speaker cable

[deggers316]

why do folk buy expensive "speaker cable",it's not nessasary
any mature hi fi buff well tell you any mains cable as it is called will do, even bell wire, it's a big con done by manufacturers to get money out of people, you only need oxygen free cable as the blurb goes for very high freqenncies as in computers and this has been superseed by fibre optics you will ony see a difference by using costly cable on your hi fi on an ossiloscope you will not hear it,

[Mattk]

may i ask what prompted this rant ?!

[SteveD]

Isn't the plastic insulation of speaker cable marked in some way so that each wire can be identified and the speakers connected correctly?

If only a short length is required, identification is not much of a problem but for long sections it is not so easy.

[deggers316]

maybe this "rant" wil save people money ?
do you have to be prompted to rant ?

[deggers316]

steve
mains cable is marked
blue/brown on twin

[kempie]

Of course you could use mains cable to connect your speakers; you could use welding rods if you prefer.

However, both these options are rather unwieldy when you come to route the connection down walls, under skirting boards, etc. and this is where nice, flexible, unobtrusive speaker cable comes into its own.

[Mattk]

deggers,maybe it will and no i guess you dont need to be prompted to rant although the topic you rant about must be fairly prominent in your mind to make you post about it.

either way methinks you are a little over-excited about the worlds speaker cabling nightmares.

[deggers316]

whatever fella
enjoy your life

[romko]

oxygen free cable ...snake oil. those people are known as 'audiophools', who don't understand science but have more money than sense.

The only real consideration here is that over long cable lengths there is higher resistance and voltage drop. Generally, cheap bellwire is to be avoided as it is too thin; for most domestic speaker wiring mains cable should be more than sufficient.

[deggers316]

exactly romko
i suppose if you into audiophilla nice looking cables do look good but as for making any difference to the sound output
a waste of money,what made me comment in the first place is that i went to a store here for some cable for my rear speakers a guy in the shop asked me what i wasafter "cable for my speakers" he promptly took me to the expensive type of cable ,when i said no mains cable would be ok he did not know you could use mains cable for speakers ? its the same with scart plugs they look better at �60 plus but do the same as �5 jobs

[chriscoastal]

The comment earlier on about the variation in speaker cable allowing for hiding under carpets (flat), in walls (thicker sheathing), is true.
The argument for spending money on 'top quality' cable is the same argument for spending �1000 on a CD player.It's somewhat unneccesary to enjoy most of your cd collection, and the law of diminishing returns applies.
For most of us, who have 'normal' hi-fi's, I suppose bell wire is okay (I don't advise mains cable, simply because it's too thick and doesn't bend where you need it to. ) I've used mains cable in a monitor system in a recording studio. No harm done.
If you're the sort of person who spends �4000 on a hi-fi system, you'll probably want to have a listen to it first. There are a number of factors which define the sound of a system. In decending order, these are likely to be ;
1)Speakers
2)The room in which you listen
3)The quality of the music you play
4)The amplifier / cd
5)Whether you are awake or half asleep
99) The speaker cable.

This said, I have been in listening rooms and listened to the difference between a bog standard cable, and a top quality cable on an expensive system. And the difference is small. I say small, I mean that the trained ear can just about recognise the difference.
Question in that scenario is - Is that small difference worth the �250 extra that the salesman is trying to push?