Best DIY speaker cable for newbies

Weave some Duelund.

I made a matched pair of 13 awg long speaker cables myself

Cable: Cat 8, OFC, 22awg x 8 strands = 13awg

this seller has longer runs, they don't show up in the pop-down menu, just write and ask

I bought a 50ft red run, cut it in half, cut connectors off

also 50ft black, cut ...

got two 25ft runs red and black

cut off the connectors, attach WBT type pure copper spades with pair of allen set screws

I got my OFC copper/gold plated connectors at Ali express, sometimes I order from Wish. I'm willing to wait to keep costs down, these days perhaps takes too long.

I recently made an 8' pair of speaker cables from standard 4S11.

Here is a link to 4S11G (the oxygen free copper version) and they offer custom lengths/cuts.

DeKay

I did a set of wires using Monoprice 12 awg OFC bulk cable, and was quite happy with it.

Do you need 10-12 guage wire...furez is a good diy choice...it has some different thing’s on offer...Ofc cable with foam (fep) dialectic being probably the most notable and you can tell in sound stage presentation.Have done following last summer.All have pangea xtreme connectors.

I stuck with 12 gauge for my modwright 200 a side integrated.Atc 19v2 speaker.

Canare 4s11 and 4s12 from ghent audio....canare is a really descent cable.

Furez fz4/12as... in twisted pairing...another great wire.

Mogami 3104 and 3103...stuck with the 3104 for twisted pair...great wire.

My last and current wire is vh audio 4/12 quad ...It isnt really budget so much and is the most $ out of the bunch,the cable takes a loong time to run in...It is great sounding and quite satisfied with all (vh audio) wires as a unit.I am using zavfino jumpers which really did make a nice difference.The other 2 canare 4s11 and Furez were something that i could live with...until the what if’s start.

bare wire is the best. no need to terminate and no need for solder either.

I don't know how far you are planning to get into it but I'll give you my thoughts.  You've already gotten advice all over the map so I don't know how you'll decide which advice to take. Maybe throw a dart. IMHO, any of the choices will get you 95%.  Heavy lamp cord will get you 95%.  All the tweeks and upgrades we do are looking for the last 5%, maybe the last 1%.  

I've had very good luck lately with braided cables for both interconnects and speaker cables.  I even bought one braided power cable.  I braid my own interconnects.  For speaker cables you can buy pre-braded wire usually either 16 or 24 conductors.  Cheapest on ebay and looking at the pattern and colors it obviously all comes off the same production line.  Your runs are long so that needs a heavier cable but unless you are running a lot of wpc, the 16 should be heavy enough.  It is 10ga equivalent.

Plated OFC copper is always a good choice if you weave your own.  There is lots of high quality wire that is surplus milspec out there cheap.  

Just to be clear, this is advice for a newbie making his first set.  I think these wires will do you very well.  If you have a $100K system looking for the end-all cable, then wire choice would move up higher on the priority list.

Don't know what connectors you are thinking of using but look at low mass.  This is something I'm doing.  It isn't expensive but requires some thinking.  You'll use low mass banana plugs on each end  and eventually replace your binding posts, at least on the speaker end, with low mass binding posts.  KLEI makes them.  The theory is that a large mass of metal such as the binding post and to some extent the high mass banana plug disrupts the flow of electrons through the wire.  the mechanical equivalent would be a pipe full of water with nice laminar flow headed to a far away location.  The pipe enters a large lake and exits the other side.  Sure the same amount of water exits but the laminar flow is lost and water is jumbled.  This isn't even close to a perfect analogy since water doesn't carry information on it's wavefront but it's a way to think about it.  Anyway, since you're buying connectors now it is a time to think about it.  I'm doing it because it is one of the tweeks that a DIY friend who has highly modded the best system I've ever heard uses them.

Jerry

This wire meets your criteria/price - but cheque to make sure thay can provide the length you need

• UP-OCC speaker cable
• I have purchased from Enjoyhifi and they are timely and their products are as advertized

This wire is made from UP-OCC copper, which provides the very best dynamic performance - noticeably better than OFC wire

You can use a connector like this one

• https://www.partsconnexion.com/AECO-88086
• you will need two sets
• You can choose between soldering or clamping

I perfer these, but they do need soldering

• https://www.partsconnexion.com/KLEI-83432.html
• you will only need ONE set
• Here’s my review - I show how to solder them
• http://image99.net/blog/files/tag-banana-plugs.html

Either of these are superior to bare wire connections.

Regards - Steve