Cables should be viewed as being an integral part of the system, as none of it would work without them!

Whether you're putting together an audio-only home system, or outfitting your living room for full-blown 5.1-channel home theater, speaker wire are necessary components that play an important part in any system and are often overlooked . And the wire you use can have a noticeable impact on the sound quality of your system — even the greatest speakers won't sound their best with poor-quality wire.

For while it's impossible for an interconnect to improve the sound of a CD player beyond its inherent capabilities, a good cable will let more of its ability through, while a poor one will hold back the product's performance. Or to put it another way, the more revealing a cable, the better.

And cables do make a difference - in general terms the more expensive a cable the better will be the purity of the copper (or whatever) in its conductors, and thus the easier it will be for signal to get through. And it's not just copper: some exotic cables use silver or even titanium for their conductors, while a few wires from van den Hul, for example, use carbon fibres rather than metallic cores.   

 

What gauge do you need?
The thickness of a wire's conductive copper bundle is identified by its American Wire Gauge (AWG, or usually just "gauge") number. The lower the gauge, the thicker the wire, and the better its capacity to pass the amplified audio signal. Most speaker wire available on the market today ranges in thickness from 12 to 16 gauge. (Crutchfield recommends staying away from anything thinner than 16-gauge wire for home audio.)

Monster Cable, a world leader in high-performance cable, chooses not to specify the gauge of most of their speaker wires. Take a look at the photo (right), and you'll see how some Monster products compare with ordinary 16-gauge wire.

When choosing speaker wire, consider the quality of your components and speakers, the overall sound quality you're trying to achieve, and the budget you're working with. Also, keep in mind the distance between your receiver (or amp) and your speakers — long wire runs can cause significant power losses, and thus require thicker cable.

For your primary listening room, you may want to consider a thicker speaker cable (such as Original Monster Cable or even Monster Cable Z1) in the following situations:

• For audiophile-quality music systems — using the best wire possible really helps bring out fine musical detail.
• If you're wiring your listening room for Dolby Digital home theater — thicker wire helps your system deliver the explosive effects and sheer bass content of digital 5.1-channel surround sound.
• In situations where you can't avoid long wire runs to your speakers — thicker wire reduces the overall resistance, lightening the load on your receiver or amp. This can mean not only a difference in sound quality, but also in long-term dependability of your system.
• Whenever you want to make sure you're getting the very best audio performance you can get from your gear.

On the other hand, if you're buying a modestly priced system, and you're trying to keep the overall cost down, or if your speakers are located relatively close to your receiver, Monster Cable XP or standard 14- or 16-gauge wire may be the way to go. Aside from being less expensive, thinner wire can be easier to work with if you're routing it along baseboards or doorframes.

If you're wiring a multi-room system, the gauge of the wire you choose for the speakers in your remote room(s) is important because, as stated above, long wire runs tend to put more of a strain on your receiver or amp. You can use the following chart as a guideline:

Distance from speaker to amplifier Gauge Less than 80 feet 16 80 to 200 feet 14 More than 200 feet 12

Please note that due to building safety standards, special UL-rated speaker wire must be used for in-wall installations (see "Concealing the wire" below).

 

It's worth trying a few cables and listening for the improvements - when you get to the point where you can't hear a difference, there's no point in spending more on a cable. At least one manufacturer will loan you a trial pack of cables, letting you make these comparisons. Bear in mind, too, that the components you're going to use with the cable may well limit how much of an improvement you can hear.

If you're using an amplifier and speakers with a soft, mushy, warm sound, don't be surprised if you can't hear much difference between cables. The general rule of thumb to apply is that about 10% of the total cost of your system should be spent on cabling. So if you're using a £300 CD player, a similarly priced amp and £200 speakers, about £80-100 would be a sensible cable spend. Split this 50:50, and you could buy a very decent interconnect and two runs of perfectly respectable speaker cable (at about £2-2.50 per mono metre).

If your speakers are designed for biwiring, you will of course have to allocate a bit more of the budget to the amp/speaker connection, since twin runs of cable, or special biwire cables, will be needed. In general terms, biwirable speakers always sound better when biwired - they're just made that way! Again the guidance is to spend more until you can no longer hear the difference.

 


How much wire do you need?
Figuring out how much speaker wire to buy is a pretty simple process. One method is to run a string from your intended receiver location to each of the intended locations of your speakers. Carefully pull the string along any door frames, corners, or other obstructions in the intended wire path. Then measure the string. Make sure to add an extra few feet per speaker — to give yourself a margin of error, and to allow some leeway for easier connection to your gear.

Wherever possible, try to keep the loudspeaker cables as short as possible. The best system has an amplifier (either a monobloc or a stereo amplifier configured for bi-amping) right next to each loudspeaker. Even the fattest cable has some resistance and this will dissipate some of the current flowing to the loudspeaker. This has the same effect as restricting the power and will tend to colour the sound. The cable also has capacitance and inductance. Although these have a small effect at audio frequencies, they do have a detectable influence on the sound. A short cable has less capacitance and inductance and therefore less effect on the sound quality.

There is no maximum length for a speaker cable: the sound quality just continues to deteriorate as the cable is made longer. If you don't have an amp for each loudspeaker then try to place your power amplifier in between the speakers at an equal distance from each one.

In most systems, the trade off is in longer signal cables. A signal cable tends to work like an antenna, picking up any stray radio signals. The longer the cable the worse the effect. However, in a well-screened, high-quality cable the interference is negligible. It is best to put up with long signal cables if it allows you to have short loudspeaker cables.

 



Connection basics
Each channel of audio consists of a positive and a negative signal. In order to carry the amplified signal from your receiver's (or amp's) output terminals to your speaker's input terminals, speaker wire consists of two leads, typically encased in and bundled together by plastic insulation — one for the positive signal, and one for the negative.

Your speaker wire will probably be marked (+) and (-) to help you distinguish the two leads — if not, there will be some way to visually tell them apart. Though the positive and negative leads are functionally identical, it's important not to accidentally reverse the leads at either end of the wire. This kind of "out-of-phase" connection will result in poor sound quality and reduced bass.

For good, solid connections, we recommend using speaker wire terminated with connectors that quickly and easily attach to your receiver and speakers. Common connector types include:

• pin connectors — perfect for inserting thick wire into small spring clip terminals, or
• banana plugs, which easily plug straight into binding posts

Speaker wire connectors help safeguard against harmful short circuits. When loose strands from a bare wire's positive and negative leads accidentally touch, your receiver can go into "protect mode" and shut down, or even suffer serious amplifier damage. Plus, speaker wire connectors maintain corrosion-free contact with the terminals on your receiver and speakers, unlike bare copper wire which tends to corrode.

For ultimate connection ease, look for speaker cables that come pre-cut from the manufacturer with connectors already attached — they'll decrease the time and effort it takes you to install your system. When ordering connectors (either separately, or pre-attached to wire) be sure to verify that your receiver and speakers have compatible terminals.

If you do decide to hook up your wire without connectors, use a wire stripper to take about 3/8-inch of insulation off the ends of each lead, exposing bare wire strands (be careful not to cut these strands). Twist each lead's bare wire strands tightly, so no stray strands are sticking out. As stated above, loose strands could make contact with the cable's other lead and cause a short circuit and potentially damage your gear.



Concealing the wire: a neater look for your system
Hiding your speaker wire inside your walls, under floors, and in the ceiling can be a great option if you can't stand the thought of having it show in your listening room(s). This in-wall wiring approach is the norm for multi-room sound and outdoor speakers.

Can you do it yourself? That depends on your skill level and your home. It's much easier to do during initial construction or renovation than it is in a finished home. If you have any doubts about your ability to do it, we recommend consulting with an electrician or professional installer. Find out if your building code calls for a permit and an inspection.

And if you'd like to keep your speaker wire as hidden as possible, but would rather not run your speaker wire through your walls, check out Monster Cable's SuperFlat or SuperFlat Mini cable. It's paintable, and features optional wire clamps and corner trim to help you secure it.

 

 

Interconnects

When you open the shipping carton of almost any A/V receiver or DVD player, you'll find free interconnects included. Well, on most flights you get a free meal, too. Those free interconnects and cables are the absolute minimum needed to make your system work. But you may also be sacrificing the quality you just paid for by using them. We feel that any investment you make in quality audio/video gear deserves an appropriate investment in the connectors you use with it. That way you'll be assured of getting the most performance from the products you buy. And if you've already got a system up and running, adding quality cables and interconnects might be the most cost-efficient upgrade in audio/video quality you can make.

I personally use quite an assortment of Interconnects and cables. I don't pledge allegiance to any one manufacturer but I do try to keep cables as uniform as possible (i.e. I use Audioquest Jade cables on all outputs to the Rotel Power Amplifiers and TEAC Cassette Decks).

Although cables cannot make poor sources sound good, they do bring out the best in good sources. I am currently using the following cables types in my system.

 

 

COMMON Types of cable connections

RCA-Phono Phono leads are the standard type of connection used between a source (CD Player / Cassette Deck / Tuner / DVD Player etc.) and an amplifier.  Free cables are often supplied with with components, but it does pay to purchase better quality cables to improve sound quality.   There is a slight distinction between Audio and Video outputs that feed through Phono connectors Video outputs requires Video Phono cables. Important: video cables and connections must be 75Ω (ohms) or where it says digital compatible. Audio outputs (Analogue) requires Audio interconnect cables. Only exception is Digital Audio outputs, which requires the same cable as the video outputs Note: both video and audio phonos looks identical.

S-Video  Officially known as a miniature 4-pin DIN connection. See my page dedicated to S-Video connections.

Optical Commonly known as Toslink.  Found on many CD Players, DVD and virtually every Minidisc recorder currently in production. There are two types of digital cable currently in use for connecting digital sources such as a CD Player to a Minidisc or CD-R Recorder.  Some recorders only accept the thinner optical type digital connection which sport a small Toslink connetcion.

Jack plug

Mini-Jack plug

BNC Connector Commonly found on computer networking systems.  Also used on mobile/portable VHF / UHF radio systems. In audio systems they can be found to the rear of CD Players and DAC's employed as digital connections The basic BNC connector is a male type mounted at each end of a cable. This connector has a center pin connected to the center cable conductor and a metal tube connected to the outer cable shield. A rotating ring outside the tube locks the cable to any female connector. Some high-end digital components, such as CD Players and digital-to-analogue converters use this type of digital connection, which offers better interference rejection and performance.  BNC connections offer twist-and-push plugs.

XLR Connector Three Pin connectors which lock onto the socket.  Commonly used for balanced connections, which shield positive and negative wires for improved protection against interference.

PERITEL Scart   Also known as Euro connector or Peritel The most convenient type of lead that causes least confusion Can connect from virtually any scart output to any scart input Selection of the input and output signal is then usually control via setup menu of the machines See also my page dedicated to Peritel SCART connections.

DIN Connections German DIN standard with pulti-pin connectors (Three to eight pins), used mainly for connecting cassette decks to amplifiers - but only rarely seen these days. NAIM electronics use DIN connections throughout its product range and is unusual in this regard.

 

Are all HiFi enthusiasts Banana's......    or is it just me?

...An 'unplug' for Arcam and a blank for many others: when it comes to connecting speakers things are getting confused. Help is at hand!

Why do we Europeans favour banana plugs on speaker cables when the manufacturer of his speaker recommends bare wire connections. Well, the usual answer is that lazy hi-fi reviewers, who spend their lives plugging and unplugging speakers and amps, like anything that makes life easy!

For the serious answer, just take a look at any bare wire connection after a few months. The strands of (usually copper) wire will have lost their shine and become dull from reaction with the air, and this oxidization makes them a less than ideal conductor. Of course you could strip back the cables periodically to reveal fresh metal, but good plugs properly soldered exclude the air, and their gold-plated finish is much less prone to oxidization.

Mind you, there is a fly in the ointment. The fact that banana plugs fit rather snugly into some continental mains sockets makes them a safety hazard, say the Eurocrats, and thus they are verboten on amplifiers. Metal knitting needles, meat skewers, non-insulated Philips-type screwdrivers will all fry you just as well if you're daft enough to plug them into the mains and have the advantage of being lot less fiddly to push into the non-shuttered round-pin sockets used across the Channel - yet they're apparently perfectly safe. Makes perfect sense to us!

Anyway, the result is that amplifiers are now appearing either with blanking plugs fitted in their 4mm speaker sockets, or with a variety of alternative connection methods. As you'll discover in the instruction manuals (where you'll be informed it can be done but of course told not to), the blanking plugs can usually be removed, though only with the aid of a tool (to please the Euronannies). Suitable tools include a small electrical screwdriver, the tip of a pen-knife blade, or - well, you get the idea! Otherwise you may find 'bare wire' terminals, the Camcon connections found on Arcams and proposed as the new British audio industry standard, or 3mm sockets (on Cyrus amps, although the company's now moving to the new BFA connector). If you buy one of these amps, but already have speaker leads with banana plugs fitted by the cable manufacturer or dealer what do you do? If you're not up to a bit of DIY soldering - and why should you be - you either get a dealer to change the plugs, or...

Cyrus can now supply adapters for its amps, having a skinny 3mm plug and a 4mm socket inside the plug body. Arcam's Camcon connectors, which use a hollow plug to mate with a shielded male connector on the back of the amp, have a side-entry screw-terminal for bare cable ends. But guess what? Unscrew the terminal fully, and a 4mm plug fits straight in, its entire pin length shielded by the plug body. Screw the terminal back up, and you're in business!

And those bare wire terminals? The ones with a threaded post and a screw-down clamp? Well, before you hack the plugs off the amp end of your speaker cable, check the post isn't drilled through to allow the cable end to be passed through it for a more positive connection. If it is, as many including the Camcon terminals are, chances are the hole will be - that's right - just the right size to pass a 4mm plug through. Tighten the clamp down, and Bob's your dad's brother. Just make sure no bare metal of the plug touches the main casework of the amp: the insulated body of most professionally fitted banana plugs means this isn't usually a problem.

Of course, the alternative to our beloved banana is the spade-type connector favoured the other side of the Atlantic, but there's no sign of it taking off here. And anyway, getting a good solid connection with spades means using a spanner to tighten up terminals, and US magazines often warn against breaking the screw-down part or even snapping off the whole terminal by over-enthusiastic tightening. Americans, it seems, are all torque.

If all else fails, and you're forced to use bare wires, allow an extra 10-20cm of cable at the amp end, and be prepared to restrip the wires every six months or so. Be careful not to get any stray filaments touching the casework or other terminals, as this could cause protection circuits to trip or output fuses to blow. Or in some amps with no protection circuitry, destroy the output stage. Now you see why we like banana plugs? Oh well, it could be worse: some Eurocrat could have been smart enough to realize those horrid spring clip terminals, as still found on far too many home cinema amps, make banana plugs impossible to use...

adapted from http://www.whathifi.com/scripts/sadbuttrue.asp?id=34

 

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Other Cable related pages include;

Cables2.html    Information on cables currently in use on my system.

Peritel SCART information

S-Video information

 

Mick Evans 1999-2001

  [email protected]

[email protected]