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How to select a good Speaker Cable

Speaker cables do have a significant role in how our system sounds. Different cables sound different. 

So which one is the right one for you?

The Speaker Cable is an extension of the Amp. and not an addition to the speaker's load. It shall have a certain resistance (low) not to spoil the Amp's DF figure. As so, it can be calculated and there is a formula to do it.

The higher the Amp's DF, the lower the Speaker Cable's resistance shall be. As today SS power Amp's get DFs of 400 and above (Digital Amps go by thousands) the cable of 10 ft (3m) long, gets as thick as 0 AWG.

I can see your eyebrows elevates, when that thick cable is to be deal with. Most Speaker Cable makers skip it because of that. So most cables on the market (regardless of the look or price) are of 14-12 AWG. Way less that supposed to be.

Worst! no Speaker Cable maker, dealer or seller knows the answer, of what is the correct cable for your system. 

So most of us ended up, with a cables too thin for the task.

A conducted test, on this site, about a year ago as well as with some closer friends, shows a significant improvement with a calculated size cable over their previous cable. The results were all positive and preferred the calculated cable.

So, instead of asking: which of two brands, or two prices or two colors of Speaker Cable do I need, you should ask how thick of a Speaker Cable do I need.

I'll be happy to provide you the calculation, for who request it. All you need to provide is:

1). Length (Ft. or meter)

2). The Amp's DF figure.

Thanks


128x128b4icu
b4icu's avatar
b4icu OP
553 posts
 
Mr. cooperjack

What kind of a joke is this?
Are you a sales agent of this firm?
Is there any guideline to tell you what cable you need, regardless of what information is required for that?
Do you think that one cable for all works?
What makes one cable of this firm any better than another, or some other maker's cable?
Is the cheep price going to make you forget the bad quality?
cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
Follow the flowchart:

1) If your amp is more than 200 Watts/channel use a 10 gauge or less copper only wire.
    If power is less than that, use a 12 gauge copper only wire.

2) If the wire length is less than about 8-10 feet, stop.  You are done.

3) If you here, verify that your wire is longer than 10 feet.  If not, go back to step 2.

4) Choose a wire based on 1 and 2 above and in addition...

5) Pick a wire with low stray inductance and capacitance.



audiofool1
35 posts
 
b4icu, I am currently using Nordost Heimdall 2 speaker cables 2meter. My solid state amp has a high damping factor of 4000. Here is the mfg spec for this cable. I am interested to see your results. Thanks for the effort in advance. 
b4icu's avatar
b4icu OP
553 posts
 
Mr. cakyol

Your flowchart is funny / wrong.
Nice try.
Well, the resistance of a conductive wire as copper, is:
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circuits/Lesson-3/Resistance

R = p x L / S
When p is the constant resistance of the material (copper)
L is the length in Meters
S is the cross section in square millimeters.

As so, when a given cable's length increase, so is its resistance.
The way to compensate on length (to keep the same resistance) the  cross section need to be higher.

so, the same calculated resistance, is effected by the cable length - in a linear relation. Double the length (from 7.5ft. to 15 ft.) the R (resistance doubles too.
To keep it the same S need to Double too.
If you ref. to the AWG table, the increase in # AWG number (from 7 to 8)
is not half the resistance. If you would like to have 1/2 the resistance, from a #12, you would need to use #9 awg. and if you need 1/2 of that it would be a #6.
So it gets 1/2 the resistance every #3 awg steps.

Yes, it's better to keep the cables short.
If the length is a must (too far from Amp), you step into thicker cables.
If you can use monoblocks, place them back to back to the speakers, and connect them with very short jumpers (10" of less), is the best.
Never seen one on a demo!

b4icu's avatar
b4icu OP
553 posts
 
Mr. audiofool1

Your Nordost Heimdall 2 spec 
https://www.nordost.com/norse2/heimdall2/heimdall2-speaker-cable.php
calles for a 18x22awg = (52.9392 ohms per 1,000m) / 18 = 2.941 ohms.
That is the equivalent of ~ #9 awg. (a bit less).

For a 2m cable for a DF of 4000 (very high!) an 8 x 0 awg is required!
That is a very hard one to find or make. 



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