It does not matter which strands you pair as long as you are consistent end to end. I have used 4S11 but for my 30 foot run I used a pair of them and did not compare 2 vs 4 strands. Since you are going for outdoor speakers, will you notice the difference? And, it may depend more on the amplifier you use and if it can handle the long run. Good luck!
Canare 4S11 two strands vs four strands
Hi, I'm going to run about 160' of speaker wire to a pair of outside speakers. I'm thinking about using Canare 4S11 which has four strands in a cable. If I understand it correctly, two strands are the equivalent of 14 gauge and 4 strands are the equivalent of 11 gauge. So if I want 14 gauge per speaker I could use one cable, but if I want 11 gauge per speaker I would need two cables.
Questions:
1. Has anyone at shorter/normal distances (say up to 30 feet or so) listened to 2 strands per speaker vs. 4 strands per speaker? Can you hear any difference?
2. Does anyone think that given the relatively long distance of 160 feet from amplifier to speakers that using 4 strands (effectively using 11 gauge vs 14 gauge) would make a sonic improvement? Would it be in gain, or some other sonic attribute? And how much of an improvement would it be (barely noticeable, clearly detectable but only in a A-B comparison, or something you'd notice instantly)?
If I could get by with 2 strands per speaker, the price for the cable (along with the conduit installation) would be less/about half since I'd only have to run one cable out to the speaker location. For what it's worth, Crutchfield shows a chart that says they recommend 14 gauge speaker wire from 80 to 200 feet, and they recommend 12 gauge for distances greater than 200 feet; according to their chart I could use 14 gauge (2 strands) per speaker - but I don't want to have to redo this, so if I need to run two Canare 4S11 cables and use four wires (two per terminal) per speaker, it's doable.
Also, one other question: if you use one cable with 4 strands per speaker and two strands per terminal, does it matter which color strands you mate together into pairs?
Thanks for sharing any experience or advice.
Hi_hifi
Questions:
1. Has anyone at shorter/normal distances (say up to 30 feet or so) listened to 2 strands per speaker vs. 4 strands per speaker? Can you hear any difference?
2. Does anyone think that given the relatively long distance of 160 feet from amplifier to speakers that using 4 strands (effectively using 11 gauge vs 14 gauge) would make a sonic improvement? Would it be in gain, or some other sonic attribute? And how much of an improvement would it be (barely noticeable, clearly detectable but only in a A-B comparison, or something you'd notice instantly)?
If I could get by with 2 strands per speaker, the price for the cable (along with the conduit installation) would be less/about half since I'd only have to run one cable out to the speaker location. For what it's worth, Crutchfield shows a chart that says they recommend 14 gauge speaker wire from 80 to 200 feet, and they recommend 12 gauge for distances greater than 200 feet; according to their chart I could use 14 gauge (2 strands) per speaker - but I don't want to have to redo this, so if I need to run two Canare 4S11 cables and use four wires (two per terminal) per speaker, it's doable.
Also, one other question: if you use one cable with 4 strands per speaker and two strands per terminal, does it matter which color strands you mate together into pairs?
Thanks for sharing any experience or advice.
Hi_hifi