Budget speaker cable advice please

[Bradnett]

Hello , quick bit of advice please.....

Will I get away with Qed 42 strand speaker cable with two lengths (1 x 16m & 1 x 10m) and still get a decent sound out of it. Need a cable easy to hide and monies a bit tight!

Denon Ceol RCD-N8 & Q Acoustic 3010 Speakers

Thanks in advance

 

[abacus]

All you need is 2.5mm sq OFC multistrand, which can be picked up from Maplin, B & Q etc.

You may also like to do a search on WHF as there are quite a number of cable threads.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[Bradnett]

Thanks Bill , so you don't rate the QED stuff then as I saw that quite cheap somewhere anyway.

 

[Anderson]

Thanks Bill , so you don't rate the QED stuff then as I saw that quite cheap somewhere anyway.

The QED 42 has a cross sectional area of 0.75mm, you want something that's 2.5mm and not expensive, you don't need to pay silly money for a cable. So look at cross sectional area in the specs, ignore any other marketing you see adertising a speaker cable.

A member of this forum recently bought some terminated Van Damme, if you're wanting to keep the costs down but it unterminated.

 

[BigH]

Maplins stock Van Damme Blue, its about £3 pm for 2.5mm that will do fine. The Van Damme OFC is about £5 pm and some say is better, I would go with those rather than hifi brands.

 

[andyjm]

Hello , quick bit of advice please.....

Will I get away with Qed 42 strand speaker cable with two lengths (1 x 16m & 1 x 10m) and still get a decent sound out of it. Need a cable easy to hide and monies a bit tight!

Denon Ceol RCD-N8 & Q Acoustic 3010 Speakers

Thanks in advance

There is nothing wrong with QED 42 strand. It is however a bit thin for your application (0.75mm sq), particularly for the 16M run. For that length, aim for a cable with a cross sectional area of at least 2.5mm sq.

QED 79 strand will fit the bill, but to be honest, there is no need to pay up for a 'hifi' brand, any 2.5mm sq cable will do.

The 2.5mm sq Van Damme cable recommended above would be fine, but you are paying for a brand name, and for an external sheath for the cable which is great if you are using the cable on the road, but performs no function I can see in a domestic environment. It is also bulky and something else to have to strip when you are making off the cable ends.

If money is tight, I have recommended a cable from TLC a number of times (TLC are an electrical factor, they have branches all over the place). Part number is CA SPEAK79 - as far as I can tell it is identical to QED 79 strand and costs about 59p + VAT a metre for a cut length.

 

[Anderson]

Bradnett, that seems like excellent value must keep them in mind if I'm looking to get more cable in the future.

 

[slice]

On the audiovisualonline website there are a couple of types of fisual ofc 2.5mm speaker cables on offer for £1.95 and £2.20 per metre.

 

[slice]

Hello , quick bit of advice please.....

Will I get away with Qed 42 strand speaker cable with two lengths (1 x 16m & 1 x 10m) and still get a decent sound out of it. Need a cable easy to hide and monies a bit tight!

Denon Ceol RCD-N8 & Q Acoustic 3010 Speakers

Thanks in advance

There is nothing wrong with QED 42 strand. It is however a bit thin for your application (0.75mm sq), particularly for the 16M run. For that length, aim for a cable with a cross sectional area of at least 2.5mm sq.

QED 79 strand will fit the bill, but to be honest, there is no need to pay up for a 'hifi' brand, any 2.5mm sq cable will do.

The 2.5mm sq Van Damme cable recommended above would be fine, but you are paying for a brand name, and for an external sheath for the cable which is great if you are using the cable on the road, but performs no function I can see in a domestic environment. It is also bulky and something else to have to strip when you are making off the cable ends.

If money is tight, I have recommended a cable from TLC a number of times (TLC are an electrical factor, they have branches all over the place). Part number is CA SPEAK79 - as far as I can tell it is identical to QED 79 strand and costs about 59p + VAT a metre for a cut length.

Looks good value. Makes me wonder about the prices we do pay.

 

[MajorFubar]

Some great suggestions here already but just to add that if you're nowhere near a maplins or any other 'physical' retailer that sells cable, don't rule-out ebay for some good bargains...going rate there seems to be about £12-£15 for 20m of 2.5mil multistrand.

 

[JamesMellor]

Will 25m do ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-2-5mm-Loud-Speaker-Cable/dp/B003CZBNJ2

 

[Anderson]

Will 25m do ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-2-5mm-Loud-Speaker-Cable/dp/B003CZBNJ2

That's entirely up to you a Scooby Doo

 

[rainsoothe]

hi.

From what I understood from some cable discussions, you should get equal lengths - someone with more knowledge correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[andyjm]

hi.

From what I understood from some cable discussions, you should get equal lengths - someone with more knowledge correct me if I'm wrong.

QED 79 strand (2.5mm sq) has a loop resistance of 0.016 ohms/metre. You can live with quite a few metres of mismatch in length before the differences in resistance between the two lengths of cable become significant. Tough to say exactly where it would become audible - depends on all sorts of things. In an ideal world try to keep them the same, but don't sweat a few metres here and there.

 

[BigH]

Will 25m do ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-2-5mm-Loud-Speaker-Cable/dp/B003CZBNJ2

That's entirely up to you a Scooby Doo

Looks a bit too thin, one reviews says its 1mm only.

 

[Anderson]

There's always 1 idiot, that 1 star review is the only 1 star review in 2 years. It looks legit to me? Does anyone else mention it being thinner than advertised?

 

[Anderson]

Didn't mean you are the idiot btw

 

[andyjm]

Will 25m do ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-2-5mm-Loud-Speaker-Cable/dp/B003CZBNJ2

That's entirely up to you a Scooby Doo

Looks a bit too thin, one reviews says its 1mm only.

2.5mm sq is the cross sectional area (CSA).

Area of a circle = pi * radius ^ 2

Diameter of 2.5mm sq CSA cable is approx 1.75mm

 

[Anderson]

 

[BigH]

There's always 1 idiot, that 1 star review is the only 1 star review in 2 years. It looks legit to me? Does anyone else mention it being thinner than advertised?

Yes read the 2 star review, which also suggests its not even copper.

 

[Anderson]

There's always 1 idiot, that 1 star review is the only 1 star review in 2 years. It looks legit to me? Does anyone else mention it being thinner than advertised?

Yes read the 2 star review, which also suggests its not even copper.

I think you're right! The description, as far as I can see on mobile doesn't even state what it's made of

 

[Bradnett]

Ended up going for the 79 strand TLC 2.5mm , hopefully that will do the job!

 

[andyjm]

Ended up going for the 79 strand TLC 2.5mm , hopefully that will do the job!

Good move, I dont think you will be dissapointed.

If you get a chance, can you report back on how you got on with the cable? I sometimes feel like a voice in the wilderness on here when it comes to recommending cables that cost less than the average weekly wage.

 

[bigboss]

I won't worry about size mismatch for your length cables. All my cables are cut according to need.

I used this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/hi-fi-speaker-cable-20m-drum-white-n17ap

 

[record_spot]

Maplins stock Van Damme Blue, its about £3 pm for 2.5mm that will do fine. The Van Damme OFC is about £5 pm and some say is better, I would go with those rather than hifi brands.

This. I use Van Damme Blue, works a treat. You can get a 10m reel of unbranded 2.5mm OFC from Digitalis Direct for about £6 delivered. You know it makes sense. I got some a few years back and it replaced some Audioquest Type IV.