What kind of basic cables do I need for my new speaker system?

i bought 6m of "fisual pearl", in white, 2.5mm cross section, no banana plugs.

cost £10 delivered off ebay and is also available in black.  solid stuff.  

I had some van damme blue series before that with a 6mm cross section and it was HUGE, almost too heavy for the banana plug sockets :/ so you might want to watch just how heavy the stuff is as it might possibly stress the solder joins on the PCB where the speaker posts connect over time, depending on your amp, i had to repair my yamaha AX396 because of that.

any money you're thinking about spending on speaker cables above something basic but good (a few £/$ a meter), spend it now and put into better speakers, or a better amp :P

that said nordost dreamcatcher? looks decent to bi-wire/buy twice as much cable with (4 conductors) and is "only" £10 a meter, but i came to my senses when it would have cost me £60+ just to wire my tannoy DC4s upto an amplifier (Cambridge A500) I paid £60 for!

The 640A V2 is a nice amp, too!  and yes, a LOD ending with RCA phonos.

Anti-Cables for your speaker cable. Not expensive for what they are. They are really different looking too. Fun!

i think they are about £5 a meter?  it looks an awful lot like magnet wire to me :/ continuously cast, OFC copper, nothing fancy at all.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200524595473

1kg of the stuff for £16...I'm guessing it's over 30 meters or less than 50p a meter :P or ten times cheaper.

might not be the same, but this is the world of audio 

bought a Daiyo OFC 3.5mm to 2 RCA cable for cheap today. figured if I'm watching tv or movies off my speakers i don't need some silver hybrid or special OFC interconnect cable. But I haven't bought a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable yet for my ipod. Anyone got a good recommendation for a low price silver hybrid cable? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by googleborg 

i think they are about £5 a meter?  it looks an awful lot like magnet wire to me :/ continuously cast, OFC copper, nothing fancy at all.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200524595473

 

1kg of the stuff for £16...I'm guessing it's over 30 meters or less than 50p a meter :P or ten times cheaper.

 

might not be the same, but this is the world of audio 

 

They were only $25 for a pair of 2ft cables. I do not mind paying for a finished product. If I made it myself it would work but be ugly lol.

Most amplifiers and speakers will take speaker cables without banana plugs, but you need to check this first obviously.

Here are speaker cables from QED which I think would suit you very well:

http://www.qed.co.uk/181/gb/product/speaker_cables/classic_42_79_strand.htm

These are easily available in the UK but I don't know about the US.

Another good cable manufacturer is Supra.

Here is the webpage with their speaker cables:

http://www.supracables.org/?p=spkr_cab

I'm sure there is some online retailer that sells these cables by the metre.

A few $/£/€s per metre is a sensible price for speaker cables.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saintkeat 

bought a Daiyo OFC 3.5mm to 2 RCA cable for cheap today. figured if I'm watching tv or movies off my speakers i don't need some silver hybrid or special OFC interconnect cable. But I haven't bought a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable yet for my ipod. Anyone got a good recommendation for a low price silver hybrid cable? 

 

 

3.5mm to 3.5mm? should it be better using LOD to 3.5mm instead?

Quote:

Originally Posted by techadd 

 

3.5mm to 3.5mm? should it be better using LOD to 3.5mm instead?

not if i'm intending to connect my macbook or other devices to it. 3.5mm is more or less the universal standard for portable devices.

Buy your LOD cable used from the Headfi for sale forums. Check Audiogon for used interconnects and speaker cable. Can't go far wrong starting with Blue Jeans stuff if buying new. Don't do what I did and buy any cable from Lowes! Which I did cause I was just dying to hook up my new speakers.

Try making your own speaker wires from Home Depot power cords.  Seems like quite a few enjoy them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ckaz 

I've decided to go with a 50ft. spool of bare speaker wire from monoprice.com. I chose 16AWG for a 50ft. spool, but I'll probs be cutting it into 12 foot lengths, so 16AWG should be just right.

I'm getting a digital coaxial cable and a USB cable for my DAC (whichever one I decide to get)

I'm getting a 3.5mm to stereo RCA, and two Stereo RCA cables

I am going to be using banana plugs as my terminations

 

I'm ordering all of this from either amazon.com or monoprice.com, so its coming in at a relatively small price. Thanks for the help everyone!

Very good!

I've just been to monoprice.com, it look like an excellent US store for cables.

Your 16AWG cable will be just as good as the most exalted high-end cable

If your speakers have two sets of terminals you will have enough to bi-wire if you want. I don't know if it would make any difference to the sound, but it might look impressive !