solid core

[Blacksabbath25]

Anyone know where in the uk I can buy 18-16 gage solid cooper core speaker cable please I have looked around but can not find a uk site that sells it I do not want anything fancy just something that will do the job without costing a arm and a leg .

 

[Vladimir]

Audioquest Type 4 or 8 from a spool is an option. Type 4 has a bit of lean character in the lower frequencies.

Also you ca buy quality CAT5 ethernet cable and braid your own high end speaker cable.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Audioquest Type 4 or 8 from a spool is an option. Type 4 has a bit of lean character in the lower frequencies.

Also you ca buy quality CAT5 ethernet cable and braid your own high end speaker cable.

yes that is something i would not mind making myself i have seen some utube video's of cables being made up . the audioquest is type 8 is that better then for the low frequencies ? . and is there a gage that you need for 4ohms speakers or does this not matter ? just that i had a play around with some satlite cable just to try as its solid core cooper it worked and sounded good a little louder then the atles cable was on the other channal of the amp . but got me thinking to buy some proper soild core

 

[tino]

Isn't 1.5 mm mains cable equivalent in cross sectional area?

 

[drummerman]

Can't post links but go to

wires.co.uk

You should find what you are looking for.

 

[lindsayt]

B&Q?

Whatever mains cable is about the right diameter for you?

 

[Blacksabbath25]

It's a funny I know but I have tried main cable too but it was only 13 amp flex cable and it did work fine and I know it sounds crazy but I thought I would give this things a go but the satellite cable sounded loads better so this has got me wanting some proper solid core speaker cable not bothered if it's stiff . I just want to get the right gage cheap as chips if that's possible with solid core cable

 

[davedotco]

Most 'mains cable' is stranded but 'twin and earth' is solid core.

Screwfix will sell you 25m of 30amp 'cooker cable' for £15. Strip out the two insulated cores, dump the outer sheathing and uninsulated earth wire.

Voila, 25 meters of 2.5sqmm solid core speaker cable at less than £1 per metre.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Is there any good videos of speaker cables being made up or guides showing you how to make them up

 

[Vladimir]

Audioquest Type 4 or 8 from a spool is an option. Type 4 has a bit of lean character in the lower frequencies.

Also you ca buy quality CAT5 ethernet cable and braid your own high end speaker cable.

yes that is something i would not mind making myself i have seen some utube video's of cables being made up . the audioquest is type 8 is that better then for the low frequencies ? . and is there a gage that you need for 4ohms speakers or does this not matter ? just that i had a play around with some satlite cable just to try as its solid core cooper it worked and sounded good a little louder then the atles cable was on the other channal of the amp . but got me thinking to buy some proper soild core

Thicker gauge will do better passing current, which affects bass. Thinner wires have higher resistance and will do worse. Type 8 is thicker than Type 4 so it is better in the low fr. area, but the price hike is substantial.

I'd recommend making your own braided cable with CAT5. I've done it and it sounds great. A bit tedious to make, but will save you quite a bit of cash.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Most 'mains cable' is stranded but 'twin and earth' is solid core.

Screwfix will sell you 25m of 30amp 'cooker cable' for £15. Strip out the two insulated cores, dump the outer sheathing and uninsulated earth wire.

Voila, 25 meters of 2.5sqmm solid core speaker cable at less than £1 per metre.

thanks so 30 amp cooker cable where would you buy a new outer to cover the cooker cable so it's insulated from and all the bits you need to make it look like speaker cables so it looks good ( maplen's ?

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Audioquest Type 4 or 8 from a spool is an option. Type 4 has a bit of lean character in the lower frequencies.

Also you ca buy quality CAT5 ethernet cable and braid your own high end speaker cable.

yes that is something i would not mind making myself i have seen some utube video's of cables being made up . the audioquest is type 8 is that better then for the low frequencies ? . and is there a gage that you need for 4ohms speakers or does this not matter ? just that i had a play around with some satlite cable just to try as its solid core cooper it worked and sounded good a little louder then the atles cable was on the other channal of the amp . but got me thinking to buy some proper soild core

Thicker gauge will do better passing current, which affects bass. Thinner wires have higher resistance and will do worse. Type 8 is thicker than Type 4 so it is better in the low fr. area, but the price hike is substantial.

I'd recommend making your own braided cable with CAT5. I've done it and it sounds great. A bit tedious to make, but will save you quite a bit of cash.

sounds good mate I will give this a go is there any videos on how to make this and Brad

 

[keeper of the quays]

Go with cat5 I used a solid core flat cable, idea being less intrusive..flatter under carpet! Etc..it wasn't very good..flat cable flat sound..

 

[Vladimir]

Most 'mains cable' is stranded but 'twin and earth' is solid core.

Screwfix will sell you 25m of 30amp 'cooker cable' for £15. Strip out the two insulated cores, dump the outer sheathing and uninsulated earth wire.

As long as you twist them together, they will do fine. Otherwise the inductivity may break/fry the amp.

Don't ask how I know this.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Go with cat5 I used a solid core flat cable, idea being less intrusive..flatter under carpet! Etc..it wasn't very good..flat cable flat sound..

i am not to worried about it being intrusive as it will be hidden up

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Most 'mains cable' is stranded but 'twin and earth' is solid core.

Screwfix will sell you 25m of 30amp 'cooker cable' for £15. Strip out the two insulated cores, dump the outer sheathing and uninsulated earth wire.

As long as you twist them together, they will do fine. Otherwise the inductivity may break/fry the amp.

Don't ask how I know this.

lol i do not want that to happen to me *smile*

 

[TrevC]

Anyone know where in the uk I can buy 18-16 gage solid cooper core speaker cable please I have looked around but can not find a uk site that sells it I do not want anything fancy just something that will do the job without costing a arm and a leg .

The main reason stranded cables are normally used is for ease of installation. There's no performance advantage to using solid core and it's a real pain in the bum to handle.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Anyone know where in the uk I can buy 18-16 gage solid cooper core speaker cable please I have looked around but can not find a uk site that sells it I do not want anything fancy just something that will do the job without costing a arm and a leg .

The main reason stranded cables are normally used is for ease of installation. There's no performance advantage to using solid core and it's a real pain in the bum to handle.

yes I know stranded is easier to use but I did try satellite cable and just put some plugs on the end and it worked a treat . I just would like to make up my own cables up using solid core

 

[Edbo2]

When I worked for Ferguson the engineers used 13A mains cable to connect to Goodman's HiFi speakers. Cheap as chips!!

 

[Blacksabbath25]

When I worked for Ferguson the engineers used 13A mains cable to connect to Goodman's HiFi speakers. Cheap as chips!!

it just goes to show that you do not have to spend a fortune on speaker cables I heard about mains cable being used when I was a kid but I thought they were joking but it works as its copper at the end of the day just different grades of copper being used for speaker cables

 

[davedotco]

Ideally the cable should be lightly twisted, like the old Chord Co Rumour.

If you want to make it look the part, use expandable sleeving, like this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3m-4mm-Expandable-High-Density-Polyester-Sleeve-Sleeving-Cover-Braiding/261205667791?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150313114020%26meid%3D20599406f27a4ea6a52b20681dc33191%26pid%3D100338%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D19%26sd%3D261211810736

Even comes with free heatshrink to tidy up the ends.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

I just looked up the audioquest type 8 it's £90 for 4 meters without plugs which I have my own but they want £16 for 2 plugs anyway just found out richer sounds sells audioquest but they only do type 4 - rocket starts around £180 for 3 meters with plugs and then upto £380 for 5 meters

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Ideally the cable should be lightly twisted, like the old Chord Co Rumour.

If you want to make it look the part, use expandable sleeving, like this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3m-4mm-Expandable-High-Density-Polyester-Sleeve-Sleeving-Cover-Braiding/261205667791?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150313114020%26meid%3D20599406f27a4ea6a52b20681dc33191%26pid%3D100338%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D19%26sd%3D261211810736

Even comes with free heatshrink to tidy up the ends.

thank you for the link I will give this a go

 

[ellisdj]

It was already mentioned wires.co.uk this is a good seller used lots from them and my wife buys lots from them to make jellewery
It's all unsheated though so will need an outer layer of sorts.

You could look at hifi collective but they sell mostly good stuff at a price

If you stumped up and made the cables from neotech occ solid core copper you would never go back to anything else is real good stuff.

In my experience the best cables use lots of small solid core runs of different types of conductors but the seller patented the idea long ago.

 

[ellisdj]

Wires.co.uk sell cotton covered litz copper wire of variety could be of interest.

They also sell a 10% silver copper wire which has silver included when cast not clad on after. Is a good wire for certain uses I have found