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Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

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  • #16
    Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

    OK, I'll answer that. What's good for the inside of the cab is just fine for the 3-6 feet of wire that connects to the head.

    It's the nature of the low z high current signal that drives the speakers.

    Now the high z low current nature of a guitar cord is different. There is some merit to cable voodoo here, though not as much as the guy who wants to sell you a 500 dollar cable would have you believe.

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    • #17
      Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

      Originally posted by SlyFoxx View Post
      OK, I'll answer that. What's good for the inside of the cab is just fine for the 3-6 feet of wire that connects to the head.

      It's the nature of the low z high current signal that drives the speakers.

      Now the high z low current nature of a guitar cord is different. There is some merit to cable voodoo here, though not as much as the guy who wants to sell you a 500 dollar cable would have you believe.
      Thank you!..although the Pro Co 50 dollar "fat max "speaker cable to head wire I have isnt exactly 12 gauge lamp cord.
      "Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it." - Yogi Berra

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      • #18
        Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

        I am curious about this as well, having just set up two new cabs. I'm using left over monster cables from years ago and was wondering what happens when higher guage meets lower guage at the speaker jack to the speaker.

        I'm no expert in electrical aspects. Is there a benefit to lower resistance at least part of the way? Or is any section lower in gauge a spoiler for those sections higher in gauge? Or is it enough that no one section is not a high enough gauge to limit resistance?

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        • #19
          Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

          Originally posted by gvis View Post
          I am curious about this as well, having just set up two new cabs. I'm using left over monster cables from years ago and was wondering what happens when higher guage meets lower guage at the speaker jack to the speaker.

          I'm no expert in electrical aspects. Is there a benefit to lower resistance at least part of the way? Or is any section lower in gauge a spoiler for those sections higher in gauge? Or is it enough that no one section is not a high enough gauge to limit resistance?
          I fear were talking to the Flat Earth Society here.
          "Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it." - Yogi Berra

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          • #20
            Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

            Lol...maybe. I'm not taking this in the direction of high end cable vs low end. I would just like to know the impact of different gauges. I've read that 16 is appropriate for lengths up to 15 ft, and the lop cabs use 16 gauge. With my setup, I'm running 12 ft. Monsater studio 1000 into the hot plate and monster performer 500 from hot plate to speaker jack. Sounds fne to me.

            When I started using the hot plate 10 years ago, I had been advised to use heavy gauge speaker wire because of it. Don't recall why. Don't recall much of anything from back then.

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            • #21
              Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

              Originally posted by MetalManiac View Post
              The whole thrust of this thread was basically to find out if something as a high end guitar speaker cabinet wire even exists.
              "High end" speaker wire exists--probably not specific to guitar cabs but it exists (e.g., http://www.vandenhul.com/). I've been known to spend a buck or two on gear but speaker cables are one area I don't believe there's a meaningful sonic difference over the commodity stuff.

              Decent heavy-duty wire + solid connectors = good speaker cables (IMO)

              Maybe Eric Johnson will hear the difference when I use a power cable from an old PC but I don't pay that much mind, either. On the other hand, I do believe that a voltage regulator is important to getting consistent tone from a tube amp (due to the impact of varying bias voltage).
              Originally posted by LesStrat
              make sure that you own the gear, not vice versa.
              My Music

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              • #22
                Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                Somebody mentioned Gilmour. Last I heard, he was using Evidence Audio Siren II for speaker cable. http://www.evidenceaudio.com//product.html

                While you're there, you might want to reconsider the concept that Monster Pro is anything other than generic quality cable by trying the Lyric HG with solid core conductors. I don't trust the ears of anyone who says it doesn't make a difference.




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                Originally posted by JOLLY
                Strats are better than Les Pauls.

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                • #23
                  Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                  Internal cabinet wiring is just regular 16 gauge wire. You can use Red and Black if you want fancy.

                  Anything larger than that is really a waste and hard to solder onto the speakers.
                  -Chris

                  Originally posted by John Suhr
                  “Practice cures most tone issues”

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                  • #24
                    Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                    High end cabling isn't bull****. It's just a waste of money in a guitar amp speaker wire application. You're not running a six figure ($$$$$$$) audio system here. It's a guitar amp. Use whatever is of sufficient gauge and isn't ugly enough to make you cringe.
                    "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so." ~ Ford Prefect

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                    • #25
                      Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                      Originally posted by ratherdashing View Post
                      Thanks for posting this...now I can just quote you because this is how I feel too!
                      If you just read a post by The Guy Who Invented Fire please understand that opinions change, mind sets change and as players our ears mature...not to mention our needs grow and change. With that in mind, today I may or may not agree with the post you just read!

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                      • #26
                        Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                        Car audio->Street Wires

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                        • #27
                          Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                          The wire inside the speaker cab matters very little, not because stick-in-the-mud, flat-earth, fuddyduddies say so, but because:
                          1. It's SHORT. Whatever effects a cable has on the signal, the effects are magnified by length. The tiny bit of wire inside a cab isn't enough to mess up the sound, even if the wire is crappy.
                          2. It has ZERO capacitance. Capactance is what kills highs in audio cables. It's caused by the construction of the cable; two conductors in close proximity separated by an insulator. The longer the cable, the higher the capacitance (See #1.) Speaker wires inside cabs are single conductors, bascially flying leads in air. Since they are so widely separated, they don't even "see" each other to interact, so no capacitance.
                          3. The current it needs to carry is TINY. Let's look at the worst case: call it 100 watts into a 4-ohm cabinet. Work through Ohm's law, and that comes out to 5 amps of very intermittent current flow. If you go look at current ratings for wire, you'll see that #16 is rated for something like 10 amps, #14 is good for 15 amps, #12 for 20 amps. Keep in mind these ratings are for real-world applications: wires run through conduits carying power to continuous loads, extensions cords covered in heavy insulation powering tools, Romex cable run through walls connected to lights that are on continuously for hours at a time. Wire current ratings are designed so that the current can flow and the wire won't heat up to the point where it causes a hazard. So, that #14 Romex runnig through your walls can handle a LOT more current than its rated 15 amps, but it's specified extremely conservatively. In your speaker cabinet application, the wires are hanging in free air, with much less chance of heating up. So let's see... #18 is conservatively rated to handle TWICE the current your speakers need. (In free air, it can probably handle 3 or 4 times.) #14 is rated for three times what you need, #12 is rated for FOUR times. Remember, these ratings are for real-world lengths, too; you're running a couple feet of wire at most. The point is, no matter what wire you put in there (as long as it's not stupid-skinny), it is WAY overkill. You're simply not going to hear the difference between 2x overkill and 4x overkill.


                          I say, go to Lowe's or Home Depot. Ask for some type THHN #16, which they sell by the foot in a variety of colors off that big motorized rotating rack thingie. Make sure you get the stranded variety, as it might be availabe solid, as well. Pick two colors so you can keep your (+) and your (-) straight. #16 is, as I said, overkill, but it's still small enough that you can solder it with a halfway normal-sized iron. If you want to get fancy, you can use crimp-on lugs that match your speakers.

                          You really don't need anything more expensive; it's all snake oil.
                          Last edited by Rich_S; 10-13-2011, 10:32 AM.
                          Tra-la-laa, lala-la-laa!
                          Rich Stevens


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                          • #28
                            Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                            Originally posted by Rich_S View Post
                            The wire inside the speaker cab matters very little, not because stick-in-the-mud, flat-earth, fuddyduddies say so, but because:
                            1. It's SHORT. Whatever effects a cable has on the signal, the effects are magnified by length. The tiny bit of wire inside a cab isn't enough to mess up the sound, even if the wire is crappy.
                            2. It has ZERO capacitance. Capactance is what kills highs in audio cables. It's caused by the construction of the cable; two conductors in close proximity separated by an insulator. The longer the cable, the higher the capacitance (See #1.) Speaker wires inside cabs are single conductors, bascially flying leads in air. Since they are so widely separated, they don't even "see" each other to interact, so no capacitance.
                            3. The current it needs to carry is TINY. Let's look at the worst case: call it 100 watts into a 4-ohm cabinet. Work through Ohm's law, and that comes out to 5 amps of very intermittent current flow. If you go look at current ratings for wire, you'll see that #16 is rated for something like 10 amps, #14 is good for 15 amps, #12 for 20 amps. Keep in mind these ratings are for real-world applications: wires run through conduits carying power to continuous loads, extensions cords covered in heavy insulation powering tools, Romex cable run through walls connected to lights that are on continuously for hours at a time. Wire current ratings are designed so that the current can flow and the wire won't heat up to the point where it causes a hazard. So, that #14 Romex runnig through your walls can handle a LOT more current than its rated 15 amps, but it's specified extremely conservatively. In your speaker cabinet application, the wires are hanging in free air, with much less chance of heating up. So let's see... #18 is conservatively rated to handle TWICE the current your speakers need. (In free air, it can probably handle 3 or 4 times.) #14 is rated for three times what you need, #12 is rated for FOUR times. Remember, these ratings are for real-world lengths, too; you're running a couple feet of wire at most. The point is, no matter what wire you put in there (as long as it's not stupid-skinny), it is WAY overkill. You're simply not going to hear the difference between 2x overkill and 4x overkill.


                            I say, go to Lowe's or Home Depot. Ask for some type THHN #16, which they sell by the foot in a variety of colors off that big motorized rotating rack thingie. Make sure you get the stranded variety, as it might be availabe solid, as well. Pick two colors so you can keep your (+) and your (-) straight. #16 is, as I said, overkill, but it's still small enough that you can solder it with a halfway normal-sized iron. If you want to get fancy, you can use crimp-on lugs that match your speakers.

                            You really don't need anything more expensive; it's all snake oil.
                            100% correct, and thank-you for going through the trouble of posting this.
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                            Read my Seymour Duncan blog posts

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                            • #29
                              Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                              My head to cab cable was made from lamp cord and I compared it with some fancy-axx cable: I couldn't hear a difference...maybe you do but I don't. That strong an electric signal isn't gonna be degraded by ordinary (as opposed to ultra-overkill-fancy) cable.

                              I understand using fancier wires for guitar cable: the signal it carries is quite weak and low, but when it comes to the signal sent from your head to the cab (speakers), which is quite a bigger signal than what your pick-ups produce, it's not necessary.

                              I got 16 gauge in a roll from radioshack for 7$ and it works great.

                              Soothe yourself if you wanna pay more, it's your money but I really don't believe it's necessary....
                              Last edited by Surgeon; 10-13-2011, 11:42 AM.

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                              • #30
                                Re: Best Speaker Cabinet Wire?

                                For me, I was just curious about the effects of different gauges along the line. No one has specifcally answered that, although Rich S's thankfully nuetral and non-condescending reply was helpful in getting me closer to what I'm guessing the answer is: just make sure you meet the minimum needed gauge to prevent melt down anywhere along the line, and longer distances require lower gauge values to compensate.

                                In other words, if 16 gauge inside the cab is good enough there, it's good enough for the rest line. Anything thicker is just a waste. Feel free to correct as needed.

                                My Monster cables are a 10 year old sunk cost. Might as well use them.

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