Re: Maximum length of hifi speaker cable?

Hi all!

I have done it! Believe it or not I actually used 2 core mains cable!!! It
provided the adequate diameter wire...and it all sounds great! Please don't
all start syaing that I should have used something else 'cos it's all in
palce (cable clips and everything). Anyway, thanks all for your
advice....I'm happy now!

P.S. Sorry Warren! I read your reply just a little too late! Anyway...I am
not an audio expert and it all sounds OK to me so it will just have to do!

Jamie
"Warren Marshall" <wmarsha1 @ bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
newsCCJa.900$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Here's a dissenting view.
>
> When I used solid-core mains cable as speaker wire, I found that short
runs
> sounded great but longer runs (e.g. 5 metres) had noticeable loss of
treble,
> even for my middle-aged ears! Long runs, even short runs, of thick
> multi-strand cable do a lot of damage to sound reproduction. I don't know
> why, but I know they do. I don't have magic ears - I'm quite happy to
admit
> when a cheaper cable sounds better than a more expensive one. But there is
a
> BIG audible difference between solid core cables and multi-strand cables.
>
> I use a spectacular cable, which takes a bit of effort but is not at all
> expensive. I buy solid-core Cat-5e network cable, 3 times the length of
> Cat-5w for the length of speaker cable I'm making.
>
> So you would require 6 x 12 metre lengths of Cat-5e for 2 x 12 metre runs.
>
> Simply plait 3 lengths together, like girls plait their hair (ask your
wife
> or girlfriend if you need a lesson). At each end, seperate all the solid
> colours from the stripe colours, and join the solid colours together as
your
> + (after stripping the wire ends) and the stripes together as your -. This
> cable is about 13 guage which is enough copper to offer low resistance,
but
> has virtually no impedence, because the cable is in a twisted pair
> configuration, and no "skin effect" which is the capacitative effect
caused
> by the phenomenon that almost all electric current travels within about
> 0.25mm of the skin of a conducting cable.
>
> So, the bottom line is that you can create your own 2 x 12m super-cable
for
> maybe US$50! Sorry to any esoteric cable manufacturers out there.
>
> Regards,
> Warren Marshall
> Sydney, Australia
>
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi, I know very little about hifi systems apart from the fact that long
> runs
> > of speaker cable should be avoided. I am installing speakers for my hifi
> and
> > need a run of 12 metres (approx. 36 feet) for one speaker and 7 metres
> > (approx. 21 feet) for the other speaker! I know this is very long but
> > there's nothing I can do about it. What do you reckon? Will my sound
> quality
> > be noticably worse to an amateurs ears? I will not be spending silly
money
> > on expensive speaker cable either....just standard off the shelf stuff.
> Any
> > opinions or advice appreciated.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Jamie
> >
> >
>
>