Speaker Cables

it is of course system dependent as well as dependent on listener tastes, but having said that proacs (and d30r's specifically, which i have) tend to highlight the treble and lean out the midbass a bit, so best to use all copper cables that provide some warmth... no silver/silver plating...

tuneful cables of brooklyn makes very affordable cables using belden 9497 copper with excellent terminations... it would be a very cost effective very good sounding place to start... not to say others won't work well

@nonoise @cakyol @decooney

hey guys, i need some quick advice (apologies for the minor threadjack)

as sort of a mini diy project, i am thinking about changing out the internal wiring inside a lovely old set of spendor sp1’s... got into this as i wanted to swap the old cheapie binding posts for better, more modern ones... i have confirmed all the drivers and crossover components are all fine in the set, but noticed the fairly basic wires that run inside from binding posts to crossover, then c-o to the three drivers

i need what they call ’hook-up’ wire, in that they are just a single conductor with red and black sleeving - not the internally bundled 2 or 4 conductors inside an outer sleeve type typically used e.g., canare 4s11 etc etc... in particular, i think i would like to do thicker gauge wire to feed c-o’s and the woofers, and maybe a sweet sounding silver plated wire to run from the c-o’s to the tweeter and super tweeter

some stuff i found on the net:

https://www.thecableco.com/diy-cables-and-connectors/bulk-internal-hook-up-wire/11-5-awg-chassis-bulk-wire.html

https://silversonic.com/products/hookup-wire/ofh-12/

https://silversonic.com/products/hookup-wire/ofh-20

https://gothamcable.com/en/gothamcables/Hook-Up-Wires/90141-14-AWG

thoughts and recommendations?

thanks all for advice and suggestions

@cakyol - what is the significance/importance of tin-plating on hook up wire? the cardas hookup wire spec says it is multi strand ’litz wire’ - won’t that cause termination/issues? ... i am a bit concerned the 8 ga wire you suggested might be a little hard to work with... but they have thinner wire, thinking 12 gauge would be sufficient

also -- point noted on overheating risk to crossover board... spendor thought of this evidently as the c-o pcb connections are using slide-on spade connectors --> https://www.te.com/usa-en/product-640903-1.html?te_bu=Cor&te_type=srch&te_campaign=ggl_usa_c...

will stay away from the home depot wire for sure, the idea is to get some decent wire in there -- but damn, some of that neotech and dueland stuff is pricey for plain ol copper wire! (put audiophile label on it, double the price! 🤭)

thanks again @cakyol @pesky_wabbit @decooney @twoleftears and others for your advice and good points

yes i did check - and the spendor crossovers used high quality box poly capacitors known to stay stable over the years - am glad to stay away from cap replacement given their tricky measured vs listed values, esr’s etc etc - spendor evidently went to great mains to match and select caps way back to their manufacture of the bc1 and successors

tinned ends or solder cups points noted 👍👍

oh cool... i am happy to be corrected on this

looks like a solid no nonsense product... pure copper makes perfect sense for proac... a little warmth, expansive bass with no added sizzle, which the speakers do not need

couldn’t find it on the audioconnection website though... maybe it is buried somewhere i missed

proac doesn't make its own branded speaker cables as far as i know...