Speaker wires

[Aphex Twin]

Hey guys...just picked up a pair of Paradigm Reference Studio 40s for my room. I had a question concerning speaker wires. I don't know much about speaker wires. Some people are of the belief that speaker wires don't make a bit of difference and that the ones you buy for $1/ft sound the same as one you would get for $12/ft. I was thinking of getting kimbercables for them for about $10 a ft. At a pair of 6ft. cables that would cost me about $120. And they need to be bi-wired. So...what do you guys recommend? Is there a good price on speaker wire on the net?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! :)

[dgc]

12 ga. Home Depot

[Wolf Husky]

It is entirely up to you. You have to ask yourself... "With this $120, what do I want to spend it on? What would I get the most enjoyment with?"

Personally, I would live on the Sun before I spent $10/ft on speaker wire. In my opinion, you will get much more enjoyment spending the $120 on your wife, kids, the local gentlemen's club, or a ton of new DVDs.

I don't think you will find much difference in $120 of speaker wire versus $5 of speaker wire. But, who knows. Some people believe your system is only as good as your weakest link. Unless you have spent $1000s on creating your own theatre or sound room, with no windows, sound suppression, and engineered it for acoustic balance, I doubt spending that much on speaker wire will give you benefit. Unless you are in a professional studio or have a Sony Theatre in your own home, your speaker wire IS NOT your weakest link.

A high percentage of people on this planet physically could not hear a difference anyway. Our ears just aren't that good. Now, if you are spending $10/ft for your dog... that's another story.

[bfrank]

search!

We have had a few good threads on this topic in the last few weeks.

[Aphex Twin]

Originally posted by bfrank
search!

We have had a few good threads on this topic in the last few weeks.

Sorry. I was more asking about speaker wires relevent to my Paradigm speakers. Less of a speaker wire question and more of a compatability question. Thanks for the search suggestion though.

[tommy28]

12 ga. Home Depot,

Nuf said!!!!!


TS

[OldDude]

The 12 ga Home Depot is sound, simple advice, and totally adequate..

If you want more complex advice, what is the rated impedance of your speakers (4 ohm or 8 ohm is most common)?

What length will your wire runs be? In HT, usually rears are quite a bit longer than fronts/center.

Speakers are designed to be driven from a low impedance. Ratio of speaker impedance/ (amp + wiring) is called damping factor, and affects control of transient response. You certainly want damping factor greater than 10, and its probably worth getting it to 40, more than that is probably a waste of resources although some purists would argue.

Using 40, the two wires (to/from) can be 8/40 ohms total, or 8/80 = 0.1 ohms each, max (0.2 ohms would give df=20, 0.4 ohms, df=10).

Different wire gauges have following resistance per 1000'
(measured at 7deg;C or 68°F
20 AWG 10.15 ohms
18 6.4
16 4.0
14 2.5
12 1.6
10 1.0 ohm

So, with 14 gauge wire, a 40' run would meet the 0.1 ohm requirement, adequate for most rears. Even 18 AWG would suffice up to 15', probably sufficient for most fronts.

$10/foot wire is marketing ripoff. Remmber lower number above is bigger wire. If you want to spend more, but not $10/ft, use the 0.1 ohm calculation, then go one wire size bigger (lower number). Beyond that, you will never hear the difference.