New Speaker Wire for z5500s

Dr John Watkinson has great things to say about speaker and equipment design, check this article on cables out:

http://www.resolutionmag.com/pdfs/DRAGONS/SPEAKE%7E1.PDF

Mind, he's a genius and an awkward bugger to boot, but he's usually right on the money.

Essentially, short cables are good, and high price, exotic formulations are a waste of money and effort. Keep your cables the same length.

I used 30 amp mains cable for many years and bi-wired on speakers that were designed for it. Lately I use the twin core Monster Cable speaker cable, not the very pricey stuff, but the lower end stuff.

I can hear no difference but it's pretty and I got a reel for free.

I agree.. Absolutely no need to spend lots of cash on fancy cables for speakers. Solid core mains cable is actually more than adequate. I think I've been using the 15amp variety, and its all good

No, the marking is so you can get the phase of the output and speakers correct.

Essentially the positive output goes to the positive input (usually the red colour), and negative to negative. This ensures the speakers are in phase (the cones push and pull in sync).

Using 30a amp 3-core cable means you have ready coloured cores (although you don't use the 3rd core!)

Occasionally re-cutting the connections to offset the oxidisation of the copper at the terminal is a good idea, but again doesn't yield audible results.

Pili said:

So basically I should just get a spool of 16-18 gauge standard copper insulated wiring at a radioshack like place and keep the speaker lengths equal and as short as possible?

Click to expand...

Yes. It doesn't have to be special speaker wire - they just have to let electrons move back and forth, and there is no perceptible difference in how speaker wires do that compared with, say, wiring for electrical outlets or lights, no matter what the marketing geniuses of the makers of overpriced cables will tell you.

Here is my favorite example to support my case: Coat hangers vs. Monster cables.

- Martin