I don’t know how well known this is by now, but just in case, I’ll add it.
The quality of your speakers is not affected by the cable from your amp.
The connectors are more important in terms of physical contact, but almost any new connector will do. The wire itself makes no difference. Pay as much as you want but the sound will not be any different than if you used metal coat hanger wire.
Adding to this, you probably don’t know how good your speakers are or not because you’re listening to your room, not your speakers. If you have given zero thought to acoustic treatment where you listen to music, you definitely don’t need to upgrade your audio equipment in any way. No amount of money you spend on equipment will help you enjoy music more until you treat your room
Who the fuck is up upvoting this dumb take? So you’re actually trying to argue there is no difference between a pair of $20 speakers and a $500 surround sound system with amp if they aren’t in the perfect room? That’s some music snobbery on a level I’ve never seen before.
Nothing dumb about it, it’s actually quite on point. They didn’t mention price points or comparing speakers, but that the actual sounds heard from any speakers in a room depends greatly on room treatment (things like reflections, absorption, standing waves). This is where good usage of dsp room correction can help, along with rugs.
By your reasoning I could use some 24 gauge wire that came with a pair of Walmart computer speakers with a receiver paired with 3-ways each with 10" woofers. Or even better yet, between a plate amp and sub as a fire starter.
I don’t disagree with your overall premise, but it’s too reductive, even for home theater. Throw in a “16ga in most non-sub applications” and only then does it become true.
Master Handbook of Acoustics is your friend if you want to learn what to do to your room. Overkill for most, admittedly, but it contains everything you need to know.
I made couple of bass tramps tuned to the room’s main resonant frequencies, which I measured. I followed instructions from the book.
I added sound absorber panels to the walls and ceiling to kill immediate reflections from the main speakers plus a sprinkling of additional panels to kill reflections and also act as decoration. I also needed to move one radiator because it was in the worst possible location for my setup.
The room got thick curtains to improve absorption, and they also darken the room as it is dual use music listening and home cinema room. A few defraction elements went into the ceiling for a good measure. The ceiling is made of custom panels that I made myself from wood and fabric to allow sound energy through to the various acoustic elements behind them.
I also spent a fair amount of time with subwoofer placement, but in the end it became a bit of a compromise between sound and placement of furniture. Nothing a bit of signal processing can’t deal with, mind.
Not quite, conductor diameter is important to supply proper current, which will change depending on the impedance of your speaker. There are other values like inductance and capacitance in a wire that could affect how your speaker sounds. The good news is that you can pretty much buy any cheap 16 ga copper speaker wire and not worry about it, as it would take effort to make a speaker wire that sounds bad (and those companies are the type to try to charge you $1000/ft for it!)
I always shy away from the ad hype of products, I have been in different industries, and have seen that a $ product vs $$$ product is sometimes identical innards, and a refreshed outer…which didn’t cost the manufacturer anything extra.
I have tried to explain this to my spouse, but she will still gravitate to buying the more expensive; equating cost with quality
Yes! What he said is certainly a generalization for most speaker setups. Low resistance, larger gauge wire is of course better, but won’t be noticeable on your average sound system.
Are you talking specifically about powered speakers? Certainly, resistance is a lesser concern when you’re passing almost no current.
But it’s important to have a heavy enough gauge cable between amplifiers and passive speakers so that there is not too much resistance, as this will cause it to overheat and potentially start a fire.
Generally speaking, I think a coat hanger’s gauge is too small for common amplifiers. Plus, if it’s iron then it’s going to have a higher resistance compared to standard materials, meaning more voltage drop and more heating.
Powered, as in active? No, those are connected internally. Cabling is then between the internal amp and a preamplifier, which is line level.
I would point you to the overwhelming lack of any reported incidents of speakers or amplifiers catching fire because the wires were too thin. This is simply fiction.
Coat hangers are generally much wider than any speaker wire, and the metal used makes little to no difference to the sound or the load. It is of no importance, you can do this safely.
As I’ve said, there are a few scenarios where you could run into problems, but these are very much outside of home hifi.
I don’t know how well known this is by now, but just in case, I’ll add it.
The quality of your speakers is not affected by the cable from your amp.
The connectors are more important in terms of physical contact, but almost any new connector will do. The wire itself makes no difference. Pay as much as you want but the sound will not be any different than if you used metal coat hanger wire.
Adding to this, you probably don’t know how good your speakers are or not because you’re listening to your room, not your speakers. If you have given zero thought to acoustic treatment where you listen to music, you definitely don’t need to upgrade your audio equipment in any way. No amount of money you spend on equipment will help you enjoy music more until you treat your room
Who the fuck is up upvoting this dumb take? So you’re actually trying to argue there is no difference between a pair of $20 speakers and a $500 surround sound system with amp if they aren’t in the perfect room? That’s some music snobbery on a level I’ve never seen before.
Nobody is talking about a perfect room, and you are severely contorting what I said to meet your own agenda.
Nothing dumb about it, it’s actually quite on point. They didn’t mention price points or comparing speakers, but that the actual sounds heard from any speakers in a room depends greatly on room treatment (things like reflections, absorption, standing waves). This is where good usage of dsp room correction can help, along with rugs.
There’s no way you guys have friends.
Gauge matters in some setups, especially over longer lengths, this is overly generalizing.
Not really. Most home hifi won’t be affected. I think that’s a reasonable generalisation.
By your reasoning I could use some 24 gauge wire that came with a pair of Walmart computer speakers with a receiver paired with 3-ways each with 10" woofers. Or even better yet, between a plate amp and sub as a fire starter.
I don’t disagree with your overall premise, but it’s too reductive, even for home theater. Throw in a “16ga in most non-sub applications” and only then does it become true.
You’re being way too pedantic. I said most home hifi and you’re example isn’t.
If you want me to be more specific, this article will cover pretty much anything you want know.
Master Handbook of Acoustics is your friend if you want to learn what to do to your room. Overkill for most, admittedly, but it contains everything you need to know.
Here’s the pdf to the 4th edition.
What improvements did you make based on the book? I’m skimming through it.
I made couple of bass tramps tuned to the room’s main resonant frequencies, which I measured. I followed instructions from the book.
I added sound absorber panels to the walls and ceiling to kill immediate reflections from the main speakers plus a sprinkling of additional panels to kill reflections and also act as decoration. I also needed to move one radiator because it was in the worst possible location for my setup.
The room got thick curtains to improve absorption, and they also darken the room as it is dual use music listening and home cinema room. A few defraction elements went into the ceiling for a good measure. The ceiling is made of custom panels that I made myself from wood and fabric to allow sound energy through to the various acoustic elements behind them.
I also spent a fair amount of time with subwoofer placement, but in the end it became a bit of a compromise between sound and placement of furniture. Nothing a bit of signal processing can’t deal with, mind.
Well done, that’s more than some do for actual production work!
Isn’t conductor diameter important to supply proper wattage?
Not quite, conductor diameter is important to supply proper current, which will change depending on the impedance of your speaker. There are other values like inductance and capacitance in a wire that could affect how your speaker sounds. The good news is that you can pretty much buy any cheap 16 ga copper speaker wire and not worry about it, as it would take effort to make a speaker wire that sounds bad (and those companies are the type to try to charge you $1000/ft for it!)
Thanks.
I always shy away from the ad hype of products, I have been in different industries, and have seen that a $ product vs $$$ product is sometimes identical innards, and a refreshed outer…which didn’t cost the manufacturer anything extra.
I have tried to explain this to my spouse, but she will still gravitate to buying the more expensive; equating cost with quality
Yes! What he said is certainly a generalization for most speaker setups. Low resistance, larger gauge wire is of course better, but won’t be noticeable on your average sound system.
The speakers won’t sound too good after the coat hanger has caught them on fire, though.
Username checks out! /s
No, they’ll be fine. And if they are connected reasonably well, will sound as good as any other speaker cable.
Of course, there are one or two scenarios where that can change, but for most people they aren’t applicable.
Are you talking specifically about powered speakers? Certainly, resistance is a lesser concern when you’re passing almost no current.
But it’s important to have a heavy enough gauge cable between amplifiers and passive speakers so that there is not too much resistance, as this will cause it to overheat and potentially start a fire.
Generally speaking, I think a coat hanger’s gauge is too small for common amplifiers. Plus, if it’s iron then it’s going to have a higher resistance compared to standard materials, meaning more voltage drop and more heating.
Powered, as in active? No, those are connected internally. Cabling is then between the internal amp and a preamplifier, which is line level.
I would point you to the overwhelming lack of any reported incidents of speakers or amplifiers catching fire because the wires were too thin. This is simply fiction.
Coat hangers are generally much wider than any speaker wire, and the metal used makes little to no difference to the sound or the load. It is of no importance, you can do this safely.
As I’ve said, there are a few scenarios where you could run into problems, but these are very much outside of home hifi.