dvd,

I am not challenging and really in some ways I agree. I was just trying to share my experience.

My "wow" to Phil was more from the big JBL thread that we were going back and forth in and I meant no disrespect to you. Sorry.

I am not "denying" anything here. I was trying to clerify what I was saying which could best be summed up in-

"speaker wire from two vendors that have identical specs with have identical impact on a system"

You are correct when you mention interconnects which is a different topic then what I have been discussing. However if the connection is equal then the above statement is also true. The connect is the big variable in interconnects and makes it a much more complex topic.

I must have mislead you to think I was talking bare wire. I meant identical spec - insulation, termination, conductor material, strand and braid. So I think we are talking past each other.

I was saying that "highend brand x" wire and no name wire of equal spec will sound the same.

Not that "highend brand x" and 22 ga zip cord will be the same.

For our system we use OFC wire with a Ga designed for the application and we solder all connection.

No need to apologize at all. You clarafied some things that I misread.
You said 'our' system...you mean your personal HT at home?
That's what I was inquiring about. I am highly curious as to what kind of speaker wire you are running, after reading your feelings on the matter.

And no hard feelings at all. Please don't ever feel the need to say 'sorry' to me in reference to a discussion like this. I'm not one to be offended, especially by a civil disussion like this. Tact and intelligence go along way with me, something you obviously posess and I enjoy your posts.

Cheers,
Erik the Red

I have wire made by our one of our suppliers (free :) )

Its 12 Ga OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) with no termination. Interconnects are from different brands that I have collected over the years, some I made myself.

This is the same we use inside our new system at work.

Of course we use higher quality (borrowed) interconnects at shows.

One point I really want to make. Is the spec of the wire. If not for some real data how do you know that each length of "highend brand x" is the same. In production we have to inspect parts for before we build. If the part meets the spec it is accepted. So all the marketing hype around wire is really BS if you just look at the engineering data (which is all that matters). I assure you there is tons of BS in what "highend" wire companies claim.

Okay, you guys seem to know a lot about speaker wire. I have an easy question... is it a good idea to tin the ends of the wire? (I use compression banana plugs at my receiver, and the red/black springy type connectors build into the speakers.)

Like most things regarding speaker wire, some say you should tin it, while others say it won't make a difference.

Tinning the cable or adding ends makes it neater and easier to change. Also it hopefully slows or prevents oxidization of the copper.

We have found tinned wire tends to take a set over time and result in a loose connecting in binding posts. So if you do just check that the post are tight after a few weeks. But on the spring side it would be fine.

Oh, I dont tin mine.

Yep - bfrank and I had a very civil discussion where I was the enlightened (corrected) by bfrank's personal inside INFO / experience vs. my apparently limited public JBL product news release INFO. - Thanks again bfrank! Great INFO!!! :)

Anyway, my interest in JBL let me to researching HK website where I've found Dr. Floyd Toole's White Papers.

Back to this "speaker wire" subject ...

We (@ KLA Instruments mid-late 80's - now KLA-Tencor) observed the same problems with our Capitol Equipment installed since 1979, scattered around the world like @ INTEL, Fujitsu, AMD, Texas Inst., Samsung, etc.

Those intermittent failures were due to tinned wires working itself loose in time, which were originally caused during the shipment phase of our machines (Inspection tools for Chip Manufactures). So we started removing the 'Strip & Tin' notes from hundreds of Cable drawings per ECO (Engineering Change Orders) instructions,

Later that month, I went home, cut-off the tinned ends (stereo setup then), re-stripped back the insulation to length, twisted the stranded wires tight and re-inserted my speaker wires back into the speaker binding clips / post.

Today, I use banana plugs for my Center & Front's, and my non-tinned stranded wires provides superior solid connection when I screw & tightened the banana plug base down to complete my plug connections. The same is true for my surrounds (x4), inserting the non-tinned stranded (just twisted tight) wire provides a superior solid connection when I tightened the speaker binding posts down.

Phil