Bang for buck speaker wire?

Kol · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:20

My mate has some Van Damme cable, which from reading around seems to be pretty good quality cable.

My setup is an Onkyo amp feeding a left, centre and right cable. My amp and speakers support bi-wiring so I'll probably do that when I re-wire.

In terms of cable, do you guys either agree with Van Damme cable (and if so, which particular type bearing bi-wiring in mind) or would you recommend other cable?

What about Fisual stuff?

Yaayuh! · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:29

Well i certainly wouldn't bother spending any more than £1.50 per metre on speaker cable.
I've use Cambridge/Gale Symphony 200 stuff at the moment and will always recommend them or their alternatives around the same price.

spoffle · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:30

Special cable won't make your system sound any better. You just need to use something that is of adequate thickness. Anything with 2.5mm² cross section will be fine and not degrade your audio.

mid_gen · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:33

Ditto, you don't need to spend a lot on speaker cable. I use some reasonable gauge stuff I picked up in China, no brand.

spoffle · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:35

The general logical thought on it is that if you open up a speaker, all it's connected up with inside is basic copper cabling, same as amps and other components, so even if fancy cables actually had "properties (which they don't) they wouldn't work anyway.

iamtheoneneo · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:37

I got fisual stuff its perfectly fine, also have some QED stuff on another system that cost significantly more per metre - NO DIFFERENCE.

Its all marketing gimmicks.

Benihana · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:39

As above, its not worth spending loads, you might find the more pricey stuff is less flexible also. I 'upgraded' from some 2 core electric cord, and found zero difference! It was just much easier to route and hide

Minstadave · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:40

Generic 2.5mm cable is what I use, costs pennies.

mrbazmondo · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:42

Just make sure the length of cable to each speakers is the same.

Gold plated connectors are fine if you're connecting to gold plated contacts Otherwise if the materials are different its actually supposed to have a detrimental effect.

Minstadave · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:47

mrbazmondo said:
Just make sure the length of cable to each speakers is the same.

Gold plated connectors are fine if you're connecting to gold plated contacts Otherwise if the materials are different its actually supposed to have a detrimental effect.

Don't think unequal cable length is actually important tbh. You're not going to get a delay or volume difference unless the lengths are massively different.

Gold plated connectors are likely to be snake oil too, all the internal connectors are just soldered.

spoffle · 4 Mar 2015 at 13:50

Gold plating is supposedly just to reduce to chance of corrosion, with gold being a stable metal.

Marsman · 4 Mar 2015 at 14:00

That does make some sense, at least that is more plausible than gold connectors improving the signal.

Confused · 4 Mar 2015 at 15:26

I'm using a length of twin & earth cable (the white stuff like you get on a 4 way extension lead) for my 3 front speakers.

Telecaster · 4 Mar 2015 at 18:16

79 strand is all you'll ever need.

Kol · 4 Mar 2015 at 19:13

Thanks guys. I have some decent stuff already, I think it's one of those situations where I want to spend a lite bit of cash and get something that looks pretty. Wasted cash I suppose. Maybe I'll just buy some more of what I've got for the bi wiring.

I'm not after improving as I've not exactly got audiophile kit, just as I need more wire I could get something that is as good but looks better than bell wire!

Cheers chaps.

spoffle · 4 Mar 2015 at 19:18

Kol said:
Thanks guys. I have some decent stuff already, I think it's one of those situations where I want to spend a lite bit of cash and get something that looks pretty. Wasted cash I suppose. Maybe I'll just buy some more of what I've got for the bi wiring.

If you can see your cables, you're doing it wrong!

I'm not after improving as I've not exactly got audiophile kit, just as I need more wire I could get something that is as good but looks better than bell wire!

Cheers chaps.

You don't need audiophile equipment to hear improvements from magic speaker cable, you just need to be delusional, you can have that with a empty bean tins connected together with nylon string.

lucid · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:23

Kol said:
My mate has some Van Damme cable, which from reading around seems to be pretty good quality cable.

My setup is an Onkyo amp feeding a left, centre and right cable. My amp and speakers support bi-wiring so I'll probably do that when I re-wire.

In terms of cable, do you guys either agree with Van Damme cable (and if so, which particular type bearing bi-wiring in mind) or would you recommend other cable?

What about Fisual stuff?

Van Damme will be fine. Fisual too. The two most common thicknesses of Van Damme are 1.5mm and 2.5mm. Thicker is better if there's long runs involved (>10m). Fisual is the same.

IMO bi-wiring is a waste of time. It does change the sound, but not for the better. The effect is the same as tweaking up the levels of bass and treble with a graphic equaliser. The midrange suffers though; this is where voices and the tone of many instruments are reproduced. It gets pushed back and there's often a strange kind if disconnect between the upper and lower halves of the frequency range.

Beware cheap Chinese/Ebay speaker wire. There's a lot of stuff made from aluminium because that's cheaper, and then coated in a thin flash of copper to make it look like something more expensive.

Kol · 4 Mar 2015 at 20:38

Thanks lucid. Appreciate that.

shadow_boxer · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:01

+1 for Van Damme. Good solid and very reasonably priced.

vila · 4 Mar 2015 at 21:32

Based purely on the spec I'd say mains cable flex - try it sounds great only reason I'm using something more expensive is I wanted something thinner.