Best wire to connect amplifier binding posts?


I would like to know what is the best wire to use to connect the outputs of an amplifier to its binding posts.

In particular I'd like to know what the recommendations are with regard to:

* Conductor material: copper, OCC copper, silver

* Conductor construction: solid core, stranded, Litz

* Conductor gauge

* Insulation material
wcvb
It may depend somewhat on whether you like your existing speaker cables. If you're not looking to substantially upgrade them, then you might want to take your cue from their construction to a degree (whether OCC copper or silver, for example). OCC is much better IME than almost anything (certainly anything that's more conventional, anyway). OCC copper gives more organic pacing and more overall warmth...particularly in the lower mids. Silver in general tends to have cleaner highs and a smooth, detailed and grainfree sound, though tends to be a little cool sounding compared to copper.

People tend to use various geometries in this application and there are likey few, if any that could be said to not work in runs this short. As for gauge, you may want to consult someone with more an engineering backgrond than me, but it will likely depend on the output power of your amp/how long you expect your speaker cables to run, etc. Manufacturers often skimp here, so getting the gauge right can be good thing.

As for insulation, of course: less is more. In an amp, one of the best insulations IMO would be unbleached cotton (like at Parts Connexion), being that it's dry enough on the inside to not be any problem with any of cotton's tendancy to absorb moiture.

But, in all cases, a run of wiring will not likely have a huge impact on the character of the sound (unless something is amiss with your current choice, really), but can't help but imagine that getting it right in these respects is best. Regards.
Use the following link to figure out gauge:
http://www.csgnetwork.com/wiresizecalc.html

This link has minimal voltage 120V, but all you need to know is output power of your amp.

For example if your amplifier delivers 200wpc, you should specify 2 amps. Use the following Ohm's Law formula Power = product of Voltage and Current thus specifying 2 amps you figure out gauge for 240Watts.

If you have large power amp to avoid large gauge of single conductor i'd recommend to use stranded wire to avoid skin effect. The skin effect tolerances you can view from the following chart: http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm and if the tolerance level is high for a specific gauge you'll calculate, using single conductor wire will be more efficient vs. stranded but just by very small notch.
I use DH labs Silver Sonic T-14. Why? Because I have a bunch of it on hand and it's easy to work with.
Skin effect at audio frequencies is a total non-issue. You really don't see the effects until you're up into the MHz+ bands.

Just make sure the wire you use is of good quality and of sufficient gauge to support the anticipated power plus a little extra....

-RW-
RW is partially right with exception to wide bandwidth amps that may actually suffer from such.
I love the sound of solid core copper and always use it in my amps and speakers. Simply sounds better to my ears. Less fuzz and better focus and imaging based on my experience. I build 3 runs of solid core 14-16 gauge teflon coated wire twisted together and like to shield vs not shield.

Makes great speaker cable and power cords also!
As a comparison, it is interesting to look at the wires within speakers. The very high end speakers can have exotic types of wire, but others usually have pretty ordinary looking wire. Of course the runs are pretty short, but it is interesting that people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on exotic speaker wire that then feeds into very ordinary wire within the speaker. That said, my speaker cables cost 25% of the cost of my speakers :)
Dtc you are absolutely correct. Fancy wires are expensive just because they're exotic, good looking and certainly not because of engineering or cost of materials. Adding a dedicated oak box with some exotic company logo will make them even more fancy.
Silver plated copper in teflon or Cardas litz wire in teflon. Pvc and pe dont take the heat as well. Jallen