Yeah the Mil spec wire is sometimes made to be lighter or stand up to certain enviromental conditions. Like GM said it is not always designed for max performance. As long as the system or component works then the wire is doing its job. Its not like in audio where you can sometimes hear the difference between wires.
I work on commercial aircraft and we use a shit ton of mil spec and Bacc wire. They have a different insulation or outer jacket depending on whether it is installed in a pressurized/non pressurized area and also what fluids it will come into contact with.
The wire itself will have a different coating on it. Sometimes tin and sometimes silver. The silver stuff is supposed to be the best.
I ran 10awg silver coated mil spec for a while. I switched back to regular 12awg copper because it was easier to work with. I couldn't hear the difference between the two
Easier said than done. I could find lots of that wire but at minimums of 100ft or better. So it was all over $1 a ft. I can't spend $100+ for just one color. So I'm looking at some different thinner wire at parts connexion. 16awg mil spec but I can get shorter runs and a few different colors. It is for audio. If I have to triple it up for LF and dbl it for HF I will. It's a little pricey per foot but at least I don't have to buy 100's of feet.
I'm building baffles- and eventually enclosures for my (new-to-me) 604-8K's. So many wire options. Any favorites/recommendations? I have 300B monoblocks- need about 6' cables and interconnects between the XO's and drivers.Originally Posted by GM
Thanks...........
Well, a single conductor is the most efficient, ditto copper except if silver plated, with the best insulator [jacket] being a special high density coating; IOW, coil/magnet winding wire, so my preference.
Regardless of what's used, size would be based on voltage drop over distance at the lowest impedance the driver[s] will likely 'feel' and bi-wired to minimize 'skin' effect.
Sorry, can't offer any sizing till I get Excel loaded, which may be awhile yet and don't recall seeing any website that allows one to do the calculation this way.
GM
Loud is Beautiful if it's Clean! As always though, the usual disclaimers apply to this post's contents.
GM: You mentioned single conductor being most efficient. So like single conductor as a single run of wire or as in one strand (solid) wire? Stuff like Romex meets the criteria but is a little harder to work with.
With solid wire what is the effect of having one single skin to flow over versus multiple skins in a stranded wire? Or do the inside skins become the center in a stranded wire? Does that make sense?
Last edited by Elitopus1; January 5th, 2017 at 11:38 AM.
I'm by no means a professional in electronics but my good friend is a 300b guy. Has at least 15 different 300b + SET amps and he swares to me that solid wire speaker cables are the best for any of his 300b amps. I been running 300b's for several years now but all my speaker cables have been stranded wire. I've not tested his theory.but I will eventually. Of course he uses 4 or 5 different speakers none of them Altec.
This is purely anecdotal and YMMV: A few years back I was playing my MLTL Altecs at a venue where I needed rather long lengths of wire. I had Cat5e on hand so thought I'd give it a try. I twisted together the solid colors and then also twisted together the stripes, using each bundle for one polarity. The result is an AWG 17, IIRC. I've continued to use this wire for speaker wiring as it is as good as any other I've used and, because of the Cat5e construction, there is no crosstalk.
For internal gear hook up wire, I'm using an Alpha cable that has three conductors, all sheathed and jacketed in Teflon. I bought a spool remnant for small money at a local electronics surplus shop. I've found the surplus shop is a great place to buy individual hardware pieces or wire and sometimes I happen across real bargains like 60 AH AGM telecom batteries for $30. After testing the battery, I went back for more but a buyer from TX had bought the lot. I'd bet there is a surplus seller like this in most metro markets.
I have tried cat5 also. From all the stripes and solids like you did, to single strands. I thought it sounded good also. I was surprised what single (24awg?) strands would do. I was running a more mid-fi, non Altec, system then.
It seems like 24awg solid wire can handle more power and still sound good than 24awg stranded. It could have just been what I was drinking at the time
I've forgotten which Mfg makes a bundled multi strand wire for speakers since I choose to use more mundane copper for just about everything. As many ways as you can configure wire, there are makers selling it and having a different handle on the laws of physics. I have a very long length of Vampire silver coated RCA cable and have been reluctant to cut it up but cut it I shall. That will be another wire experiment.I have tried cat5 also. From all the stripes and solids like you did, to single strands. I thought it sounded good also. I was surprised what single (24awg?) strands would do. I was running a more mid-fi, non Altec, system then.
It seems like 24awg solid wire can handle more power and still sound good than 24awg stranded. It could have just been what I was drinking at the time
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