Twisted Pairs for Speaker Wiring ??

[rogerh113]

Hello,

I am building the crossovers for my 604 cabinets (Markwart crossovers with PIOs, teflon bypass capacitors, and foil coils). I am thinking ahead to the wiring to and from the crossover, and am thinking that twisted pair wires would be beneficial. Has anyone experimented with this, or has knowledge as to whether it is useful or not?? It seems that using twisted pairs is appropriate in applications where noise pickup is to be avoided, and it really easy to do with little extra wire required. I have seen a lot of vintage speaker wiring where there are a lot of loose, long, floping wires. It seems that lots of effort is made to subdue noise up to that point, and then the speaker is completely forgotten.

Opinions??

regards -- Roger

[Elitopus1]

I use a twisted pair of 12 awg wires from my amp to the crossovers, and from the crossover to the drivers. The wires on the crossover are really too short to use twisted pairs. Maybe if you used smaller wire, like 20 awg.

I have used lamp cord in the past (the flat kind with two wires next to each other), and did not notice any difference in noise between those and a twisted pair.

Sounds like your crossovers will sound great, given the components you have chosen. Post some pics when you are done with the build

[rogerh113]

Hi,

Not planning on twisted on the crossovers themselves (no space), but the wires from the speaker terminals, to the drivers, and to the treble pot. Hopefully will have the crossovers finished in a couple of days, and will post pics. The woodwork on the cabs was hard for me (no experience), but putting together the crossovers should be easy fun, and an opportunity for a bit of creativity !!

regards -- Roger

[mah]

Twisting the pair of wires will increase the length of the wire for a given run thus increasing the resistance, inductance and capacitance of the speaker cable. It probably doesn't matter much either way in domestic application.
If electrical interference is a problem then there are better solutions.

[Old Guy]

As said, for domestic applications should be little difference. Do use good quality wire, cheap crap will turn green quickly. I use Belden twisted pair.

Some folks get very religious about wire and lengths. I haven't seen a shred of evidence that electronics responds to voodoo.

[Elitopus1]

I think the benefits are higher from shielded wire (with a shield drain at one end) versus just the twisted pair.
I know on airplanes we use shielded, twisted pairs (or triples, quads, etc) on the more sensitive nav/comm gear. In a harness with power wires etc. it cuts down on the interference. Or so they say

On my speaker runs (about 10' long each side, plus another 5' from the external passive crossover to the drivers), all of the large awg wire I have used sounds about the same. Its when you sub in 24awg that you notice a difference.