Best low cost speaker cables for my system?


I have Creek 5350, Rotel 1072, B&W 703's. Mated with Transparent Powerlink Plus and Guerrilla Audio silver IC's, the system sounds well balanced and emotionally engaging. Am looking for an affordable speaker cable to complete system. Am considering DH Labs Q10 ($185 per 6' pair). I need a 24' pair of speaker cables. Anyone have any other ideas? Thanks!
stuartk

Showing 2 responses by sean

24' is too long for any speaker cable, but with that in mind, you better look for something that is reasonably low in both capacitance and inductance, heavy in gauge, relatively low in nominal impedance and has some type of geometry that isn't overly sensitive to EM fields.

Too much capacitance per foot, because of the long length required, and the amp could oscillate and / or shut down at random. Too much inductance per foot, because of the long length required, and the treble response can become rolled off and dull. Too small of a gauge of wire will increase series resistance, reducing the amount of control that the amp has over the driver. Too high of a nominal impedance and you'll decrease the power transfer characteristics of the amp. Without attention to EM fields, a long run of speaker cabling could act as an antenna.

As such, the use of a 2 x 14 gauge or 2 x 12 gauge twisted pair or 4 x 16 gauge or 4 x 14 gauge spiral wrapped star quad would be best electrically and probably economically. No matter what you choose, you're never going to get "great" performance out of your system with speaker cables this length. Nor are you going to have an easy time selling such long length speaker cables on the used market, should you decide to reconfigure your system at a later date. Sean
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Tvad's suggestion of Canare cabling is right on the money and a perfect example of what i was talking about. That is, it is a 4 x 14 gauge spiral wrapped star quad design. You can also find other similar products at Parts Express for slightly less money. Sean
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