High Quality Speaker Cables

 

This guide will be very similar to my Interconnect Guide. The same kind of myths that exist about A/V interconnect cables exist for speaker cables. Some people subscribe to the idea that expensive cables can make an audible difference over plain old "zip cord" or "lamp wire". This is simply not true, there will be no audible difference between the cables made in this guide and $100, $1,000, or even $10,000 cables on any system, whatsoever. This may be difficult to believe at first, but consider this. The propagators of such myths about A/V and speaker cables are usually the makers of those cables and there is a very obvious reason why they would want people to believe that expensive cables make a big difference in an A/V system, they want to sell cables! Regardless, here is one way to make high quality speaker cables for very little money.

The wire I'm using I purchased off of E-Bay and I found it by entering the search terms "10 GA wire". Obviously it's 10 AWG (or GA, or "gauge") OFC (that's Oxygen Free Copper) and it was about $32 for 100 feet, shipped. I chose this wire because it was thick and cheap. 10 AWG wire also happened to be the largest wire that the connectors I chose would support, but you would do just as well with 12 or 14 AWG wire for runs under 50 feet. The connectors I chose are from Parts Express and are $3.45 per pair (and you need 2 pair per cable). I recommend using these connectors because it makes terminating the cable very easy, I've used some other connectors that were more difficult to work with.

Assembly

This section is actually completely optional. All you really need to do to get good sound out of your speaker cable is strip off the ends so that the bare copper is exposed, insert them into the binding posts of your speakers and amplifier, and crimp them down tightly. I added a few extras to make them look nice and I also prefer banana plugs to bare wire (or any other form of termination) for a few reasons. The first is it's much easier to get a secure connection, all you have to do is insert the tip of the banana at the top of the binding post and push down firmly. With spade terminations I've had the problem of them slipping out on their own over time and bananas are much easier than working with bare, stranded wire. Secondly, bare copper oxidizes when exposed to air and hinders it's electrical conductivity, the banana plugs (spades would as well) protect the bare copper from the air keeping it from oxidizing. With all this in mind, if you decide to assemble your cables in the same manner as I did a few extras will be required in addition to the cable and banana plugs.

$6.88/ea 25 feet of appropriate colored 1/4" Techflex sleeving from Parts Express

$2.95/ea Pack of 12mm red heat shrink tubing from Parts Express

$2.95/ea Pack of 12mm black heat shrink tubing from Parts Express

 

You'll want to start by cutting off a length of cable, snipping the end off of a roll of the Techflex sleeving, and sliding the sleeving down the cable. You want Techflex sleeving to cover all but about the first and last 4 inches of the cable. Take this time to note whether the two conductors of the cable you've chosen are marked in a way that allows you to distinguish one from another. For instance, my cable has text and a white line on one conductor and no markings on the other. This is important, you'll want to go ahead and decide which one of the conductors you want to be "red" and which one you want to be "black" and ensure that you are using the same conductor for "red and "black" on both sides of the cable. Getting it backwards won't destroy your equipment, but it will cause your speakers to be out of phase.

Cut two pieces of the 12mm black heatsink, each about 1 1/2" long, and slide one over each end of the cable.

Split the two conductors apart for about 4 inches on each end of the cable.

Strip the first inch of insulation off of one conductor. This picture shows the amount in reference to a completely terminated conductor.

Unscrew the bottom of the connector and slide it over the bare copper.

Now you'll want to screw the top of the connector, at first with your fingers, and to completely tighten it I used two pairs of plyers. These connectors come with a small metal slug which should be left in. After it's nice and tight you can cut a piece of appropriately colored 12mm heatshrink long enough to cover the entire base of the connector as well as the length of the conductor that was split. You should then repeat this same process for the other conductor.

Once you've got both of your conductors looking nice you should move that piece of black heatshrink we cut at the beginning so that it covers the transition between the Techflex and the individually colored conductors.

Then shrink. Repeat this on the other end of the cable, being sure to keep the same "red" and "black" conductors, and you'll have yourself one high-end looking and high-end sounding speaker cable.