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Anticables speaker wire have no plastic jacket/insulation?

Yesterday I received in the mail a pair of Anticables "Level 3 Reference Series Speaker Wires". I bought them because I had heard good reviews about them and relative to other speaker wire they are inexpensive so I thought I would give them a try. I read the reviews of these wires several years ago so I forgot that one of their selling points is that they have no insulation. They are, as far as I can tell, red-painted (anodized?) bare wire. The second thing that was immediately obvious that I did not know before I bought them is that they are very stiff. Almost as stiff as a metal-wire coat hanger. 

My question is, if these are bare wire, are they unsafe to touch while the amplifier that is driving them is powered on? I'm not an electrical engineer, but I would think yes. If that is not the case, I'd like to know why. If they are unsafe to touch these wires could be a hazard to children and pets (at the very least), which I do not have but some people might take that into consideration. 

At this time the wires are still in "break in" period. Anticables recommends 100 hours. I will wait at least that long before judging them. Afterwords I will post my impressions of them, detail the equipment I'm using and compare them to my current speaker cables which are also inexpensive but good. 
e91811
uncledemp
778 posts
 
I twisted some 14ga magnet wire and use it for speaker cable, cost was $25 for around 250'. It sounds fine to me, but my system is not high end (6-7k) so it may not be a good sample. 

It's stiff, but in my case it's not a problem. 

gdnrbob
4,444 posts
 
e91811, why don't you contact Anticables and ask them directly of your concerns? 
e91811 OP
26 posts
 
gdnrbob, thanks, I did before I started this thread. Anticables have not replied yet. I will post what they reply. Additionally, I wanted this discussion to be public in case any one else had the same question in the future.
uncledemp
778 posts
 
I know my magnet wire is not exactly the same, but it does have a red, thin film covering the wires. I've read it referred to as enamel. The coating on my wire is very, very, thin- but preparing the bare ends took some elbow grease. I ended up using a razor knife.

I twisted the pos/neg legs with a drill to wrap approx 3x/inch. My cat, Brubeck, walks, lays on it, etc. I've handled it without incident, but I was careful to not maneuver it near my face during installation, for eye safety.

bcowen
68 posts
 
The enamel coating on the wire IS the insulation.  You'll notice the positive and negative wires are weaved together -- if there was no insulation you'd short out your amplifier. 

I guess it's a little odd that you would purchase, install, and power up your equipment and THEN ask this question...
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