Using two different types of speaker wire
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knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
M,M,&H - Barefoot, who it seems is much deeper into the finer points of speaker design, as in, he IS a designer - has taken exception to my claims of hearing noticeable differences using heavier gauge wire for speaker leads. I've always been a "hands on" type of tech (for the last 36 years) and after I heard so much difference between light and heavy speaker leads, tried to figure out an explanation. It made sense to me, but apparently my thinking left out some theory that Barefoot was much more in tune with. As I said, he apparently designs speakers - I only use them, and apparently with less than total understanding. I am hoping to remedy that situation, at least in part, when Barefoot gets enough time to post back as he plans to do. In the mean time, since wire is not the most expensive thing you can buy, if it were me I would still get the heaviest gauge wire you can fit to your terminals. It won't hurt anything, and may help.
As to the parallel running of different wires, this is the reasoning: There is almost no chance of an average studio ending up with a "perfect" grounding system, although some have tried, and come pretty close. So, any and all low level signal wires are susceptible to picking up hum from power wires. Also, in the case of speaker wires, a high power system generates maybe 6 amps of current in the speaker leads at 300 watts. If low level signal cables, such as mic cables, guitar cables, etc, are run so that they are close to and parallel to these speaker leads, it is possible to get feedback because of wire location. Think of these wires as coils in a transformer, whose job it is to take advantage of inductive coupling. Only in the case of speaker leads vs. mic leads, we DON'T want transformers happening accidentally. The way to keep all this from happening, especially in a studio, is to run low level signal wires at right angles (90 degrees) to power and speaker leads wherever such wires need to go to the same places. In an equipment rack, the way I do this is to buy cable trough (Panduit and others make this) and run troughs top to bottom at the rear of each side of the rack. I then run power leads horizontally to one side and down the trough to power strips at the bottom, and I run audio cables horizonatally to the OTHER side, then UP the trough to at least the middle of the rack, depending on how tall the rack is. This is then my common entrance/exit point for audio, whereas all power comes in the bottom. I don't use the bottom few spaces of the rack for anything except fans if necessary - preferably not even that. If the rack has MIDI and/or digital audio cabling, I run it in a third trough mounted parallel to but about 4-5" away from, the audio trough. The current levels encountered in MIDI and digital cables are generally not enough to cause any crosstalk even when run close to audio, but I'd rather not take chances - hence the 4-5" gap. One of the BIGGEST PITA's IMO are wall warts. They can cause hum in an 18" Beldfoil shielded TS cable if it's too close. I've had it happen to me or I wouldn't have believed it. My solution to the wall-wart mess is to get power strips that have 7 outlets each, arranged so that the outlets are 90 degrees different than a standard wall outlet. These will let you use every other outlet for a wall wart, for a total of 4 warts per strip. One of my racks has 4 of these strips mounted in the bottom, 3 of which are full of transformers and the other has regular line cords plugged in. They all are fed from a standard light switch at the front of the rack, which has a custom guard around the switch so it can't be accidentally switched on or off. Sorry, got a little carried away compared to your questions - However, this is all stuff you may find helpful when setting up your own studios...
On the subject of soldering, here are a couple of threads from a board I help moderate - should get you started on the right track -
http://www.recording.org/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000182
http://www.recording.org/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000192
"by the way...how can i measure gauges?" Shackrock, there are a couple of ways to do this. One, if the wire is insulated, is to read the writing on the insulation. Almost every type of wire you see has this info printed on it. Another would be to get a copy of a book called (no kidding, this is really the name) Ugly's electrical references - and a dial caliper. Then you can measure the diameter of the wire and compare it to the tables of wire sizes. (This book is available at some Home Depot's, in the electrical dept. ) Keep in mind that stranded wire crushes and is nearly impossible to measure the diameter exactly, although you can get close with care.
This post is probably long enough for now, hope somebody got something out of it... Steve
As to the parallel running of different wires, this is the reasoning: There is almost no chance of an average studio ending up with a "perfect" grounding system, although some have tried, and come pretty close. So, any and all low level signal wires are susceptible to picking up hum from power wires. Also, in the case of speaker wires, a high power system generates maybe 6 amps of current in the speaker leads at 300 watts. If low level signal cables, such as mic cables, guitar cables, etc, are run so that they are close to and parallel to these speaker leads, it is possible to get feedback because of wire location. Think of these wires as coils in a transformer, whose job it is to take advantage of inductive coupling. Only in the case of speaker leads vs. mic leads, we DON'T want transformers happening accidentally. The way to keep all this from happening, especially in a studio, is to run low level signal wires at right angles (90 degrees) to power and speaker leads wherever such wires need to go to the same places. In an equipment rack, the way I do this is to buy cable trough (Panduit and others make this) and run troughs top to bottom at the rear of each side of the rack. I then run power leads horizontally to one side and down the trough to power strips at the bottom, and I run audio cables horizonatally to the OTHER side, then UP the trough to at least the middle of the rack, depending on how tall the rack is. This is then my common entrance/exit point for audio, whereas all power comes in the bottom. I don't use the bottom few spaces of the rack for anything except fans if necessary - preferably not even that. If the rack has MIDI and/or digital audio cabling, I run it in a third trough mounted parallel to but about 4-5" away from, the audio trough. The current levels encountered in MIDI and digital cables are generally not enough to cause any crosstalk even when run close to audio, but I'd rather not take chances - hence the 4-5" gap. One of the BIGGEST PITA's IMO are wall warts. They can cause hum in an 18" Beldfoil shielded TS cable if it's too close. I've had it happen to me or I wouldn't have believed it. My solution to the wall-wart mess is to get power strips that have 7 outlets each, arranged so that the outlets are 90 degrees different than a standard wall outlet. These will let you use every other outlet for a wall wart, for a total of 4 warts per strip. One of my racks has 4 of these strips mounted in the bottom, 3 of which are full of transformers and the other has regular line cords plugged in. They all are fed from a standard light switch at the front of the rack, which has a custom guard around the switch so it can't be accidentally switched on or off. Sorry, got a little carried away compared to your questions - However, this is all stuff you may find helpful when setting up your own studios...
On the subject of soldering, here are a couple of threads from a board I help moderate - should get you started on the right track -
http://www.recording.org/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000182
http://www.recording.org/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000192
"by the way...how can i measure gauges?" Shackrock, there are a couple of ways to do this. One, if the wire is insulated, is to read the writing on the insulation. Almost every type of wire you see has this info printed on it. Another would be to get a copy of a book called (no kidding, this is really the name) Ugly's electrical references - and a dial caliper. Then you can measure the diameter of the wire and compare it to the tables of wire sizes. (This book is available at some Home Depot's, in the electrical dept. ) Keep in mind that stranded wire crushes and is nearly impossible to measure the diameter exactly, although you can get close with care.
This post is probably long enough for now, hope somebody got something out of it... Steve
Me myself & him
New member
knightfly said:
Good, cause I was probably going to get it anyway.
Also, I'm worried now because the back of my rack faces a power strip and my speaker wire is about 30 feet and is running all amongst the power cables. I have a very very crowded setup in a small house. (We've been moving for 3 years now
)The amp is in the bottom of the rack and the speaker wires go the same direction as the power cables of the instruments and pass the power strip on their way to the monitors. I'm not sure if I have enough space in this area of the room to make a 90 degree angle.
I think I need to rearrange stuff.
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
The good news is that speaker wires vs. power wires usually only causes a fixed amount of hum, and only in the speakers. Normally it won't get recorded, it's just irritating to listen to and hard to get a good mix because of the constant 60 hZ added to what you hear. The trick to improvement is to leave everything hooked up and turned on, then move wires around, usually farther apart and not parallel, until the hum decreases. If you can, shorten your speaker leads and try to go as directly as possible from the power amp to the speakers. If you have any wall warts in the power strip, see if you can "remote" them with 6' lamp extension cords, and put them in a corner as far away from the rest of the wiring as possible. Sometimes rotating the wall wart will change the field it puts out - with it plugged into an extension cord, this can be done, again while listening to the hum level. Hope this helps some... Steve
Me myself & him
New member
Yeah, it does help, especially the extension cord idea. MAN! I never knew electricity was this complex. I have alot to learn.
Me myself & him
New member
How can I tell if the cable I have is in fact a shelded instrument cable?
All I can tell you is that the two wires seem to be exactly the same color, not like in speaker cable. Also the cable is thicker than the usual cables I use for my instruments.
And if it is, can I go ahead and cut it, put 1/4" jacks on it and use it for...... well...... instrument cable?
Also, Is it okay to plug the extension cord into the same power strip I originally had the wall warts in?
All I can tell you is that the two wires seem to be exactly the same color, not like in speaker cable. Also the cable is thicker than the usual cables I use for my instruments.
And if it is, can I go ahead and cut it, put 1/4" jacks on it and use it for...... well...... instrument cable?
Also, Is it okay to plug the extension cord into the same power strip I originally had the wall warts in?
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
Glad the extension cord helped some. I'm not sure I understand what cable you are starting with, as far as being able to tell what kind it is. If you are talking about a ready-made cable and need to know if it is shielded, this may or may not be do-able without destroying the cable. Some ready-made cables use molded-on connectors, so you can't open the connector to see what the cable itself looks like. If this is the case, you're screwed. If you're talking about a ready-made cable with metal, removable ends, then you can un-screw the handle from the connector and see what the cable itself looks like. If the cable looks like a glorified extension cord with two nearly identical looking wires, then it is a SPEAKER cable and is not shielded. If the cable has a wrap-around foil or woven metal cover just underneath the outer insulation that has been gathered together, twisted together, and soldered to the ground of the connector, then the cable is SHIELDED and should NOT be used for speaker wires.
If you were asking about bulk cable with no ends on it, the easiest way to identify what you have is look at the clean-cut end of the cable. If you see something shiny and metallic surrounding the conductors, just under the outer covering, it is shielded. You can see this better by taking a thumbnail and trying to pull back the outer covering slightly. If you see metal of any kind, other than the center conductor(s), the cable is shielded.
Speaker wire comes in all sizes/colors/jackets. Some looks just like a two-prong extension cord, because it is. Some has two conductors that only differ by the fact that one is copper-colored and one is silver. Most flat two-wire cord will also have the insulation marked, although this is sometimes not evident. One way these cables are marked is to emboss a dotted line into one of the two halves of insulation. Another way is to have a ridge running along the outside of one of the halves of the insulation. Some ROUND speaker cord has a filler material inside with two different colored wires, usually clear and black or red and black, sometimes black and white or red and white. If your cable is flat or oval, it is probably unshielded. if its round but spiral looking, it could be either shielded or not. Check it as I mentioned above, for the metal just under the outer covering. Same if the cable is round and smooth.
Grounding can (does) fill several textbooks in itself. If you do your best to separate the extension cord to your wall wart from instrument and speaker wires, it probably won't be a problem. You can kind of think of a wall wart as half a mile of AC cord running next to your signal wire, vs. 6 feet. (Really simple analogy here) so, having your cables sort of close to the extension cord is probably only .01 times as bad as running them close to the transformer (wall wart). Short answer: yes, it should be ok to plug the extension cord into the power strip. Just try not to run the extension cord parallel/close to audio wires.
Recap - Don't use shielded wire for speakers. This does NOT include POWERED speakers.
Don't use UN-shielded wire for instruments/powered speakers/processors/power amp INPUTS or ANY input other than a passive speaker.
Always use as short a cables as possible UNLESS it means running power and signal close to and parallel to each other. Then, if there's a choice, generally lengthen the POWER cord and re-route it.
As long as you're not plugging/unplugging cables, the best way to try things is with speakers on and equipment powered up. Listen to the hum level (assumes a quiet room, not a beer party) as you move wires/transformers around in relation to each other. The quietest location is the best, unless it means people stepping on the wire all the time.
Yeah, there's a lot to learn - think of it this way: if you weren't so engrossed in music/studio/recording, you'd probably just be doing something stupid anyway; (general tendency, not you specifically) besides, what better way to spend all that "extra" cash none of us have, right? Hope this helped some... Steve
If you were asking about bulk cable with no ends on it, the easiest way to identify what you have is look at the clean-cut end of the cable. If you see something shiny and metallic surrounding the conductors, just under the outer covering, it is shielded. You can see this better by taking a thumbnail and trying to pull back the outer covering slightly. If you see metal of any kind, other than the center conductor(s), the cable is shielded.
Speaker wire comes in all sizes/colors/jackets. Some looks just like a two-prong extension cord, because it is. Some has two conductors that only differ by the fact that one is copper-colored and one is silver. Most flat two-wire cord will also have the insulation marked, although this is sometimes not evident. One way these cables are marked is to emboss a dotted line into one of the two halves of insulation. Another way is to have a ridge running along the outside of one of the halves of the insulation. Some ROUND speaker cord has a filler material inside with two different colored wires, usually clear and black or red and black, sometimes black and white or red and white. If your cable is flat or oval, it is probably unshielded. if its round but spiral looking, it could be either shielded or not. Check it as I mentioned above, for the metal just under the outer covering. Same if the cable is round and smooth.
Grounding can (does) fill several textbooks in itself. If you do your best to separate the extension cord to your wall wart from instrument and speaker wires, it probably won't be a problem. You can kind of think of a wall wart as half a mile of AC cord running next to your signal wire, vs. 6 feet. (Really simple analogy here) so, having your cables sort of close to the extension cord is probably only .01 times as bad as running them close to the transformer (wall wart). Short answer: yes, it should be ok to plug the extension cord into the power strip. Just try not to run the extension cord parallel/close to audio wires.
Recap - Don't use shielded wire for speakers. This does NOT include POWERED speakers.
Don't use UN-shielded wire for instruments/powered speakers/processors/power amp INPUTS or ANY input other than a passive speaker.
Always use as short a cables as possible UNLESS it means running power and signal close to and parallel to each other. Then, if there's a choice, generally lengthen the POWER cord and re-route it.
As long as you're not plugging/unplugging cables, the best way to try things is with speakers on and equipment powered up. Listen to the hum level (assumes a quiet room, not a beer party) as you move wires/transformers around in relation to each other. The quietest location is the best, unless it means people stepping on the wire all the time.
Yeah, there's a lot to learn - think of it this way: if you weren't so engrossed in music/studio/recording, you'd probably just be doing something stupid anyway; (general tendency, not you specifically) besides, what better way to spend all that "extra" cash none of us have, right? Hope this helped some... Steve
TexRoadkill
Audio Bum
Me- About the only thing I can possibly add is that if the cable does have molded ends it probably is not speaker cable. I don't recall ever seeing speaker cable like that but I could be wrong.
Knightfly and Barefoot- Do you guys know any tricks for remembering speaker impedance and power amp matchups. I can never remember when you subtract or add the numbers based on serial and parallel connections.
I guess I'm looking for something like "West Virginia" is the Wattage=Voltage*Amperage (W V A). Math has always been my weak point and I usually need to come up with goofy ways of remembering formulas. Any tricks besides 'look it up'? Thanks.
Knightfly and Barefoot- Do you guys know any tricks for remembering speaker impedance and power amp matchups. I can never remember when you subtract or add the numbers based on serial and parallel connections.
I guess I'm looking for something like "West Virginia" is the Wattage=Voltage*Amperage (W V A). Math has always been my weak point and I usually need to come up with goofy ways of remembering formulas. Any tricks besides 'look it up'? Thanks.
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
Hey TRK - first, I still have a couple of "toss-ins" - 16 ga zip cord type spkr cables that have molded 1/4" on the ends, still work fine after 20 years...
As for mnemonics, trix, etc - Don't know many that make any sense. I've been doing that part for so long it's just burned in. Another one like West Virginia is PIE - but you gotta remember to "Pee on top" - as in, draw a circle, bisect it horizonatally, P on top, I and E underneath the line, then cover the one you need the answer to. like, cover the P, it leaves you with EI - cover the E, it leaves you with P/I. Same with E=IR (I = amps, this always confuses beginners, think Induced current) Also, electricians use E as in Electromotive force, not V for volts.
AFA speaker loads, if you think of parallel loads as the power having several places to go it helps remember that it takes more current. Also, a one-lane road has a higher resistance to traffic flow - same as electricity. (serial connection) parallel loads, if all branches are the same, are easy to figure. just divide the ohms of the load(s) by the # of loads. Example: 3 8 ohm spkrs in parallel - 8/3, or 2.66666 ohms. Amp capable of 2 ohm loads? No problem. 2 8 ohm sprs in series? 8 + 8 = 16 ohms. 2 8's and a 4 ohm in series? 8+8+4, total 20 ohms. In a series circuit, same as that one lane road - NO PASSING, so the current in the series ckt is the same everywhere (OK, not internal with reactive loads at any precise moment in time, but this isn't that kind of question) Sooo, the only part that gets kinda tricky is stuff like current in non-equal parallel legs, or series/parallel resistance, where you get into taking the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals - still easy if you use a calc with a 1/x key and memory...
I know you said EXCEPT look it up, but here's a small/valuable book that can ride along in any gig bag or sit on a small corner of the desk - (not making this up, this is really the name) Ugly's Electrical References - small, 4x5 booklet, 143 pages of valuable, interesting, or useless info on everything from tap drill sizes to metal properties to conductor sizing, motor winding, ohms law, weights/measures, etc. Home Depot carries them out west, look in the electrical dept. or ask. Has a neat major circle trick on the front cover that in one little drawing gives you 3 different formulas for each of watts, amps, ohms, and volts. Gotta go for now, sorry I couldn't offer much in the way of cheaters on this... Steve
As for mnemonics, trix, etc - Don't know many that make any sense. I've been doing that part for so long it's just burned in. Another one like West Virginia is PIE - but you gotta remember to "Pee on top" - as in, draw a circle, bisect it horizonatally, P on top, I and E underneath the line, then cover the one you need the answer to. like, cover the P, it leaves you with EI - cover the E, it leaves you with P/I. Same with E=IR (I = amps, this always confuses beginners, think Induced current) Also, electricians use E as in Electromotive force, not V for volts.
AFA speaker loads, if you think of parallel loads as the power having several places to go it helps remember that it takes more current. Also, a one-lane road has a higher resistance to traffic flow - same as electricity. (serial connection) parallel loads, if all branches are the same, are easy to figure. just divide the ohms of the load(s) by the # of loads. Example: 3 8 ohm spkrs in parallel - 8/3, or 2.66666 ohms. Amp capable of 2 ohm loads? No problem. 2 8 ohm sprs in series? 8 + 8 = 16 ohms. 2 8's and a 4 ohm in series? 8+8+4, total 20 ohms. In a series circuit, same as that one lane road - NO PASSING, so the current in the series ckt is the same everywhere (OK, not internal with reactive loads at any precise moment in time, but this isn't that kind of question) Sooo, the only part that gets kinda tricky is stuff like current in non-equal parallel legs, or series/parallel resistance, where you get into taking the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals - still easy if you use a calc with a 1/x key and memory...
I know you said EXCEPT look it up, but here's a small/valuable book that can ride along in any gig bag or sit on a small corner of the desk - (not making this up, this is really the name) Ugly's Electrical References - small, 4x5 booklet, 143 pages of valuable, interesting, or useless info on everything from tap drill sizes to metal properties to conductor sizing, motor winding, ohms law, weights/measures, etc. Home Depot carries them out west, look in the electrical dept. or ask. Has a neat major circle trick on the front cover that in one little drawing gives you 3 different formulas for each of watts, amps, ohms, and volts. Gotta go for now, sorry I couldn't offer much in the way of cheaters on this... Steve
Me myself & him
New member
Just trying to be on the safe side
Sounds exactly like my cable, mine is round and smooth with two black and white wires inside the filler material.
I got it from my brother, that's why I don't really know what kind it is.
Now we get to the part where I'm not as up on the terminology as i probably should be, so please bear with me if I name something something else.
When I got it the cable, one end had a 1/4" jack on it which I was able to unscrew the handle from, and the other end had no connector and was stripped so I can see about an inch and a half of the bare copper(I assume). Both wires look exactly the same color (copper) whereas in my other speaker cable, I can tell through the clear insulation that one looks copper and the other looks silver. The end of the bare wires seem to be coated with silver...... actually I'm pretty sure it's solder. I'm not sure if or how many times this wire has been cut so I can't be sure if there was a metal covering at some point in time.
Uh oh, what would be the consequences of not heeding your warnings?
Just thought it would be good to know.
Because my brother was using this cable for his JBLs and I've been using it for one of my monitors.
This cable which I'm talking about is probably more than twenty feet long.
Yeah, I would much rather be doing this than out smokin weed with my shifty neighbors.......................... who are probably either secret agents or low key criminals.
knightfly said:
Sounds exactly like my cable, mine is round and smooth with two black and white wires inside the filler material.
I got it from my brother, that's why I don't really know what kind it is.
Now we get to the part where I'm not as up on the terminology as i probably should be, so please bear with me if I name something something else.
When I got it the cable, one end had a 1/4" jack on it which I was able to unscrew the handle from, and the other end had no connector and was stripped so I can see about an inch and a half of the bare copper(I assume). Both wires look exactly the same color (copper) whereas in my other speaker cable, I can tell through the clear insulation that one looks copper and the other looks silver. The end of the bare wires seem to be coated with silver...... actually I'm pretty sure it's solder. I'm not sure if or how many times this wire has been cut so I can't be sure if there was a metal covering at some point in time.
knightfly said:
Uh oh, what would be the consequences of not heeding your warnings?
Just thought it would be good to know.
Because my brother was using this cable for his JBLs and I've been using it for one of my monitors.
knightfly said:
This cable which I'm talking about is probably more than twenty feet long.
Yeah, I would much rather be doing this than out smokin weed with my shifty neighbors.......................... who are probably either secret agents or low key criminals.
camn
Active member
I know a very simple test for you. It is 85% accurate.
Fire up your guitar amp. Plug your guitar in and listen to the buzzing sound.
Switch cables so that the MYSTERY cable is in between your guitar and you amp.
IF the buzzing gets DRAMATICALLY worse.. then your cable is a SPEAKER cable... (with 85% accuracy)
IF not.. then it is INstrument cable.
xoxo
Fire up your guitar amp. Plug your guitar in and listen to the buzzing sound.
Switch cables so that the MYSTERY cable is in between your guitar and you amp.
IF the buzzing gets DRAMATICALLY worse.. then your cable is a SPEAKER cable... (with 85% accuracy)
IF not.. then it is INstrument cable.
xoxo
Me myself & him
New member
I'll try it
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
Camn's test will work at least 85% if you have connectors already on both ends of the cable -
"I'm not sure if or how many times this wire has been cut so I can't be sure if there was a metal covering at some point in time. " - If you still don't have a connector on that end, cut it back enough to get rid of loose ends, and check for the metallic sheath just under the outside covering. From my earlier post - "the easiest way to identify what you have is look at the clean-cut end of the cable. If you see something shiny and metallic surrounding the conductors, just under the outer covering, it is shielded. You can see this better by taking a thumbnail and trying to pull back the outer covering slightly. If you see metal of any kind, other than the center conductor(s), the cable is shielded. " - I'm not sure how to put it any clearer than this, you just have to look very closely sometimes to see the shield, depending on the construction of the cable.
"The end of the bare wires seem to be coated with silver...... actually I'm pretty sure it's solder. " - Yeah, a lot of wire comes pre-tinned, which means it's been coated with solder so it can be soldered to easier without having to heat it so much in order to get the solder to flow correctly.
"Uh oh, what would be the consequences of not heeding your warnings? "
- Using shielded cable for speakers may not cause any really obvious problems at lower listening levels, but the increased capacitance of the wire due to the shield interacting with the conductors can affect frequency response. At higher levels, if the lead is long enough, the extra capacitance might put an unstable amplifier over the edge and cause oscillation.
- Using un-shielded cable for signal wiring will increase noise pickup, mostly hum but also RFI - (Radio Frequency Interference) In the case of some (mostly)inexpensive condenser mics, FM radio interference has caused me to change mics , even WITH shielded cables.
In most cases, dis-regarding these no-no's won't kill your gear, it'll just make you wonder why you paid so much for it :=)
"I'm not sure if or how many times this wire has been cut so I can't be sure if there was a metal covering at some point in time. " - If you still don't have a connector on that end, cut it back enough to get rid of loose ends, and check for the metallic sheath just under the outside covering. From my earlier post - "the easiest way to identify what you have is look at the clean-cut end of the cable. If you see something shiny and metallic surrounding the conductors, just under the outer covering, it is shielded. You can see this better by taking a thumbnail and trying to pull back the outer covering slightly. If you see metal of any kind, other than the center conductor(s), the cable is shielded. " - I'm not sure how to put it any clearer than this, you just have to look very closely sometimes to see the shield, depending on the construction of the cable.
"The end of the bare wires seem to be coated with silver...... actually I'm pretty sure it's solder. " - Yeah, a lot of wire comes pre-tinned, which means it's been coated with solder so it can be soldered to easier without having to heat it so much in order to get the solder to flow correctly.
"Uh oh, what would be the consequences of not heeding your warnings? "
- Using shielded cable for speakers may not cause any really obvious problems at lower listening levels, but the increased capacitance of the wire due to the shield interacting with the conductors can affect frequency response. At higher levels, if the lead is long enough, the extra capacitance might put an unstable amplifier over the edge and cause oscillation.
- Using un-shielded cable for signal wiring will increase noise pickup, mostly hum but also RFI - (Radio Frequency Interference) In the case of some (mostly)inexpensive condenser mics, FM radio interference has caused me to change mics , even WITH shielded cables.
In most cases, dis-regarding these no-no's won't kill your gear, it'll just make you wonder why you paid so much for it :=)
Sennheiser
New member
I'm using 12 ga stranded with a clear jacket for my monitors.
Both L&R are equal length and as short as they can possibly be.
I'm lucky my monitors have huge screw post terminals with holes in the theaded post. Makes for a very secure connection.
Spellnig porblems too.
Both L&R are equal length and as short as they can possibly be.
I'm lucky my monitors have huge screw post terminals with holes in the theaded post. Makes for a very secure connection.
Spellnig porblems too.
Me myself & him
New member
I pulled back the outer covering, there is no metal of any kind.
Thanks
Thanks
TexRoadkill
Audio Bum
Steve, Thanks for the tips. I think the highway metaphor will help.
Me myself & him
New member
Yeah, but now what do I do with em? I found out it's 16 gauges, I'm still planning to get the 10 gauge wire, so what do I do with over 40 feet of 16 gauge speaker wire?
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
TRK - Yeah, that one has worked for me for the last 37 years. I'd still see if I could find a copy of Ugly's - really useful stuff...
MMH - Roll it up so it takes less space, mark it , and use it later if you need a secondary set of spkrs or want to wire your car with a less-than-5 Megawatt stereo - Also, unless you can find 10 ga wire with a really high strand count, it will be really stiff. 12 ga should be more than adequate and will probably not require thinning down at the connection points. I just happened to have the 10 laying around, and it is 105 strand. The more smaller strands, the more flexible the wire. If you're set on 10 ga, look at Newark.com, search under Dearborn (mfg name) for wire, and choose the 105 strand #10. Last I looked, it was available in single conductor black, green, red, white, maybe some others. I think it was available in 100, 500, and 1000' lengths. For least hassle, I would probably just go to a Home Depot or such and get a spool of 12 ga Monster in bulk.
Or, you could call Westlake (the speaker people) - I hear they have some special spkr leads for their BBSM-10's that only cost about $1000 a pair - and yes, that's just for the wires... Steve
MMH - Roll it up so it takes less space, mark it , and use it later if you need a secondary set of spkrs or want to wire your car with a less-than-5 Megawatt stereo - Also, unless you can find 10 ga wire with a really high strand count, it will be really stiff. 12 ga should be more than adequate and will probably not require thinning down at the connection points. I just happened to have the 10 laying around, and it is 105 strand. The more smaller strands, the more flexible the wire. If you're set on 10 ga, look at Newark.com, search under Dearborn (mfg name) for wire, and choose the 105 strand #10. Last I looked, it was available in single conductor black, green, red, white, maybe some others. I think it was available in 100, 500, and 1000' lengths. For least hassle, I would probably just go to a Home Depot or such and get a spool of 12 ga Monster in bulk.
Or, you could call Westlake (the speaker people) - I hear they have some special spkr leads for their BBSM-10's that only cost about $1000 a pair - and yes, that's just for the wires... Steve
Me myself & him
New member
knightfly said:
Good idea, my sister is about to get a new car audio system done.
105 strand? My engineer told me about a place where he got his 10 gauge, I'll ask about the 105 strand.