Using solid copper Door Bell wire as speaker wire.

When the efficacy of expensive cables or tweaks is challenged by someone who might be considered to be a skeptic about such things, especially where the claimed efficacy seems unexplainable or quantitatively counter-intuitive on the basis of generally recognized science, it is common for responses to be along the lines of "if you haven't tried it, you can't have an opinion."

It seems to me that such a response would be no less applicable to those who would challenge the efficacy of specific inexpensive or DIY cables such as those being discussed here, theoretical considerations about metal purity and other factors notwithstanding.

Regards,
-- Al

05-09-15: Geoffkait
The Mapleshade Omega Mikros are 54 ga. That's teeny tiny in technical terms.

Geoff, the second sentence of your post is certainly true. However I believe that a solid core (single strand) 54 gauge wire would have a diameter of less than 1/1000th of an inch. Not sure how one could connect such a wire to speaker and amp terminals without it breaking.

Also, for any reasonable length it would have a resistance that would be absurdly high for a speaker cable application, in the vicinity of 400 ohms for the combined resistance of two 8 foot conductors. That being a good thing, because if its resistance were low enough to not severely limit the amount of current flowing through it, and to produce reasonable volume levels and sonic results, it would either melt or go up in flames as a result of the current it would be carrying. Perhaps it would do that anyway, though.

You might want to re-check your facts on the Omega Mikros.

Regards,
-- Al
"Pseudo-skeptic" ;-)

Geoff, yes, I apparently missed the post you refer to. And your comment that you asked if I follow is subtle enough to go over my head, although my guess would be you are saying that you accidentally stepped on them and they broke.

In any event, I'll add to my previous comments that a consequence of the approximately 400 ohm combined resistance of two 8 foot lengths of 54 gauge wire would be, if used in conjunction with an 8 ohm speaker, that approximately 2% of the power being put out by the amplifier at any instant of time would be delivered to the speakers. The other 98% would be dissipated in the wires as heat. And for a 4 ohm speaker only 1% of the power output of the amp would be delivered to the speakers, with the other 99% being dissipated in the wires as heat.

Although the wires would perhaps be able to dissipate that heat without overheating, because the maximum amount of power the amplifier would be capable of putting out would be reduced from its 8 ohm power rating by an amount approaching 98% in the case of a solid state amp, or a bit less than that in the case of a tube amp.

Disclaimer: I use a Mapleshade maple platform, and Isoblock footers :-)

Peace and regards,

-- Al
"Pseudo skeptic" ;-)