.
http://www.vandenhul.com/products/cables/cs-122-hybrid-halogen-free

You can "augment" the clarity and dynamic performance simply by removing the flat center insulator strip and spacing the conductors approximately 1" (or wider) apart. You don’t have to be accurate with the spacing either - just keep the two conductors separated.

This cable is designed for car audio use - hence the little strip of insulator in the middle - keeps things neat and tidy

I’ve tried splitting the conductors with the CS-122 and the D352 and they perform so much better.

Beware of counterfeit products on the web.

I had them in my systems for many years - until I was introduced to the KLE Innovations speaker cables - then I developed my own and the rest is history
http://image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-speaker-cable.html

Also - if you are using banana plugs on your cables - you might want to consider these
http://image99.net/blog/files/f6ae775e30339e2b0375b739988237b7-77.html

The are by far the best Banana plugs I have ever tried - bar none. The provide the best clarity, dyamics, image, bass and control

Good luck with your quest - steve

Excellent insight guys. 
My gear is not super high end...but certainly not cheap, so I most certainly want to benefit from the dollars spent to date....let alone have a configuration that may create havoc between speakers and amp. 

Point of note Im currently running a Bryston 3B3 into Volent VL3 Speakers. My preamps (phono and preamp are all tube...Zesto and Lamm ll2.1 respectively). I started upgrading interconnects with a mix of Morrow and Transparent cables (all about 200 bucks used). 

Sounds like its time I did something with a better design for speaker cables now. 

More suggestions in the $200+ used range?

High end manufacturers don’t use this configuration, AFIK. (talking about starquad and equivalents)

It’s just that it is excellent and right in the correct area of design and requirements for big clubs or house systems, or concert performances, traveling road shows, etc.

Pro does not equal ’good’ or ’best’ ....It merely equals the requirements for pro use in ways that work and don’t fail. Functionality and not failing, the two big points. Performance quality is third or lower on the list.

If anyone asked my opinion on this for high end set ups, I'd say no, don't. For a few dollars more or spent differently, far better audio quality can be found. Star quad and equivalents are for ripping your face off with long term all day +1kw peaks on bass bins, flying monitors, 50-100 ft runs, and so on.

@argon66 - Cable geometry is key to producing a good cable, whether it be IC;s, Speaker or power cables.

Twisting the ends of a 4 conductor cable can be beneficial or detrimental - it all depends on the geometry of the conductors inside the sleeve and the conductors that you select to twist together
- you WILL also affect the capacitance and inductance of the cable which may be detrimental to the amp - some solid state amps (like NAIM, AYRE) can be driven into oscillation if a high capacitance cable is connected and you end up burning out the circuit.

I prefer to take a different approach...
http://www.image99.net/blog/files/d048bbacfce9bcad4a025be804771d9a-76.html.

This will approach almost eliminates any interference between conductors resulting in an extremely low noise cable

It also has low capacitance AND inductance parameters making it ideal for most amps and speakers.

@toddverrone, has provided a link to the Helix power cable above - he has tried all of the Helix Cables on my site - I think he likes them :-)

I’ve spent 4-5 years trying different geometries and conductors and the HELIX cables are the net result. The conductors identified on the site provide what I consider to be the best bang for the buck

I have compared them at length to a few commercially available cables costing substantially more (up to $2000) and the HELIX has the edge across the board everytime - i.e. dynamics, clarity, image, control etc...

Personally - I would NOT advise taking your approach - sorry :-(
It might work now - but it could damage other amps you might buy in future.
- it happened to a friend of mine with his Ayre - and he was using Cardas Cables

Regards - Steve

So to be clear cable in 4 or more seperate bundles twisted at the ends is not as effective or have the same properties as one braided strand? 

Thanks. 

Yep, the higher end manufacturers does it this way and they are all wrong. Who in their right mind would even think of using such tiny cablage to feed a poweramp? Then why in h**l use such tiny strands on the low voltage secondary site?  

I think once twined at the ends it is effectively 11 guage. If higher end manufacturers use this design then it looks to be a sweet deal unless I’m missing something. I’m also doing bare wire termination. 

why 14/4 would be a bad idea? Don’t they self-immune against external magnetic fields and produce low inductance, not too mention low resistance? Starquads are just fine. Many designers are using this geometry - Canare, Mogami, audioquest come to mind.

I use that for my surrounds, side and rear. I would use a larger gauge wire for the front speakers. Don't know how far they are positioned from your amp, So 12 or even 10 Ga.might be better.

It's not a bad idea.. 

What you'll find with cables is that the materials and geometry can make a big difference. 

So, there's a good possibility you'll hear differences using different cables. Whether or not it's an improvement depends on all the other parts of your system.

If you'd like to experiment somewhat cheaply, DIY is a great way to start without dropping loads of cash. Here's a good resource: http://www.image99.net/blog/files/be8de0c383c5434907610d6b55049e69-75.html

DIY is great for isolation as well. I use springs from Grainger under my components for isolation.

Is it Canare 'star quad'?

That stuff always worked well for big bar installs. Used to buy it by the roll....