Best low cost speaker cables for my system?

Tvad:Yeah, I guess I figured that as the Q10 uses both copper and silver it would likely not push the sound of the system too far in either a dark or bright direction, but this is just a guess on my part. The reviews I've read of the Q10 state that it's pretty neutral (admittedly a relative term). Value Audio will lend me a 10" demo pair to try out. If I had more cash I would likely just upgrade my current Transparent "The Wall" speaker cable to Transparent Music Wave Plus because the current tonal balance is very good, but I don't have $ 1500 to spend on speaker wire!

Just an FYI, the Q10 is actually just slightly heavier than 10 gauge, assuming the 12 and 14 awg runs are accurately sized. Should be about the same as adding another run of 20 gauge as well.
Not that you probably cared ;)

Nice to hear some votes of confidence for the DH, but Tvad, I will look into the Ramelectronics stuff as well.

Boa2 ; no cables at all , Gracie ?

Glad to hear you settled on the Q10's ...they are a bargain and should take your system to whole new level.

Stuartk, I will not comment on all of the suggestions brought up other than the Q-10 which I am using. I am sure all all are good suggestions. The DH wire is a good value and it stopped me from searching for something better. Let us know what you end up with and how it performs.

Tvad: Jeff At Value Audio states that the combined guage of the DH Q10 is 10, hence the designation, Q10. As I'm not a do-it-yourself-er, my tendency is to go with the Q10 rather than buying bulk cable and terminating it myself. The Q10 seems to address the concerns Sean brought up about long cable lengths, plus it's well reviewed and within my budget, and I trust Jeff. The salesman at AudioFX in Sacramento, where I bought my system, did not believe the lengths of speaker cable required by my room were inherently problematic, by the way. Many thanks to all for your suggestions-- Audiogon rules!

Here's a second for Speltz Anti-Cables. Most assuredly not the best, but for the money a contender. My runs are 25' and Speltz shipped it to me as a 100' spool that I cut and terminated with the supplied spades. I think I spent much less than most commercial preterminated would.

In my room, the cables do not pick up radio free Sacramento or any other nasties that my 96+dB speakers would surely spit out if they were there.

As a plus, if they don't work for you, snip the terminations off and you can make your own ic's or sell it as bulk here on the 'gon.

Enjoy.

blue jeans cable sells the belden 10 ga for about $0.60 /ft. they also sell spades and bananas to terminate. a good low cost option.

Stu,

If you look into Canare 4s11 you'll be looking into a star quad design. 4x14 refers to 4 conductors at 14 gauge each.

Sean,
Your remarks are way over my head, unfortunately. The DH Labs Q10 uses a pair of 12 guage wire and a pair of 14 guage wire within one jacket. I don't know how this compares with your suggestion of 4X14 guage "spiral wrapped star quad design".
Tvad: thanks for once again offering suggestions for my system. I will look into the Canare cabling you suggest.

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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Great choice of components. I really like your system. IMHO you might consider to devote the money to a beefier amp with higher damping factor and just go for ordinary speaker cables (wire from the hardware store) ... your speakers can probably handle at least 200 Watts. More headroom and damping is likely to give you an audible improvement. ( I am assuming that your budget is around $1000 which is enough to do an amp upgrade)

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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Every cable web site claims that the best cable is no cable. So I went that route. No cables at all. It's definitely cheaper, and provides a blacker background than any of the high priced offerings can ever hope to match.

I found the Goertz Veracity MI2 the best possible solution as far as speaker cable concerned. But still, I dont have the slightest idea how it would sound in your system to your ears. None the less, I heartily suggest to have a try. Pick upone used here, you could sell within a day if you dont like.

With the length you need you might want to give the Home Depot power cord a try. There are numerous threads about them on the AudioAsylum website and they faired pretty well against some much more expensive name brand cables in a shootout.

Thanks for the ideas!

Why not make your own. I bought some from signal cable awhile back, and its okay. But its only some standard off the shelf Belkin cable. They put a fancy sleeve on it, and mark it up a few hundred percent.

Give Frank a call at Signal Cable. I have them, along with some friends, and we all love them. Hard to beat for performance, and especially value.

With all due respect to Chatty1, the Speltz Anti-Cables were beaten badly in my system by the Xindak FS-1 cables. They're not easy to find, I believe www.nysound.com is one of the few places you can buy them, but they're worth it, IMHO. They sound glorious in my system, and they're very inexpensive. I took a chance on them and am absolutely thrilled with the results.
OTOH, I was shocked at how "hifi-ish" the Anti cables sounded in my system (Nuforce Ref 9s, Shanling t100, Audible Illusions Mod3A, Audio Physic Virgos, VPI/Blackbird, Goertz MicroPurl ICs.) I was expecting big things after all the buzz. On the plus side the 10 ft Speltz cables have great detail, nice transparency and pretty good timbre, but on the minus side they provided almost zero space around instruments, everything was smashed together, there was little presence or sense of recording space, and absolutely no depth at all. Even my old Kimber 8TC outperformed them. Maybe it's the Nuforce's causing a mismatch, I don't know. But the Anti's are going back.
And that's the good news - they have a 30 day return, will cost ya ten bucks and a little shipping, but at least you can try them in YOUR system. They did not work in mine.
Again,
if you feel like taking a chance as I did, hunt down the Xindak cable, spend your 200+ bucks, and revel in the great sound!

You also should think about trying VH audio's 12awg twisted-pair DYI cable. Treat the ends with a little progold, and you've got a very powerful and uncolored speaker cable, for less than 4 bucks a foot.

Yes - you wouldn't believe it, but the best speaker cables bar none - even the very highest price ones aren't a match for the Anti-Cables. Look at their website and believe the buzz. They are 4 dollars a foot, and I replaced all my high priced spread with these things. They are wonderful.