[Vintage-Audio] Re Speaker Wire Options

Thu Nov 29 23:06:31 EST 2007

Duane.

I just read what the MCM ad had stated. I don't know if 
there are two hunks of #12 wire, each 25 ft and each having 
two conductors and 4 connectors or some other configuration. 
Give them a call and ask. 1-800-543-4330 and inquire about 
part number 58-12185, $14.95 in catalog 711A56 (marked down 
from $49.95). Odds are that it is a 50 ft of two conductor 
with 4 pins. You could cut it in half leaving the pins to go 
into the L100 connectors and the stripped ends to fit under 
the screws of your amp for each of the two 25 ft chunks.

WBob

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 1975 
back" <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>; <w9ran at oneradio.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Speaker Wire Options

> Hey Bob The Wolf Man,
>
> I just went and Brailled the speaker terminals on the rear 
> of the James B. Lansing Century L-100's in my utility 
> room. They are the type that you insert the stripped end 
> of the wire into the end of and then twist to secure. Not 
> going through the speaker terminal shaft parallel to the 
> cabinet and then being held by tightening the screwdown 
> top portion.
>
> The Sony GX-80 ES stereo amplifier uses screwdown plastic 
> ends to secure the wires wrapped around the metal terminal 
> shaft. Hence, I would have to cut the cable you mentioned 
> in half, two 25 foot lengths, then cut the gold plated 
> connectors off both ends of the cables. Considering what I 
> am losing to make it work, would buying one still be a 
> good value?
>
> I do not have any amplifiers here with either RCA female 
> or 1/4 inch female jacks for speaker connections. Now my 
> commercial sound gear had 1/4 inch jacks, but nothing I 
> have ever used for my home sound systems did. Maybe just 
> the real high end ones do.
>
>
>
>
>
> Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
> dfischer at usol.com
> HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
> http://www.w9wze.net
> HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
> hhrp.w9wze.net
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "wolfbob" <wolfbob at csnsys.com>
> To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 
> 1975 back" <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>; 
> <w9ran at oneradio.net>
> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 5:52 PM
> Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Speaker Wire Options
>
>
>> Maybe we have a semantics issue here, but there is NO 
>> delay in speaker wires. No echo either.  Signals travel 
>> down the wire at slightly less than the speed of light or 
>> about  one foot per nanosecond. 100 ft =100 nSec or about 
>> 0.000001 millisec wnhich is about the smallest delay you 
>> can hear. Mis match may produce a reflection but it is 
>> only a small fraction of one cycle and again even if in 
>> bounced back and forth for one million trips, it would 
>> amount to no more than a millisec. delay. It's  gotta be 
>> quite tuckered out by 1000 trips much less a million. 
>> Also changing the wire size or nature does not effect the 
>> mismatch which is simply a concern of the amplifier 
>> source imedance and the speaker impedance. The speaker 
>> wire is too short (in wavelengths) to get in to the game. 
>> Something else was going on.
>>
>> MCM is having a sale on #12 speaker wire at under $20 for 
>> 50 ft with gold plated connectors.
>>
>> www.mcminone.com
>>
>> WBob, WB6JPI
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
>> To: <w9ran at oneradio.net>; "Vintage home and professional 
>> audio equipment from 1975 back" 
>> <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 2:37 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Speaker Wire Options
>>
>>
>>> All I can report are the facts. The wire I used was 
>>> either 14 or 18 gauge, multiple strand conductor. There 
>>> was a definate delay from amp to speakers due to a 
>>> mismatch somewhere. The Sony TA-1144 amp was SS and 
>>> rated for 8 Ohms, as are the Century L-100's. When I 
>>> replaced the wire with the smaller gauge wire the 
>>> problem vanished. The wire did solve the problem, 
>>> whatever it may have been.
>>>
>>> It was not some fancy wire with wild claims, it was 
>>> simply wire. It did not cost much money, it was nothing 
>>> special.
>>>
>>> As far as lows falling off etc. Not with this system!
>>>
>>> So as far as any wild claims, fancy wire etc. Not here 
>>> guys. Just inexpensive ordinary wire.
>>>
>>>
>>> Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
>>> dfischer at usol.com
>>> HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
>>> http://www.w9wze.net
>>> HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
>>> hhrp.w9wze.net
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Robert Nickels" <w9ran at oneradio.net>
>>> To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 
>>> 1975 back" <vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8:11 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Speaker Wire Options
>>>
>>>
>>>> Well,
>>>>
>>>> There's a lot of personal opinions about speaker wire, 
>>>> and obviously some of them come from those who make a 
>>>> lot of money by creating demand based on FUD (Fear 
>>>> Uncertainty and Doubt).   I don't buy into any of that, 
>>>> and sorry Duane I don't buy that some small gauge 
>>>> "speed wire" has superior properties either, at least 
>>>> without knowing more about it's composition, and I have 
>>>> been unable to find any reference to it on the web.
>>>>
>>>> What I do believe is that connecting an amplifier to a 
>>>> load follows the same laws of physics that govern every 
>>>> other electronic interconnection. Resistance in series 
>>>> creates a power loss and the speaker won't sound as 
>>>> loud. And if the speaker impedance is not constant, 
>>>> then the effect of increased resistance in series will 
>>>> have greater effect at those frequencies where the 
>>>> speaker impedance is highest, altering the sound. It 
>>>> matters not whether your speakers are connected with 
>>>> zip cord, lamp cord, coaxial cable or barbed wire 
>>>> spaced on vintage glass insulators (see the link 
>>>> below) - as long as the wire gauge chosen provides a 
>>>> sufficiently low resistance for the cable length 
>>>> required, it will do the same job and sound just fine. 
>>>> Honest testing based on measurable parameters over the 
>>>> years has repeatedly confirmed that there is no 
>>>> difference between the performance of properly selected 
>>>> "cheap wire" and the high priced audiophool wire.
>>>>
>>>> I don't intend to offend anyone - if you think 
>>>> something sounds better, use it!  It's a hobby after 
>>>> all.   For a no nonsense treatment of this topic and 
>>>> the data to back it up, see 
>>>> http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm OK there's a 
>>>> little nonsense there, but it's toward the end of the 
>>>> page!
>>>>
>>>> 73, Bob W9RAN
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>>>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>>
>>
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>
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