Young Angus
Kometose Tonologist
???
What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
- Thread starter Young Angus
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Hellion
New member
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
Think of speaker cable as a pipe. The bigger the pipe, the greater its capacity to deliver a larger load at any one time. In terms of speaker wire, a larger diameter cable will deliver more usable signal to your speaker.
Think of speaker cable as a pipe. The bigger the pipe, the greater its capacity to deliver a larger load at any one time. In terms of speaker wire, a larger diameter cable will deliver more usable signal to your speaker.
KLINKDETROIT
New member
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
Try the Voodoo cables. I they rule. www.voodooamps.com
Try the Voodoo cables. I they rule. www.voodooamps.com
Marcel
New member
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
I got more bass and maybe clarity when i changed to monster studio pro cable... and i got it for 3 bucks from the bay ... best spend money in gear ever
btw. Marshall cabs have very thin cables inside (looks like a toy not something you pay $$$ for)
I heard people got good results rewire their cab too....
I got more bass and maybe clarity when i changed to monster studio pro cable... and i got it for 3 bucks from the bay ... best spend money in gear ever
btw. Marshall cabs have very thin cables inside (looks like a toy not something you pay $$$ for)
I heard people got good results rewire their cab too....
MikeS
Bengalsologist
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
Generalizing... yes. But, there comes a point where bigger is nothing more than more expensive. In the case of an amp head, 12 ga is going to be capable of delivering more power than you can deliver to the speakers, unless we're talking about one of these 300+ watt monster amps, in which case you may begin looking at 10 ga.
Also be careful with the wire you buy. Sometimes "fatter" cable is nothing more than excess insulation and additional shielding.
Hellion said:
Generalizing... yes. But, there comes a point where bigger is nothing more than more expensive. In the case of an amp head, 12 ga is going to be capable of delivering more power than you can deliver to the speakers, unless we're talking about one of these 300+ watt monster amps, in which case you may begin looking at 10 ga.
Also be careful with the wire you buy. Sometimes "fatter" cable is nothing more than excess insulation and additional shielding.
TwilightOdyssey
Darkness on the edge of Tone
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
In accord with everyone else's comments, yes: 12ga, shielded speaker cable will yield a better result going from head to cab. One of the reasons is a phenomenon called skin effect, which some audio experts believe is audible, some don't, but basically it states that high frequencies like to travel along the outer edge of a conductor, and the more surface area you have, the more frequencies will remain in tact from one end of the wire to the other. In other words: increased resolution.
Some people may go so far as to say that purity of the copper involved and the geometry of the cable strands makes a difference, as well, but I won't get into that here. (It is a source of serious debate among audiophiles.)
There are some companies that coat copper strands with silver or other alloys to change the tone of the cable. Once again, a hot topic among audiophiles as to whether you can hear the differences or not. (BTW, you can ...)
In accord with everyone else's comments, yes: 12ga, shielded speaker cable will yield a better result going from head to cab. One of the reasons is a phenomenon called skin effect, which some audio experts believe is audible, some don't, but basically it states that high frequencies like to travel along the outer edge of a conductor, and the more surface area you have, the more frequencies will remain in tact from one end of the wire to the other. In other words: increased resolution.
Some people may go so far as to say that purity of the copper involved and the geometry of the cable strands makes a difference, as well, but I won't get into that here. (It is a source of serious debate among audiophiles.)
There are some companies that coat copper strands with silver or other alloys to change the tone of the cable. Once again, a hot topic among audiophiles as to whether you can hear the differences or not. (BTW, you can ...)
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people get into THAT kind of detail?Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
Yep...hehe
Braided wire is something I have a hard time with, my Wolfgang was full of it, replaced it all with twisted highquaility wire instead, got more clarity and less noise.
As for speakercables, on highend hifi you use solid copper threads with a wide stocking as
insulation..hehe
it is actually crazy, and you can only hear a few records, because you'll not be able to hear your normal stuff anymore due to bad recording
Yep...hehe
Braided wire is something I have a hard time with, my Wolfgang was full of it, replaced it all with twisted highquaility wire instead, got more clarity and less noise.
As for speakercables, on highend hifi you use solid copper threads with a wide stocking as
insulation..hehe
it is actually crazy, and you can only hear a few records, because you'll not be able to hear your normal stuff anymore due to bad recording
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
If you listen very carefully to two different speaker cables, both of reasonable size (18 GA or larger operating into 8 ohms, maybe a little larger for 4 ohms) with good solid connections, you will find that there is essentially no difference. Other things matter a lot more.
If you listen very carefully to two different speaker cables, both of reasonable size (18 GA or larger operating into 8 ohms, maybe a little larger for 4 ohms) with good solid connections, you will find that there is essentially no difference. Other things matter a lot more.
KLINKDETROIT
New member
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
What guage and wire type would you recomend for re-wiring the inside of a mesa 4x12 cab? The stock cable is definately thinner than that of a Diezel cab. I would like to re-wire my cab to better specs. Thanks
TwilightOdyssey said:
What guage and wire type would you recomend for re-wiring the inside of a mesa 4x12 cab? The stock cable is definately thinner than that of a Diezel cab. I would like to re-wire my cab to better specs. Thanks
MikeS
Bengalsologist
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
Not neccessarily. This only holds true assuming the smaller wire is incapable of handling the load of the amplifier. I'd bet my next paycheck that no one can hear an audible difference between a properly sized wire and an oversized wire in a speaker cab.
Keep in mind also that high end speaker cable is designed to deliver signals as cleanly as possible by adding no coloration and shielding other undesirable signals. This stuff is designed for efficiency and sound quality, not coloration (distortion) of the signal. Therefore, unless the wires are clearly undersized, then there is no reason to swap them out. Any tonal characteristics of speaker wire would likely have more to do with conductor material and the shielding.
HolyDirt said:
Not neccessarily. This only holds true assuming the smaller wire is incapable of handling the load of the amplifier. I'd bet my next paycheck that no one can hear an audible difference between a properly sized wire and an oversized wire in a speaker cab.
Keep in mind also that high end speaker cable is designed to deliver signals as cleanly as possible by adding no coloration and shielding other undesirable signals. This stuff is designed for efficiency and sound quality, not coloration (distortion) of the signal. Therefore, unless the wires are clearly undersized, then there is no reason to swap them out. Any tonal characteristics of speaker wire would likely have more to do with conductor material and the shielding.
some_dude
Raging BB Gunologist
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
Are we talking insulation, or shielding. All the speaker wire I've worked with is unshielded. It's not going to be further amplified (hence the reason it's called speaker wire), so I really don't care if it picks up stray Mexican radio stations.....
MikeS said:
Are we talking insulation, or shielding. All the speaker wire I've worked with is unshielded. It's not going to be further amplified (hence the reason it's called speaker wire), so I really don't care if it picks up stray Mexican radio stations.....
KLINKDETROIT
New member
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
I just bought some car audio speaker wire made by Monster. It looks like it is thicker than the 16 guage that was labelled next to it. It says it is made for the bass subwoofer in a car and is twisted. It supposedly has 2 times the copper than other cables? The guy at radio shack says that it is good for rewiring the inside of a cab or other applications and wont color the signal??? What do you think? I would just buy a regular speaker cable if it was cut to fit but under the circumstances I hope this is what I need. I think there is a reason the Diezel cab has thicker wire in the cab than the Mesa. I assume it makes a tonal improvement. I will let ya know what I think tomorrow.
I just bought some car audio speaker wire made by Monster. It looks like it is thicker than the 16 guage that was labelled next to it. It says it is made for the bass subwoofer in a car and is twisted. It supposedly has 2 times the copper than other cables? The guy at radio shack says that it is good for rewiring the inside of a cab or other applications and wont color the signal??? What do you think? I would just buy a regular speaker cable if it was cut to fit but under the circumstances I hope this is what I need. I think there is a reason the Diezel cab has thicker wire in the cab than the Mesa. I assume it makes a tonal improvement. I will let ya know what I think tomorrow.
some_dude
Raging BB Gunologist
Re: What tonal difference (even minute) will fatter speaker cable (head to cab) make?
I think there's a reason I don't talk to the sales guys at Radio Shack. Most of them just read the packaging and make stuff up off the top of their heads.....
....I buy all my speaker cabling from good car audio shops. They have them on large drums, and sell it to me by the foot. Why pay for packaging when you're just going to throw it out?
KLINKDETROIT said:
I think there's a reason I don't talk to the sales guys at Radio Shack. Most of them just read the packaging and make stuff up off the top of their heads.....
....I buy all my speaker cabling from good car audio shops. They have them on large drums, and sell it to me by the foot. Why pay for packaging when you're just going to throw it out?
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