12AWG speaker wire


I'm replacing my speaker wire with 12AWG wire, There are different 12AWG wire, The ones I looked at the 1st consisted of 65 strand 30 AWG and the 2nd 294 strand 36 AWG. Looking for thoughts on which is better?

rbull11

@rbull11 - if you are "handy" - then take a look at this site

http://www.image99.net/blog/files/d048bbacfce9bcad4a025be804771d9a-76.html

They are excellent speaker cables that outperform many "branded products"

Read more member opinions here...

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/duelund-conversion-to-diy-helix-geometry-cabling?highlight=helix%2Bdiy

The thread discusses all cable types so you might need ot search for speaker cable comments specifically

If you have any questions about the Helix cables just ask

Regards - Steve

+ 1 williewonka

If the runs are really long, shorten them up.
NO I don't want to hear it.. Shorten the runs and move your equipment. :-)

If you have to make your own unless it's an RCA don't solder anything if you can. Pressure weld or use securements of like alloy. Silver terminal ends use silver screws. 

From the test build I've made, the thinner the wire the better was the bass spectrum. My understanding is that the thinner the wire the more the whole cable act as a solid cables because the strands are more in electrical contact with each other as opposed to larger strands. Being more stiff, the larger strands will push off each other resulting in a sound more akin to a litz cable configuration.

Resistance of wire is not linear, at low frequency it is function of the diameter of the wire and as frequency rises inductance takes over and the resistance rises. A larger diameter conductor will reduce the low frequency resistance, shifting the tonal response toward the lows end.

Thanks for your responses and the input ,                                                                                       I just ordered some Mystarsound 12-2C . This was the 65 strand 12AWG.

  • Speaker Wire: Made in the USA-High Performance 12G 2C I also ordered some gold plated PIN and Spade connectors.

 

Sounds like that will due as budget speaker cable. If you have speakers an an audio system that is focused on high sound quality. Then you need to look at high quality speaker cables manufactured in descrete lengths for the specific purpose. These will cost many hundreds or thousands of dollars. I have a very high end system, mine cost nearly $5K. The ones I had for the previous 30 years cost $3.5K. I would think of them as an active component in your system. 5 - 10% the value of your system.