2. cables
  3. 1172234678

What's the best speaker cable for a 20ft run?

I know. I know. Oh, Gawd! Not this question, again? Well, basically, yeah. Tough, though. I still need an answer. My ignorance is quite resilient. So here goes the specifics. (And no "short/long ic vs short/long spkr cable" debating. We can fail to resolve that issue on a different thread.)
My modified Jadis DPL pre is driving three amps: two modified GTA SE-40 class A tubed ones running at eighty watts each in dual mono and a stereo YBA class A solid state one that has forty per side.
Each of the SE-40's is driving one of the electrostatic panels on my modified Martin Logan Sequel IIs. The YBA amp is powering the woofers (after the signal reaching it has been attenuated to match the gain of the other amps).
I'd like to stay in the Anticable/Audio Art/Analysis Plus price range. I would be very hesitant to use different cables on the woofers than on the panels. Also, I tend to like solid core as well as copper. But I'm listening.
So guys (and dolls), whadya think?
nietzschelover

Showing 2 responses by nietzschelover

nietzschelover's avatar
nietzschelover OP
93 posts
 
Thanks for your responses. Now, I have some good suggested brands/models to use as my "references" (Kimber, Canare, Romex) and some criteria to select cables with which to compare them (at least 11 ga with low capacitance).
Now, what about this?
Do think that, in some situations, it might be ideal to biwire with different cables running to the woofers than to the panels? But, however, though, isn't the easiest way to make sure you don't screw things up doing that is to, well, uh, not do that. Maybe that was a dumb question. Maybe the question should be: What are options in choosing to use differing cables and what criteria should I use to determine them? Wouldn't I need to know a lot about the two different loads, as well as, the behavior of the crosssover?
Again, thanks a lot, guys!
nietzschelover's avatar
nietzschelover OP
93 posts
 
Here's a specific example I can give you: Paul Speltz lists the capacitance for his Anti-Cables as: 0.002nF/foot run.
However, his cables are only 12 ga. No problem, right? Because he sells them "shotgunned", so now you have two 12 ga cables doing the work of an 11 ga one. And that's great because 12 ga + 12 ga = uh, 24 ga? 1,212 ga? Ah, how the heck would I know?
But, the point is, wouldn't you also get, besides the, as yet unquantified, increased gauge, an concomitant increase in capacitance where, now, total capacitance = 0.004nF/foot run?
And, would that be an acceptable level?
Again, Thanks
More to discover