Suitable 'speaker cables for valve amps?

[Bonky]

Apologies .

I don’t think I thanked everyone for their contributions..

BW

Richard

[Greg.]

A quick update. Blue Jeans cable is now available in the U.K. through Amazon, so it is a very affordable option. Highly recommended. I have three friends who now use it as their cable of choice. It’s worth noting that Magico consider it to be sufficiently competent that they use it for their internal speaker wiring in their S5 Mk2 speakers. About £55,000 a pair

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...+speaker+cable

[Black Stuart]

Yes banging on about air cored signal wiring again. I would have thought this was even more relevant inside a speaker cabinet.

Ultrasonic NDT and effective insulation both utilise air - aka NDT, ultra sound cannot travel through air, that's how defects in materials are found. Most but not all effective insulation material has numerous/millions of air bubbles.

When a conductor has an airtight dialectric, 99% of traditional signal wiring then presents no barrier to sound/vibration penetration to the signal conductor By using a soft sheathing material - audio Flextech/cotton over an oversized dialectric of TEFLON/FEP even polyethelene that unwanted sonic/vibration penetration is ameliorated.

I'm sure a material can be utilised that presents a 100% barrier. Is part of the positive view that many have of open baffle speakers (if properly designed and implemented) due to the lack of interference from cabinet sonic/vibration on signal wiring - maybe something for those with an open mind to explore.

After I have located the caps and superior power resistors I bought to uprate/change the sound in the Heybrook Sextet x/overs, I then intend to change the existing conventional internal wiring to buffered air cored type - vamos a ver.

[Bonky]

Thanks Stuart.

I think I understand...but please could you give some examples of the the wiring you recommend (manufacturer and model)?

Very many thanks,

Richard.

[bob orbell]

Hi Richard, as Andy said, good old QED 79 strand, cheap and very good. Bob

[Black Stuart]

Bonky/Richard,
some commercial companies are belatedly using air cored dialectric and straight runs for i/cs but not for speaker cable with outrageous prices as well.

You can of course use the normal decades old type of cable and as such Greg and Bob have advocated and they are cheap - the choice is yours.

I've been using UBYTE2 cables for years now, the design in found on TNT audio. However I'm going to make a really simple design - 2 conductors of decent copper OFC or HCOFC - 1-1.5mm inside oversized FEP tubing. I have Pro-Gold so will coat the bare copper as I feed it into the FEP tubing. s/plated copper obviates the need to protect the copper from oxidising but I don't how that will affect the sound.

FEP tubing is easy to find in the UK and USA - the UK, check out www.adtech.co.uk. Since I last bought from them you can now choose from 14 different colours. The natural colour is clear with a hint of blue, Teflon by contrast has a milky hue. Tubing only needs to be 0.75mm larger than the conductor being used, this for speaker cable, less for i/cs.

I intend to replace the internal wiring in my speakers as well.

I don't know what is the minimum length they will sell but maybe if there are others who want to experiment a group buy could be arranged, at least for external cable. straight runs only require binding together maybe every 18 inches or so with a good adhesive tape. I've never bothered with plugs preferring bare wire fixing.

Check out the price of dialectric and bare copper wire, the cost will be way cheaper than buying anything but the cheapest commercial cable and you will not be able to buy a direct equivalent anyway.

[Bonky]

Originally Posted by Black Stuart

Bonky/Richard,
some commercial companies are belatedly using air cored dialectric and straight runs for i/cs but not for speaker cable with outrageous prices as well.

You can of course use the normal decades old type of cable and as such Greg and Bob have advocated and they are cheap - the choice is yours.

I've been using UBYTE2 cables for years now, the design in found on TNT audio. However I'm going to make a really simple design - 2 conductors of decent copper OFC or HCOFC - 1-1.5mm inside oversized FEP tubing. I have Pro-Gold so will coat the bare copper as I feed it into the FEP tubing. s/plated copper obviates the need to protect the copper from oxidising but I don't how that will affect the sound.

FEP tubing is easy to find in the UK and USA - the UK, check out www.adtech.co.uk. Since I last bought from them you can now choose from 14 different colours. The natural colour is clear with a hint of blue, Teflon by contrast has a milky hue. Tubing only needs to be 0.75mm larger than the conductor being used, this for speaker cable, less for i/cs.

I intend to replace the internal wiring in my speakers as well.

I don't know what is the minimum length they will sell but maybe if there are others who want to experiment a group buy could be arranged, at least for external cable. straight runs only require binding together maybe every 18 inches or so with a good adhesive tape. I've never bothered with plugs preferring bare wire fixing.

Check out the price of dialectric and bare copper wire, the cost will be way cheaper than buying anything but the cheapest commercial cable and you will not be able to buy a direct equivalent anyway.

Thanks for all the detail; much appreciated.

BW

Richard.