Speaker wire: cheapo options

[mike004]

I need about a 2m extension to my Hi-Fi speaker wires.

What type of wire should I look for -- special speaker wire or standard 2-core or bell wire? The current wire is red/black copper in plastic.

Note: It is a cheapo Hi-Fi, so I don't need gold-plated contacts and wires.

Mike

 

[bathjobby]

Answered your own question; 2 core speaker wire. Only 2 metres, barely going to cost you a pound so barely worth asking I would have thought...

 

[nstreet]

The hi-fi purist will tell you that the speaker cable will make a difference and i'm sure it does but at the end of the day it depends how well those sticky out bits on the side of your head work. If you abused your ear drums by subjecting them to loud 'live' rock music for years, then i'm sure you wont notice the difference... I SAID YOU WONT NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE.

 

[plugwash]

on those kind of cheap "hi-fis" its not going to make a great deal of difference what you use. bell wire will be fine so will the cheapest grades of speaker wire (which is basically the same thing). so will pretty much any other wire you happen to have handy (provided you can fit it in the terminals ofc)

 

[Davey]

I have it on good authority that 2.5mm2 mains cable will give much better results than any cheap speaker wire.

 

[plugwash]

almost certainly will. However flex of that size is quite rare and expensive and i don't think that the wire clamps of most cheap "hi-fis" will accept solid core cable of that size very well.

 

[mapj1]

Cable choise only makes a difference if the cables, and power output stages, inside the unit are also of the same current rating, otherwise the effect will be negligable.
So yes, if you already have a good amp and good speakers, it is worth using nice fat wire, but if the amplifier is internally wired in telephone cable, and uses weedy power transistors with a high output impedance then you will not gain anything.
The hi-fi cable vendors always do their demos with the expensive kit for a reason, not an argos special offer music centre....
Much more important is to get any joins and connections nice and tight, and shiny metal to shiny metal.
regards M.

 

[mike004]

They have speaker wire in B & Q.
£1.85 for 10 metres.

Mike

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Sounds Richer (?) do some nice phat speaker cables at a modest 99p for a 'generous' metre. Tandy used to as well but they've gone. Buy the biggest cable you can physically fit. if you've got good (or half decent) kit, believe me you will hear the difference (tighter bass, crisper treble etc.)

 

[felix]

I recall a test done about twenty years ago in which three groups of people: musicians, sound engineers and plebs had to identify three different grades of sound system: cheap junk (Amstrad?), decent stuff and top notch.

All the musicians and engineers identified the junk but only half the plebs. No real surprize there but only the engineers could tell the other two apart. They knew what to listen for whereas the musicians didn't.

What this tells us is that if your equipment is cheap junk bell wire will sound the same as good stuff. If it's half decent then you, like Scoby_Beasley, might hear the difference. I recommend good thick wire anyway. Even if nobody hears the difference it's less likely to lose out to the hoover.

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

What this tells us is that if your equipment is cheap junk bell wire will sound the same as good stuff. If it's half decent then you, like Scoby_Beasley, might hear the difference. I recommend good thick wire anyway. Even if nobody hears the difference it's less likely to lose out to the hoover.

And when you go for thick wire, go for multi-strand, not single core. (Apparently) The sound waves travel down the outer edge of the copper cores, oxygen free is the best, less impurities , better conduction.

 

[Panjandrum]

(Apparently) The sound waves travel down the outer edge of the copper cores, oxygen free is the best, less impurities , better conduction.

Ah - the good old STC system for audio transmission.
(String & Tin Can)