[ssportclay]

Speaker wire doesn't seem to make much difference in sound unless it is really bad. 12 gauge Radio Shack probably sounds as good as anything out there. More money will get you fancy looking insulation that will impress your guests if you are into that. Get 16 gauge if 12 gauge is too big for your gear.

 

[Bones13]

Hard to find an everyday audiophile that can really hear the difference in copper cabling to your speakers.

Wire size is really important if your are using longer cables.

Signal rejection can be important if you have a lot of EM radiators in your area. Computer, Television, Wireless, and Telephones come to mind.

I used regular zip wires until I could make my cables, which I did from Cardas Quad Cable, bought in bulk, some gold plated connectors (these are not worth it from my viewpoint now), along with some shrink wrap. To this day, I cannot be sure I can hear a difference in my 12 foot cables. I was using them in a biwire situation using a receiver initially, now they are just single runs with a stereo amp.

The quad wiring is twisted to minimize the crosstalk between straight wires in parallel. This is true of the DIY Cat5 cables, which will be my next project. I also plan to look at some shielded cables, perhaps I can find some shielded Cat5 to work with.

Spend money on the components. Wire is Wire to speakers, in several studies, both scientific and audiophilic. I do think there are wires that might let you "color" the sound to a small degree.

 

[zachary80]

A couple weeks I upgraded my home theater to 12 and 14ga speaker wire from monoprice and am happy with the choice

 

[HotHead]

Thanks for the Monoprice suggestions. I was not aware of them. I did read good things about BlueJeans Cable and while they're not exactly what most people would call expensive, Monoprice is a lot less costly than BJC. Same way with their RCA cables. But has anyone here tried Monoprice RCA cables?

 

[Teraflame]

Monoprice is quality stuff, you won't hear many complaints.

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HotHead /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the Monoprice suggestions. I was not aware of them. I did read good things about BlueJeans Cable and while they're not exactly what most people would call expensive, Monoprice is a lot less costly than BJC. Same way with their RCA cables. But has anyone here tried Monoprice RCA cables?

Yep. I am using a Monoprice RCA to connect my receiver (haven't got my HK 3390 quite yet, have an Insignia NS-R2000 or w/e) and it's definitely a high quality interconnect for the price, not getting any interference or anything and it sounds as good as anything to me, though I'm not an interconnect believer. If you want a 3-ft one I don't need it anymore since I need a longer one and just ordered a 12 footer.

 

[DeusEx]

My Monoprice Premium RCA interconnect is pretty good for the price. In fact, I was pretty amazed at the quality I got for what I paid...

 

[kiljim]

Decided to go with Monoprice in the end
Just received them and made a pair of 6-ft cables with another 38-ft left in case i ever need more

Pretty easy to get the plugs on, just a couple of failed attempts at the first try since i pushed too much of the copper wire and it wouldnt screw on nicely
Sounds great, works fine, very satisfied!

Thanks for helping out guys

 

[scootermafia]

Get some 12 gauge Neotech OCC copper wire - takefiveaudio.com or partsconnexion.com or soniccraft.com all have it, twist it into a pair, then throw some spades or bananas on it (vampirewire.com i think, Vampire Wire, sells well priced high quality spades and bananas). Easy...