Best car audio wires?

[budgetSQ 10+ year member]

if there really was no difference, everyone would be running hardware store genaric .10$/ft power wire. with HQ wire you get THOUSANDS more strands, lots more flexiblility, and better metal!

Maybe you better sit down and do a voltage test

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

i agree with budget here the wire needs to be of at least some quality.....manufacturers price differently though but still if it lacks in one area (like bad connectors) is it really worth saving the dough if you know youll have to switch this out? not isinuating jlaine was saying crap is just as good...i just think he was reffering to the use of common sense

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Originally posted by budgetSQ if there really was no difference, everyone would be running hardware store genaric .10$/ft power wire.

Psychologically speaking- is this the truth, or have we all just been completely fooled the whole time?

would you please explain the audible difference you hear between .10/ft wire and 1.00/ft wire?

with HQ wire you get THOUSANDS more strands, lots more flexiblility, and better metal!

 

Maybe you better sit down and do a voltage test

How do you figure? 4 gauge wire is still 4 gauge wire. Weather it is .50/ft or 1.50 ft. Talking power wise only- the strands really arent that big of a deal. The main lead to most alternators has less strands- however each strand is thicker. This wire carries sufficient current to charge the battery and run the whole car; a lot bigger task than powering a normal audio system would be. Not really a big deal here. And what of the voltage test? I will guarantee that if you measure the voltage from the alternator at idle through its main power lead- it will read approximately 14.4 volts. If you fabricate a replacement lead of the same length, made from Aftermarket wire of the same gauge; and then measure the same thing again- it will still say approximately 14.4 volts.

This can be measured with a Fluke DVM meter- available at any Sears and many other reputable electronics stores.

The same measurement can be taken with an Occilliscope at your local car dealer if you do not have access to a multi-meter.

Flexibility - I can see to a limit. No doubt OEM Charging system power wire is less flexible than many aftermarket wires of the same gauge. This would be the only difference. Nothing sonicly different otherwise.

Better metal? I completely disagree. Copper is copper. Unless you are comparing two wires one made completely of gold and the other of copper; there is no difference.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Originally posted by audiolife i agree with budget here the wire needs to be of at least some quality.....manufacturers price differently though but still if it lacks in one area (like bad connectors) is it really worth saving the dough if you know youll have to switch this out? not isinuating jlaine was saying crap is just as good...i just think he was reffering to the use of common sense

It really is common sense if you think about it. Wire is wire.

Most wire available today is made completely from copper. What good will gold plating the ends/connectors do if that is all that is plated?

take it easy,

-zane

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

oxygen free wont get as nasty when weathered..and what about rca's?

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by budgetSQ if there really was no difference, everyone would be running hardware store genaric .10$/ft power wire. with HQ wire you get THOUSANDS more strands, lots more flexiblility, and better metal!

 

Maybe you better sit down and do a voltage test

Perhaps you better explain to me how a voltage test across a 8' speaker wire lead is going to resolve anything? You realize that the meter to even test a voltage "drop" across 8' of speaker wire would cost several hundred thousand dollars, because it would be so sensitive that no industry on this planet would really even need it? (this is assuming you are not overloading the wire with excessive current, which under 99.9% of cases, you are not)

You are more than welcome to come to my house and sit down for the double-blind testing, we will be conducting in July... Just don't make excuses when you fail it... I've done this test before, the results speak for themselves...

I suggest you get all your factual evidence lined up first before telling me to do a rudimentary test that will not prove anything, as I'm more than prepared to blow this idea of better wire out of the water as I've spent days doing testing, and used several test subjects...

Since you mentioned stranding- I'll use audioquest wire as an example...

Some of their "mid-high" lines (puny 8 bucks a foot) uses SOLID wire... So... why does the multiple stranding not happen there?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

since we are just talking conductance you are right...but the jackets the wire is in is important as well how it is effected by weather...i had some pyrimid wire back on my first system ..the end lasted a year (on the battery clamp) then in the same car i went with the same gauge streetwires...the streetwires didnt corrode nearly as bad and didnt fall apart...that was in the car for 3 yrs sold it with the wire in it.......no problems...are you going to say wire is wire? same battery same alt same indiana weather..rca's are different but i think you guys are nuts for using that cat 5...looks like it takes several hours to "make" and to achieve what? pay yourself your normal working wage while making them and i will say you'd prolly end up with the same amout of money in them as a high mid line set except you wont get sore fingers

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by audiolife since we are just talking conductance you are right...but the jackets the wire is in is important as well how it is effected by weather...i had some pyrimid wire back on my first system ..the end lasted a year (on the battery clamp) then in the same car i went with the same gauge streetwires...the streetwires didnt corrode nearly as bad and didnt fall apart...that was in the car for 3 yrs sold it with the wire in it.......no problems...are you going to say wire is wire? same battery same alt same indiana weather..rca's are different but i think you guys are nuts for using that cat 5...looks like it takes several hours to "make" and to achieve what? pay yourself your normal working wage while making them and i will say you'd prolly end up with the same amout of money in them as a high mid line set except you wont get sore fingers

Audiolife, I made cat5 wires just for the sake of trying them..

I have cat 5 speaker wires for the next a/b testing in July, as they are toted to be VERY sonically 'appealing' if you want to put it that way... We will be putting that against some run-of-the-mill lamp cord that I'll pick up at the local hardware store and we'll run the tests...

As for braiding all of that cat5, yes... it completely ******... I did it in stages and quit after some time, took me about 4 weeks to do it, when it really would have only taken 2 days tops...

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

16x14=264 bucks that is alot of time for so so prformance where i can spend 35 and get as good lol n blisters either

 

[budgetSQ 10+ year member]

i wasn't talking about short speaker wire, but long power wire.

if you buy cheap ****, esp. connectors, you will lose voltage. you can pay $5 for a copper one, or get a 80% silver connector for $40 that will offer much less resistance.

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by budgetSQ i wasn't talking about short speaker wire, but long power wire.

if you buy cheap ****, esp. connectors, you will lose voltage. you can pay $5 for a copper one, or get a 80% silver connector for $40 that will offer much less resistance.

Until I see you lay 100' of speaker cable across a vehicle... I still call your bluff...

Welcome to come to my house in July and hear it for yourself...

Voltage does not correlate into sound quality.

 

[zane 10+ year member]

Originally posted by budgetSQ i wasn't talking about short speaker wire, but long power wire.

if you buy cheap ****, esp. connectors, you will lose voltage.

I will again refer you to the above comparrison that I posted.

" I will guarantee that if you measure the voltage from the alternator at idle through its main power lead- it will read approximately 14.4 volts. If you fabricate a replacement lead of the same length, made from Aftermarket wire of the same gauge; and then measure the same thing again- it will still say approximately 14.4 volts. "

Until you can show me that the voltage will actually differ under this condition- there is no factual basis for your theory. As jlaine has said too- certainly not anything that would effect SQ. While we are on this- would you care to tell me what a volt, ampere, and joule, sound like respectively?

As for the connectors.......

you can pay $5 for a copper one, or get a 80% silver connector for $40 that will offer much less resistance.

In simplest form.........

Connectors are merely a moot point if the wire between them is not of the same material. Unless everything within the wire and the connectors is uniform- the resistance differences are of no consequence.

take it easy,

-zane

 

[Corsica 5,000+ posts]

can someone please explain what in the blue hell cat5 wire is?Its something I havew never heard of until just now. Also what the hell kind of speakers does ur old man have that cost eighteen grand? thats way the hell up there just for speakers. Unless of course u'r alma or bill gates.

J

 

[jlaine 10+ year member]

Originally posted by Corsica can someone please explain what in the blue hell cat5 wire is?Its something I havew never heard of until just now. Also what the hell kind of speakers does ur old man have that cost eighteen grand? thats way the hell up there just for speakers. Unless of course u'r alma or bill gates.

 

 

 

J

Wilson Audio X-1 Grand SLAMM's go for a cool $89,000 for a pair... Focal Grande Utopia's go for around $94,000 a pair I believe...

The towers I built myself have a smoother sound than the $26,000 pair of wilson watt/puppy's in my opinion. So cost is relative....

By cat5, we are referring to category 5 wire for ethernet.... we use it for cheap RCA's that work well, and I've braided a bunch of it together to make speaker wire, because it is toted to be sonically superior to a lot of products out there...

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

best sounding systems (in home) that just cost an arm are System Audio speakers lol

definative technologies has nice stuff too in towers. and i still want to hear zanes and jlaines opinion of quality wire(as it is stated with knowledge) connectors to a degree help but are only as good as their weakest link....but are you saying there isnt grades of cooper - to- durability for cars?