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Bought some 14/2 “speaker wire” from Home Depot

So I decided to amuse myself and on a recent trip to the Home Depot I bought some 14 gauge speaker wire. 25 ft for under $11.
I have what I think is a good system and my current speaker wires are analysis plus mesh oval 9 terminated in spades. My system is noted in my profile.
I substituted in the 14/2 I picked up- each leg is about 9.5 ft. Tinned bare wire at each end. I did use 4% silver solder.
Quite listenable, though perhaps not as extended at the high end. If someone told me I had to use the Home Depot wire I’d get along just fine. Leads me to one of 4 possible conclusions- 1- my hearing stinks; 2- my fancy Analysis Plus cables aren’t anything special; 3- my system isn’t resolving enough to make a difference; 4- given sufficient gauge, cable is cable. Of course, it’s also possible that my system is so good, any wire will allow that to shine through 
Your thoughts, comments, etc appreciated 

thanks
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noromance's avatar
noromance
9,766 posts
 
I tinned the ends to prevent any stray strands
14/2 Romex is solid core and better sounding. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
OMG. Now we're talking house wiring. Curiouser and curiouser. When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
My nearby HIFi store (remember those?) had a 40-foot piece of Mogami 2477 OFC copper coax 12gauge that was left as a sample by a sales rep. I bought it for $40 and took it home. Cut it in half, stripped the ends, twisted the core strands together, then the outer strands and added banana plugs. Core strands +, outer strands -. Looked real neat! Two twenty-foot pieces from amp to my KLH Nine electrostats. I kept that in use for over 20 years until I had to move south. I stupidly left the Mogami cable behind - but the movers brought the Nines to me safely in Florida. I thought the Mogami sounded excellent - no urge to change!i
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Now I have an amp in the middle between the KLH Nines and a six-foot piece of RCA 14gauge all-copper zip to each speaker. Still sounds excellent!
b4icu's avatar
b4icu
558 posts
 
Well, you are guessing! 
Tire pressure at your car wheels are calculated and given (on the drivers door side, as STD.)
Your speaker cables should be the same. It's not that complicated...
Tell me the Amp's DF and length required, I'll calculate it for you.

Anything thicker, won't hurt, but also won't sound any better.
Anything thinner - should be rectified. The sooner, the better.
It is nothing about 4% silver (sounds so exotic, worth nothing: Silver conducts only 5% better than copper, but costs 130 times more! 4% of 5% is 4/100 x 5/100 =  0.002...)
The Home Depot is as good as Radio Shack or eBay.

It's about VFM or price. 


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