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Help me build speaker cables please!

Howdy!
I’m looking for input on some home brewed speaker cables. I’m currently using cables I made from braiding 8 lengths of CAT 5 plenum cable together. They’re terminated in silver plated BFA bananas and set up as a biwire configuration at the speaker end. I love their sound, but think I’m ready to try something made from higher grade metal. I’ve been doing a lot with silver in my system and have loved the change in sound almost every time I’ve gone from Cu to Ag. The only place I like Cu better is in the PCs for my amps. That said, I’m leaning heavily towards making a set of solid silver speaker cables, using .999 silver wire from Rio grande. I’ll insulated them with teflon spaghetti tubing and possibly terminate them with silver plated BFAs.

Where I’d love some input is here: do I do one run of 10awg, or biwire 12awg to the woofers, 14awg to the tweeters and mids? I’m using a dared tube preamp and monoblock Ghent audio class D amps (500w into 4 ohm) which drive floor standing RBH 1266 SE/R speakers. They are 4 ohm and have side firing 12" speakers. They like a lot of juice and sound their best when given what they want, hence my desire for large diameter cables.

Cost wise, it’s only $50 more expensive to biwire. I liked the change in sound when I first biwired, but I also went from blue jeans twisted pair 12 awg to my braided CAT 5, which has a combined 9 awg. So I’m not sure if it was the biwiring or all the other differences that improved the sound.

Also, any other ideas for superb sounding DIY SCs are welcome.

Danke!
128x128toddverrone
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone OP
838 posts
 
@sfall - I checked it clear day when I started researching silver cables. They are a great price, but not quite as thick as I want. I think they were 14 gauge.. my DIY cost for 10awg cable is about the same as the cost of their finished cables, whatever gauge they are.

The silver I'm considering is the same type clear day uses: .999 dead soft. 

Thanks for the heads up. I heard great things about them, which is what lead me in this direction in the first place.
timlub
1,649 posts
 
I've done the cat 5 with Teflon plenum, overall sound surprisingly nice... very high capacitance, you would need to be aware of that when using these... As far as silver solid core in Teflon,  I'm sure that you are aware that silver can get bright on you in some configurations. For me that's expensive if I ended up not liking them.  My cables that I like best are litz... similar to what you've done but true pure litz in cotton...It you can get some light gauge solid core litz,  it is a highly detailed full and dynamic cable.  Good luck,
Tim
steakster
720 posts
 
timlub +1 I also enjoy my litz SC’s. Below are some wires that I’ve been using to tweak my 12vdc power supplies. I would think they could be braided (either separately or together) to make very interesting SC’s. My favorites so far are #1 & #2.

#1: 20 awg 6n OCC pure solid copper
This solid-core copper offers a nice balance of tone and clean energy.

#2: 20 awg silver-plated Copper Type E, 7 strand, PTFE, 600v, 200c
This 7 strand silver-plated copper is very interesting. It offers a very nice presentation for vocalists w/o any stridency. Yet, it still has clean, high energy. It’s very different from the more common wire of 20 or so strands.

#3: 20 awg silver-plated solid-core copper wire, PTFE, 600v, 200c
This silver-plated solid-core copper offers clean, high energy. But, it can be a bit much depending on the application. ymmv. For DIY experimentation, it is far more economical than pure silver.


toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone OP
838 posts
 
@timlub @steakster thanks gentlemen. When I was researching 'recipes' I did come across mentions of the high capacitance of cables made from many individually insulated wires. Neither of the class D amps I've used the CAT 5 cables with have had a problem with that. And steakster, I remember reading something you wrote (I think it was you..) extolling the virtues of using 20awg wire to make PCs. If it wasn't you, then there's someone else out there with your love of 20awg! Thanks for the links.
williewonka
1,826 posts
 
Todd - me again :-)

From what I understand, one method of construction that appears to work
- only the signal/live wire needs to be silver - stranded will be better for longevity (more flexible)
- you can get away with a single 18-20 gauge conductor for the signal/Live
- the neutral only need to be made from good quality OCC copper
- the neutral should be 2-4 times the gauge of the signal
- the neutral can be made from 2-3 seperate conductors tiwsted tightly together
- the neutral should be loosely wound around the signal - not tight like the Helix Cables - one wind every 2-3 inches
- add 2-3 layers of expandable nylon sleeve over the signal to separate the two conductors.

I have tried the helix design on a short cable and it works very well
- I use conductors from Kimber cables - great quality copper and easy to separate the braids

Hope that helps
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