Are DIY Cables Worth It?

Mitch2,

I have not researched on the Vh stuff though I have seen the name tossed around some...I will have to check on that.

I made the best speaker cables for my entire 9 speaker home theater. They are suppose to compare to many high end. Google "bound for sound Marty 6 gauge". Its a six gauge that I paid 53 cents a foot recently (I bought the 500 foot spool) at Home depot. One guy told me he replaced his Acoustic zen Hologram 2 with it. The stuff brought my speakers alive. Very neutral.

The biggest thing I would like to do is put high quality stuff on all my subs. I have 3 and theres a lot of feet needed. So I have been looking at what I will do for DIY cables for those.

I've found the best cable you can do is use a solid core. Anything with strands just doesn't work nearly as well and adds it's own character or holds it back.

I ran down to home depot and bought some 14 gauge solid core wire (romex outdoor wire with the thick plastic covering it). I then put on some thick silver plated spades on the end and soldered it. Sound absolutely amazing. Much better than the $2400 MIT speaker wire I had. So much more detail and bass and imaging. I use 12 gauge solid core for the power cord. With a hubble end at the wall and wattgate at the other.

The only down side is it's extremely tough to bend. But it's well worth it. Looking at no more than $50 for a set of speaker cable. I'll gladly put it up against anything out there at any price. I used to have it all on a much higher end system but now even on my temporary system they make a huge improvement. Again I really want to emphasize solid core though (and throughout your whole system, including interconnects).

I've never even heard of solid core speaker wire, let alone considered using it. Is there a good place I can go to get a primer on the basics and intermediate knowledge about this stuff? It seems like just when I feel like I'm getting the hang of things, new stuff pops up.

Kacz, that sounds intersting. I outta put that up against the 6 gauge 25 dollar home depot specials.

I always wondered if that would sound good. Do you put the hot and neutral together and run two lines of romax?

I've never even heard of solid core speaker wire, let alone considered using it.

It's what I use (&describe) above: one 22-20g wire for hot & one for return (IC). That makes it UNshielded, "solid core" -- as opposed to many thin wires twisted together for hot and similarly for return ("stranded").