Technically that's a good signal cable, but certainly not intended for passing high current. I use MVC333, which is older broadcast grade coax for all of my signal cables. I certainly wouldn't entertain using it for speakers as it's not really up to the job due to the construction of the cable and the way most speakers connect via two separate terminals. (neutrik speakon connections may be suitable as both connections are made within one plug) We usually use canford HPS with all the passive speakers i use in work. I find that nothing beats traditional two core 300V 10A copper mains cable. (cheap and capable of carrying 3KW)
Speaker wire
- Thread starter fireisdangerous
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Whilst it will work, data signals are a very different proposition to the powers involved in speaker cabling. Different requirements from a cable entirely compared to a satellite signal!
The shotgun cables use a solid 1mm copper core. This would offer less resistance than a stranded cable and would make superb speaker cable. They are just very stiff and not easy to manipulate around. They can also possibly break if manipulated to much.
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Like I said, it will work! But Data signals != to power/speaker signals!
Makes no difference its all voltages being sent down a cable. What's important is the material the core is made from and it is of suitable diameter for the voltage to be used.
The shotgun cable has a solid copper 1mm core and will work happily as a data cable or speaker cable capable of driving some very large loads.
But its not an ideal cable to work with as it is solid and fairly stiff making it difficult to manipulate into position.
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The diameter of the cable is nothing to do with the voltage that can be safely sent down it, only the current is dependent on a thick cable. The voltage that can safely be transmitted is dependent on the insulation.
And yes it is all voltages down a cable, but saying that 'it works for multiple video streams, so it will work for speaker signals' is misleading and wrong. THe reason coax works for video signals is due to it's low transmission losses and good shielding to external noise. The reason it works well as a speaker cable is because it has a nice thick 1mm copper core.
Some coax cables have very thin cores, and would not be suitable for driving large speaker loads, and most normal speaker cable would give no end of trouble if you tried to use them to transmit high speed data over any distance.
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Orderd some van damme blue for the front,centre and sub and going to order some low profile paintable speaker wire for my rears. This will save me having to chase the walls ans they should run nicely under my new floor.
It was more likely that fitting a fresh non corroded cable and tightening all the contacts made a slight difference rather than the cable itself.
used to use cat5 cable and follow the TNT audio guide
but now just gets Van damn blues from Mark Grant cable cheap and saves time.
a friend of mine splashed out onsome uber expensive russ andrews cable then took some VD blues and old cat5 cable ones i made years ago and no longer use. he soon sold his off and got himself a big roll of cat5 cable to use
but now just gets Van damn blues from Mark Grant cable cheap and saves time.
a friend of mine splashed out onsome uber expensive russ andrews cable then took some VD blues and old cat5 cable ones i made years ago and no longer use. he soon sold his off and got himself a big roll of cat5 cable to use
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Just bought a 25M roll of 18AWG 5 x 2.5mm copper cable for my speaker setup for 11 quid, beats paying 60+ for the VD ones for little if any difference.
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just to throw in another speed ball, don't forget damping factor of amp to speaker - which in lamens terms is how accurately an amplifier can control the cone/diaphragm movement. In sound terms, especially in lower frequencies, it is often the difference between higher quality amplifiers and low quality amplifier - in terms of being able to produce 'tight&accurate' bass vs flappy 'distorted' bass. This isn't an exclusive you gain with price of course, it's all down to good design. Also, many will find a high damping factor amplifier too 'clinical' or even 'dry', saying that the amp lacks warmth - whereas others will love the accuracy and clarity you get, all depends on the amp. This is a heavy factor of what people mean by matching amplifiers to speakers, as some speakers benefit from the damping, whereas others can become too bright by the lowend being too defined. Valve amps for example have a very low damping factor, thus sound 'warm', but aren't really accurate whatsoever - but to many this is the sound they know and love, not to mention sound is completely subjective to the individual anyways. [just as an addition: distorted audio also is far higher in energy, thus sounds louder than it is... hence the classic ringing ears from disco dave at 90db, when the 100db live gig sounded the same loudness but didn't damage your ears at all].
Back to speaker cables.... damping factor is all down to resistances, the amp output resistance, the cable resistance, and the voicecoil resistance. In essence, the higher the resistance of the cable, the lower the damping factor gets - and is 99% why your speakers sound nicer with proper cables over small ones.
Bearing in mind for the kind of power most hifi uses, current wise you are easily over specified with a 0.25mm core, by using 1.5mm or 2.5mm cores, the resistance is significantly reduced achieving the highest damping factor your amplifier can provide to the drivers. The tiny increase in power to the speakers will make absolutely nill change to output DB at all, and is complete pish if someone says otherwise [with the clause of ignoring people using teenie tiny silly cables - cat5e].
Any cable will do, long as the conductor is good - namely real copper will suffice, otherwise i'd be mainly interested in ergonomics & durability of the cable... will it last, and can it easily be installed how you want?
Personally... i use Van Damme blue tourgrade, but that's just because i buy it by the 100m roll for my professional work.
Hope this helps, and will give people some food for thought. Rarely see damping factor mentioned in the domestic audio circles....
Back to speaker cables.... damping factor is all down to resistances, the amp output resistance, the cable resistance, and the voicecoil resistance. In essence, the higher the resistance of the cable, the lower the damping factor gets - and is 99% why your speakers sound nicer with proper cables over small ones.
Bearing in mind for the kind of power most hifi uses, current wise you are easily over specified with a 0.25mm core, by using 1.5mm or 2.5mm cores, the resistance is significantly reduced achieving the highest damping factor your amplifier can provide to the drivers. The tiny increase in power to the speakers will make absolutely nill change to output DB at all, and is complete pish if someone says otherwise [with the clause of ignoring people using teenie tiny silly cables - cat5e].
Any cable will do, long as the conductor is good - namely real copper will suffice, otherwise i'd be mainly interested in ergonomics & durability of the cable... will it last, and can it easily be installed how you want?
Personally... i use Van Damme blue tourgrade, but that's just because i buy it by the 100m roll for my professional work.
Hope this helps, and will give people some food for thought. Rarely see damping factor mentioned in the domestic audio circles....
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Just taken delivery of 20 metres of this stuff. Not tried it out yet but, it looks really thin compared to stuff I have used previously. Must be about an eight of the width of the previous 'professional' cable I had.
It's pure copper with 42 strands it will handle pretty much anything you could desire with ease.
You do not need massive thick cables for home audio it's yet another load of marketing mumbo jumbo malarky.
Using Van Damme here, the 4 core version for my bi-amped fronts and the blue 2 core for the middle speaker. Honestly can't hear any difference - the cable however is clearly better quality and can't see it snagging or breaking like your bog standard stuff will over time.
Running Q Acoustics 2050's, 2000c, 2070S and a Denon 1912 AMP. Overkill for a terrace house!
Running Q Acoustics 2050's, 2000c, 2070S and a Denon 1912 AMP. Overkill for a terrace house!