I am soo confused about bookshelf speakers cables...bare wire, banana plugs, spades, WHAT IS all this stuff?

[erikiksaz]

I'm looking through AudioAdvisor for some speaker cables for the speakers i will purchase soon, but i can't find any bare wire!! All i see are strange flat cables, cables with banana plugs, and spades, yet i do not know what ANY of those are!!

Hellpppp!

 

[Howard]

Let me be the first to help.

If your terminals accept bare wire - and they should - go to your nearest hardware store and pick up the thickest gauge (wire thickness) oxygen-free (supposedly reduces resistance added from corrosion?) copper cabling that will fit in your speaker terminals (cable hookups). Make sure it has sufficient insulation, and if possible, perhaps a foil or braid shield to reduce interference. If they don't accept bare wire, I would replace the terminals if possible. Or just solder the cables to the appropriate connectors.

Flat cables are ribbon cables, a novelty-type. Spades... Remember those two screw-in connectors in the backs of old TVs? The U-shaped things that fit in those are spade plugs. Banana plugs are long hollow cylindrical plugs /w springy pleats lengthwise along the sides. More surface area > better, unless you have a good bare wire connection. A weld would be best.

 

[jaeger66]

For crying out loud, don't get speaker wire from the hardware store.

If your speakers have binding posts, they will accept spades, bananas, or bare wire. If they just have the little clips for bare wire than any kind of high end cable is probably a waste of money. Just get some Monster XP from Best Buy.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
If they just have the little clips for bare wire than any kind of high end cable is probably a waste of money. Just get some Monster XP from Best Buy.

The contradiction in these 2 sentences is astounding

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: tweakmm

The contradiction in these 2 sentences is astounding

Monster XP is budget cable. You can get a 20' roll for $15.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
For crying out loud, don't get speaker wire from the hardware store.

If your speakers have binding posts, they will accept spades, bananas, or bare wire. If they just have the little clips for bare wire than any kind of high end cable is probably a waste of money. Just get some Monster XP from Best Buy.

Your little roll-eyes emoticon seems to be pissing me off for some reason.

Is there a reason why copper wire won't work?

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot it's not good enough for the likes of audiophiles like you.

 

[Howard]

14-gauge OFC seems to be about $.30 per linear feet. Nice deal, I should say.

 

[jaeger66]

Lamp cord from the hardware store won't have a central dielectric or be correctly stranded to minimize interference.

 

[Howard]

A central dielectric for speaker wire. First of all, what is that stuff that separates one wire from the other. Second, anything dealing with stranding has no scientific basis. Litz wiring counts, but each strand is individually insulated.

I was talking about cable like this.

 

[Howard]

Cable from AudioAdvisor.

 

[jaeger66]

No, I'm not talking about Kimber Kable type stranding. Just each side of the wire, both + and -, being wound around the DE to reject interference. Not a central DE between the + and - sides.

 

[fyleow]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: jaeger66
For crying out loud, don't get speaker wire from the hardware store.

If your speakers have binding posts, they will accept spades, bananas, or bare wire. If they just have the little clips for bare wire than any kind of high end cable is probably a waste of money. Just get some Monster XP from Best Buy.

Your little roll-eyes emoticon seems to be pissing me off for some reason.

Is there a reason why copper wire won't work?

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot it's not good enough for the likes of audiophiles like you.

I would not call someone who recommends "Monster Cable" an audiophile. Just get some CAT5 cable for speaker cable. They work wonders and will kick the snot out of any crappy Monster Cable, plus you save money. Not kidding here, I actually use those.

 

[nord1899]

Well you seem to be confused about the connectors at the end of the speaker wire.

- Banana Plugs
- Spades
- Bare WIre
- Binding Posts - The area above "speakers" in the bottom.

What happens is that you put the connectors onto the end of the speaker wire to make an easier and better connection with the equipment. The connectors are either screwed up (icky crap) or crimped on (much better). These connectors then go into the binding posts on your receiver and your speaker.

Hope that clarifies a bit.

EDIT: Note images are just for reference, I am not recommeding anything. I personally use Banana Plugs for ease of use.

 

[erikiksaz]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
No, I'm not talking about Kimber Kable type stranding. Just each side of the wire, both + and -, being wound around the DE to reject interference. Not a central DE between the + and - sides.

Okay, ya'll are confusing me again

 

[erikiksaz]

Originally posted by: nord1899
Well you seem to be confused about the connectors at the end of the speaker wire.

- Banana Plugs
- Spades
- Bare WIre
- Binding Posts - The area above "speakers" in the bottom.

What happens is that you put the connectors onto the end of the speaker wire to make an easier and better connection with the equipment. The connectors are either screwed up (icky crap) or crimped on (much better). These connectors then go into the binding posts on your receiver and your speaker.

Hope that clarifies a bit.

EDIT: Note images are just for reference, I am not recommeding anything. I personally use Banana Plugs for ease of use.

Thanks for the binding posts, i had no clue what they were talking about up there when they referred to binding posts

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
No, I'm not talking about Kimber Kable type stranding. Just each side of the wire, both + and -, being wound around the DE to reject interference. Not a central DE between the + and - sides.

Point me to a cable that uses this winding technique?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: fyleow

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: jaeger66
For crying out loud, don't get speaker wire from the hardware store.

If your speakers have binding posts, they will accept spades, bananas, or bare wire. If they just have the little clips for bare wire than any kind of high end cable is probably a waste of money. Just get some Monster XP from Best Buy.

Your little roll-eyes emoticon seems to be pissing me off for some reason.

Is there a reason why copper wire won't work?

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot it's not good enough for the likes of audiophiles like you.

I would not call someone who recommends "Monster Cable" an audiophile. Just get some CAT5 cable for speaker cable. They work wonders and will kick the snot out of any crappy Monster Cable, plus you save money. Not kidding here, I actually use those.

Same. Do you use 1 or 2 cables per speaker? I use 1 per speaker.

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: fyleow


I would not call someone who recommends "Monster Cable" an audiophile. Just get some CAT5 cable for speaker cable. They work wonders and will kick the snot out of any crappy Monster Cable, plus you save money. Not kidding here, I actually use those.

Did you even read my post? For spring clip speakers, which aren't going to be of stellar quality, it's all you need. For a $2500 pair of ProAcs, you won't be using cable that comes on a spool. And since he was shopping at AA, I wasn't under the impression he was out for whatever the hell was cheapest. But since he didn't SAY what kind of speakers he actually had, I split the difference.

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: jaeger66
No, I'm not talking about Kimber Kable type stranding. Just each side of the wire, both + and -, being wound around the DE to reject interference. Not a central DE between the + and - sides.

Point me to a cable that uses this winding technique?

Not directly linkable, but go to www.straightwire.com and look at the level 2 speaker cables.

 

[fyleow]

Originally posted by: jaeger66

Originally posted by: fyleow


I would not call someone who recommends "Monster Cable" an audiophile. Just get some CAT5 cable for speaker cable. They work wonders and will kick the snot out of any crappy Monster Cable, plus you save money. Not kidding here, I actually use those.

Did you even read my post? For spring clip speakers, which aren't going to be of stellar quality, it's all you need. For a $2500 pair of ProAcs, you won't be using cable that comes on a spool. And since he was shopping at AA, I wasn't under the impression he was out for whatever the hell was cheapest. But since he didn't SAY what kind of speakers he actually had, I split the difference.

With my $1000+ headphone setup I noticed only a minimal improvement when I changed my cables from some 25 feet $5.00 RCA cable to $40 0.5 feet Outlaw Cables. Monster or not it will sound the same.

 

[erikiksaz]

OKay, me being the idiot, maybe i should have told you guys what speakers i was planning to buy. They were the Paradigm Atoms. And the receiver was a Marantz 2230.

 

[Howard]

I don't see how that core is going to reduce interference...

 

[erikiksaz]

Originally posted by: fyleow

Originally posted by: jaeger66

Originally posted by: fyleow


I would not call someone who recommends "Monster Cable" an audiophile. Just get some CAT5 cable for speaker cable. They work wonders and will kick the snot out of any crappy Monster Cable, plus you save money. Not kidding here, I actually use those.

Did you even read my post? For spring clip speakers, which aren't going to be of stellar quality, it's all you need. For a $2500 pair of ProAcs, you won't be using cable that comes on a spool. And since he was shopping at AA, I wasn't under the impression he was out for whatever the hell was cheapest. But since he didn't SAY what kind of speakers he actually had, I split the difference.

With my $1000+ headphone setup I noticed only a minimal improvement when I changed my cables from some 25 feet $5.00 RCA cable to $40 0.5 feet Outlaw Cables. Monster or not it will sound the same.

Suprisingly i went from RCA generic stuff (needed something to hold me over!) to Outlaws on my headphone system too. Difference? Not enough to thinik that it wasn't all in my head.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: erikiksaz
OKay, me being the idiot, maybe i should have told you guys what speakers i was planning to buy. They were the Paradigm Atoms. And the receiver was a Marantz 2230.

Plain high-gauge copper pair cabling is fine.

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: erikiksaz
OKay, me being the idiot, maybe i should have told you guys what speakers i was planning to buy. They were the Paradigm Atoms. And the receiver was a Marantz 2230.

Those have binding posts, so spades or bananas will be better than bare wire if for no other reason than the bare ends won't oxidize. Nice choice, BTW.