Vintage Stereo Equipment

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May 13th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

strong>Vintage Stereo equipment
What is a speaker cable?

what makes a good pair of speaker cable? can i use any electric cables for speakers (connect to amp)?
i heard a brand call Belden build decent cables, do you have any experience with their products? what should i get?
i also heard the "vintage" Belden cable are some of the most high end cable ever produced. since i am into vintage stereo equipments, i like to find out where i can get a 6' pair and how much it will cost?
thank you

It's really "speaker wire".

Like the glass that holds wine - the wires do have a small influence on the taste of the sound. It makes almost NO difference for the sparse audio content of a Movie, but higher end (read 'sensitive') music systems - they can make a small difference.

(We are talking ... perhaps 1 percent difference here, but lots of companies will sell you $500 cables promising they are the most important part of your system - total bs)

You can get Belden speaker wires with terminators from www.bluejeanscables.com. A ten ft run will cost about $36.

I would AVOID any "vintage" wires. They are just copper after all and this will oxidize over time and deteriorate. Unlike wine - age does NOT improve things.

HAND CRAFTED WIRES:

There are issues with capacitance where hand-crafting your own wires taking care to wind them can produce a very good speaker cable. Search the internet for formulas on how to take Cat 5 network wire, strip the outer sheath and braid the inner wires to produce 'audiophile' speaker wires. It takes a few nights but it's mindless work and can be fun.

MY SUGGESTION:

Get a spool of decent oxygen free speaker wire (12 ga) from www.partsexpress.com or even the "Carol" brand from Home Depot. Or use 4-wire, 16 ga where you twist 2 wires for plus and the other two wires for minus.

Use these wires for several weeks to get used to the sound. Then try 'auditioning' a different speaker wire and decide if the difference is worth the investment.

(In my opinion - re-positioning the speakers, doing some room treatments or equalization will give you much better results than spending money on expensive copper. But this is a hobby so .. have fun).