My goal is to build new cables that I will use for the next 15 years, no matter what speakers I have, but I don't want to spend money that will force me to get a 2nd mortgage.. My current speakers are 4 Ohm so my thought is I need at least 12 gauge - 10 gauge wire. I am planning to replace my AudioQuest Type 4 speaker wire in my home theater with Canare 4s11 until I found Canare 4s11g, unfortunately you can't buy Canare 4s11g, at least I couldn't find it for sale. So I began looking at other speaker wire and Mogami speaker cable appeared. There are several choices, the 3104, 3103, 2921 are a few.them. Most of the ink is on Mogami 3104 speaker wire and it is highly regarded. I noticed Mogami 2921, 4 conductors of 14 gauge wire appeared to be exactly like the Canare 4s11, except the Mogami copper wire is OFC. My question for the experts who support this forum are: Is the Mogami 2921 as good or better than the Canare 4s11? Should I continue to search for Canare 4s11g cable or just be happy with the 4s11? Should I expand my budget and use one of the Mogami flavors (3104, 3103, 2921) wire? Should I stop the search for wire and just purchase 10 -12 gauge OFC wire and end the analysis paralysis?
If the DIY speaker wire build goes well I am sure I will replace my Monster cable stereo connections with new cables and connectors, but first things first..... the speakers need new connections. Any and all feedback is welcomed.
The search for canare 4s11g ...ebay from europe had it.If youre dead set on it 70-75 bucks is still very cheap for a cable you can live with,Canare 4s11 i believe will give you everything that 4s11g would.I did the mogami 3104, 3103,Canare 4s11,canare 4s12...furez fz124as cable was the wire that i felt gave the best soundstage,ect.Ofc and fep dialectic...hard to find these days though.4/14 would make your awg 11awg.The 2 that i would try are the canare 4s11 and furez.The canare to my ears and system have a bit more forward/neutral soundstage than furez.Furez is set back has little more mmm sparkle/air to highend.Little more lowend being that it is twisted 12 awg.
I have recent experience with the 3104 and 3103 and I can say 3104, as a single speaker cable, is a PITA to work with.
I like it now that I’m done, but I probably should have gone with either 3103 (Parts Express has it by the foot) or the 2921.
The cable itself handles very well given it’s thickness. It’s very flexible while laying it out on the floor. The jacket is resilient but soft, so it’s really easy to nick the internal insulators. It’s hard to find cable pants and because the conductors are almost 10 gauge you need appropriate strippers but also finding connectors that will accept 2x 11 gauge is pretty hard. I ended up using WBT crimp sleeves to ensure I got even pressure distribution, so that adds $4/connector. If you are using it as bi-wiring with 4 connectors on each end this gets a lot easier.
The 3103, which is close to 11 gauge, is about 4 times easier to work on, and off-the-shelf pant sleeves fit perfectly if you cut the legs in half, and the need for a crimp sleeve vanishes. You get to a neater, finished product really fast, but again, get cable strippers that can do 10 gauge stranded or you'll cut a lot of strands off every time.
Good way to preserve your strands of wire is using good wire stripper/proper awg cut your length...enough to were you can break the pvc/covering...then cut along the length/xacto.Just enough to open youre splice.This takes some patience and does save strands.
I purchased (2) 17’ runs of Canare 4s11 for my Magnepan 3.7 which are 4 ohm and it is excellent. Good prices from Redco in CT. Sorry no experience with Mogami.
I have been using Canare 4S11 speaker cables in both systems for a couple of years. I have no desire to change, ever. Previously, I had expensive $1K+ cables. The Canare are much better, not even a comparison.
Previously, I had expensive $1K+ cables. The Canare are much better, not even a comparison.
Thank you. I have some $1K+ speaker cables as well and have considered a DIY speaker cable. You have just answered the question I have been asking myself
I ended up selling higher priced wires as well...You make a nice pair of speaker cables,Quality connectors."run them in right".I think you'll be very surprised at the level of quality/ect that you're able to achieve.
I've been very happy with Mogami cable over the years. I currently bi-wire with their 4con12awg -3104. Its overkill in my particular application as the runs are only 9ft each but it's excellent quality and Performance Audio's per foot pricing beats all including Markertek.
Thank you. If you decide on the Canare, it will take around 500 hours to fully jell (break in) in your system. They sound great upon first hook up bet get even better over the 500 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed the break in period. Best of luck.
A big TEXAS THANK-YOU to all who responded. I have decided to go with the Canare 4s11. I guess I will just have to dig out the Cheech & Chong, George Carlin, Firesign Theatre, maybe some Who, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio, Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky albums and just kick back and let the break-in begin. I've ordered the connectors (locking bananas for amp side and spades for speaker side), the wire, techflex, heat shrink tubing, a heat gun. Everything should be in my hands within 10 days, and then a few days to make the cables. I'll update this thread with my initial thoughts and again after 3-4 months of usage. BTW, I plan to repurpose some of the AQ type 4 cable to use on my refurbished Pioneer SX-828 that resides in my office. I noticed the current cable, purchased from RS eons ago was starting to tarnish. The hard part will be attaching the wire to the unorthodox speaker connections on this old receiver..... I just hate to throw anything away........ again, thanks to everyone who responded to this thread, your thoughts and opinios are appreciated.
I own a lot of cables, audioquest rocket, atlas hyper 2.0, qed original, viard audio premium hd, canare 4s11, Vandame lp-ucofc, western electric (tuneful), mogami 3103...
My best cable is the mogami 3082, it's the more transparent, clear and realistic sound on my focal electra 907be !
What is your problem with the break in? That is how long it took and that is also what I was told by Canare. I knew someone would scoff at my statement, congratulations.
Agreed!!!...it took all of at least 500 for me before bass and soundstage settled in...you got the wrong read on my statement..."that read yahman/meant ya man"...not "yeah right?"
For the small additional cost I would sure recommend that you go with a company like Blue Jeans Cable who can professionally weld the terminations to the cable. They sell Canare 4S11 as one of their options. The connections between the cable and the terminators is critical.
I may go with BJC for the RCA inter-connects & XLR cables but only because I haven't soldered anything since my radio merit badge when I was a Boy Scout, many years ago. The stereo cables seemed a simple task but we shall see. When you watch these YouTube videos they make everything seem possible.....:).
I have a run of Canare 4S11 I plan to try soon. How are you using this 4 conductor cable for a simple stereo connection? Are you using the reds together and the whites together for positive and ground? Does anyone make a gold plated copper banana plug I can crimp on and solder? Are there any assembly tricks to getting the most out of this cable?
Jerryg has it right...Red/pink...white/clear.Best thing you can do for these is a proper running in.Thats been discussed.Doesnt matter what you use for your + and -...Red positive/white negative is pretty much a done deal for me.
What is wrong with the type 4? It should be better than either of those. I happily use type 4 running my tannoys in a bi wire run....sounds good to me. It's been in the Sterephile stable for years and years and is a recommended component.
There is nothing 'wrong' with the AQ Type 4 cable. I've used it for my HT speaker connections for the last 15 years. The banana connectors were not making good connections and needed to be replaced. I thought I would use this opportunity to try some different speaker wire, using locking banana connectors for the amp and spades for the speakers. I chose to go with the Canare 4s11 speaker wire and will give this time to 'break-in' to see if I notice any difference. After reading digsmithd's post I may not have paired the cables correctly, looks like some more research is in my future.
I just re-watched a youtube video on building speaker wires using Canare 4s11. The gentlemen is using Red/White together on one conductor and Pink/Clear on the other conductor. This is how I. have mine configured. There was a statement there was no difference in sound with that config vs Red/Pink & White/Clear..I was getting a little worried I screwed up. One down and 4 more to go.
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