Question Speaker cable; ideally flat and sensibly priced

7seriesdriver

Previously Novusdigitalmedia
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I’m after some speaker cable as I cannot find any in the loft (I know I’ve it’s, but it’s all old QED and Chord stuff and for the life of me, I not sure if it’s in the loft or garage)

I’m making a small system for my desk; but as the desk is right up against the wall in one corner; ideally I need a flat’ish speaker cable, with normal plugs on the end, not the y shaped plugs etc

Can anyone recommend me any, ideally under £10 a meter as I need 2 lengths of 2m - 3m cables really

Thank you
 
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Even Round Speaker Cable is not that fat. How thin do you need it.

For short runs, as you seem to have, here are two examples of FLAT Speaker wire -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Install-Profile-Speaker-Metres/dp/B001U1BGFQ/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Superb-Quality-Profile-Oxygen-Speaker-White/dp/B00FEIY450/

Unless your equipment costs a King's Ransom, there is no need to remotely spend £10/meter on speaker wire. That is excess in the extreme.

It is very easy to add your own Banana Plugs, some require NO TOOLS, and some simply require a small screwdriver -

Here is a wide range of Banana Plugs -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=banana+plugs

Nakamichi are considered good -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MACTISICAL-Banana-Connector-Aluminum-Speaker-Gold/dp/B06Y5V9CSW/

These hold the wire in place using two small set screws.

These do not require any tools.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Banana-Plugs-12-pairs/dp/B01MXJIEV9/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sewell-Direct-SW-29863-6-Deadbolt-6-Pairs/dp/B007QUYQSY/

Here is a video showing how simple it is to install the Sewell Deadbolt or the equivalent Amazon Basics -



From AudioVisualOnLine, you can get FLAT Fisual Speaker Wire with Banana Plugs for about £16.50 per cable with Banana Plugs installed.

Fisual Pro Install Series Low Profile Flat Speaker Cable - Speaker Cables - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

On this page you will see to boxes marked [NONE] click on those boxes and you will get a list of Termination (banana/spade). For simplicity I chose the £6/end Fisual Terminations.

For a 3m cable with Fisual Banana Plugs on both ends, the total price PER CABLE is a modest £16.50 or £33/pair.

However, I think straight forward wire like this would work fine -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro®-AV-Pro-Oxygen-Copper-Speaker-2-x-0-5mm-OFC/dp/B006YBQX28/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KabelDirekt-speaker-2x2-5mm²-Transparent-polarity-Red-Copper/dp/B01C79XV5W/

Again, as you can see from the Video, the Sewell Deadbolt Banana Plugs are very easy to install, and require no tools. You can add these to just about any wire. Just make sure the RED on each end is the same wire.

With Virtually all wire, one of the wires is marked. It might be with a molded in Ridge or Ridges, or it might be with printing or embossing on one of the wires, or one of the wires might have a colored Stripe on it. But one wire will be marked. Typically the Marked wire is RED(+).

One note of Caution. If at all possible get OFC (oxygen free copper) wire, next to that is simple Copper speaker wire. DO NOT GET CCA (copper clad aluminum). This has a higher resistance.

Now if you are determined to spend £10/meter no wire, we can certainly accommodate you, but it is very very very unlikely that you need to spend that much on Speaker Wire.

Though not exactly thin, this is the cable I most often recommend -

Fisual S-Flex Studio Grade White Speaker Cable 2 x 2.5mm - £2.50/meter -

Fisual S-Flex Studio Grade White Speaker Cable 2 x 2.5mm - Speaker Cables - AudioVisual Online - UK Home Cinema and Hifi Specialists

Terminated with basic Banana Plugs on both ends, the cost for 3m (as an example) is £23.50/each or £47/pair with QED Plastic Airloc plugs (£8/end)

The Fisual S-Flex is 99.999% OFC copper in 2.5mm² size.



Steve/bluewizard
 
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I have some ixos xhs133 flat speaker cable that i had used for rear speakers in a 5.1 setup. They are or were self adhesive and are not used anymore and haven't done for a fair while

https://www.hifix.co.uk/ixos-xhs133-super-flat-speaker-cable.

I should have enough so if you want, you could have some for the price of postage.
No banana plugs so you will need to get some if you require them.
 
Thank you for that lengthy post Bluewizard; I’m not new to high so understand the plugs and variety types. I’ve got some older QED plugs that I could use, but ideally I’d like smaller/thinner ones, so will have a look at some of the suggestions.

I also found online the Telurium Blue speaker cable which appears to be fairly flat; quite expensive though, is it really worth that?

Thanks for the Van Damme cable suggestion too; that looks perfect for my needs, far too much of it, but could use it in the garage if/when I put some speakers and an amp in there
 
Thanks for the Van Damme cable suggestion too; that looks perfect for my needs, far too much of it, but could use it in the garage if/when I put some speakers and an amp in there

They sell in different lengths.
 
Thank you for that lengthy post Bluewizard; I’m not new to high so understand the plugs and variety types.

We only know what you tell us. Absent information, I proceeded as if you were a novice.

I also found online the Telurium Blue speaker cable which appears to be fairly flat; quite expensive though, is it really worth that?

Telurium Blue speaker cable is crazy expensive. I think you better tell us what equipment you have to make sure that this cable even makes sense relative to the rest of your equipment.

Here is Telurium Blue speaker cable - unterminated - (25/ft - 7.5m) - £124 -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tellurium-Terminated-Speaker-Cable-Length/dp/B007SOY6H4/

While I'm sure this is nice cable, that's a lot of money for what can be had for about £2.50/meter.

Thanks for the Van Damme cable suggestion too; that looks perfect for my needs, far too much of it, but could use it in the garage if/when I put some speakers and an amp in there

I believe the Van Damme Shotgun 2x2.5mm² was 10m (33ft) for £40 unterminated.

Van Damme 2 x 2.5mm Audio Twin Interconnect Speaker Cable (Total Definition Directional Hi-Fi) 268-502-000 10 Metre / 10M -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00URNW50S/

Note this is (allegedly) Directional Cable, meaning one specific end must always go to the Amp.

As to the length, unless you can find someone selling it by the Meter, you really have no choice but to buy a fixes length.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=Van+Damme+shotgun+speaker+wire

The Van Damme Hi-Fi Series LC-OFC (the correct name) is about £4/meter if you can find someone selling it by the meter.

Your life, you can spend what you want, but I think most would take the position that +£16/meter for the Telurium is on the excessive side, though we can certainly find far more excessive cable if we put our mind to it.

In a survey I did in both the USA and the UK, I found that a vast majority of people spend less than 5% on ALL Wire and Cable for their system. With many spending 3% or less. I can provide charts if you are interested. That's less than 5% or less than 3% of the total audio system cost.

So, in conclusion, it would be helpful to know what Amp and Speakers you have so we could make recommendations in reasonable proportion to the rest of your equipment. It doesn't really make sense to put £150 speaker cable on a £200 Amp (as an illustration).

Once you have 99.99% OFC Copper wire, I'm not sure what else matters. In another forum I calculated all the parameters of several brands of wire, wire that I could find the full parameters for. Capacitance never entered into the audio range, and Inductance never entered into the audio range except at lengths considerably greater than 50ft (15m).

Now Cosmetics do matter, and making cable pretty does cost something. But while Cosmetics does have value, it doesn't effect the sound.

Still ...your life ...your equipment ...your money ... spend what you want.

Steve/bluewizard
 
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Also, unless you want to Solder the Banana Plugs, these UGREEN are about a slim as it gets -

UGREEN Banana Plugs, 24K Gold Plated 2 Pair Banana Plug Closed Screws Connectors for Speaker Wire,AV Receivers, Amplifiers, Surround Sound, Banana Wall Plates, Corrosion-Resistant (2 Red+2 Black) - £6.50/set -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01KT5A47O/

For the thinnest of thin, here are some BFA Banana Plugs that require soldering -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Solder-Type-BFA-Plugs-Connectors/dp/B00JF07FZE/

To mark the Red and Black, you use plastic sleeving nor Heat Shrink Tubing in the appropriate color.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chord-Solder-Banana-Heatshrink-Stereo/dp/B00DED68BU/

Steve/bluewizard
 
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Here is where it complicated... Even thick gauge wire is very thin... It is the insulation on the outside which is both as expensive as the copper wire itself,and as thick which adds bulk.Even 10 AWG copper wire is under 0.1inch diameter..10 AWG would be overkill for any domestic situation.

You need to decide why you need thin or flat wiring, will it be needed under flooring etc.
Unlike domestic electric wiring the voltage between wires and ground on a speaker will not exceed 50 volts ..(there is an exception , but public address systems at 100 v are not usual), so no insulation or minimal insulation is ok provided the leads are separated. ..
Look at domestic wiring, the external sheath is designed to be thick enough to absorb . abrasives ,be waterproof and be proof against 750 v . And inside that again there is another layer of insulation,again good for 400v .. so standard domestic wiring , without the extra sheath would hardly be noticeable under carpet. And that brown varnished wiring , called transformer wire would certainly be unnoticeable... Transformer waiting is copper wire available in any gauge, and is just painted with a thin layer of polyuthrane paint as a moderate insulation, good for low voltage work . The paint needs to be scrapped off with knife blade before contact is made... You will not get thinner round cable.
 
All sorted with the Van Damme cable and will use the QED plugs I already have. The thickness is spot on, means I can have the desk pushed right under the window ledge without an unsightly gap etc
 
Note this is (allegedly) Directional Cable, meaning one specific end must always go to the Amp.

With the output of an amp being an AC signal, I cant see any directionality in a cable making any sense whatsoever and would actually be highly counter-productive.

I therefore assume that 'directional' just means one conductor is clearly marked for reference to make it less likely you may accidently reverse phase when connecting. In this sense, nearly every speaker cable I have come across is 'directional' - ie a line on it, or conductors sheaves in a different color etc.
 
With the output of an amp being an AC signal, I cant see any directionality in a cable making any sense whatsoever and would actually be highly counter-productive.

I therefore assume that 'directional' just means one conductor is clearly marked for reference to make it less likely you may accidentally reverse phase when connecting. In this sense, nearly every speaker cable I have come across is 'directional' - ie a line on it, or conductors sheaves in a different color etc.

I wish you were right, but ...no... direction does literally mean directional. Though the validity of this is questionable, which is why I said "ALLEGEDLY." One designated end of the cable should always go to the Amp, the other end always to the Speaker.

Van Damme - Specifications - UP-LCOFC Hi-Fi Interconnect & speaker series

http://www.van-damme.com/_pdf/28 UP-LCOFC Hi-Fi Interconnect & speaker series.pdf

Also all speaker wire is marked for Plus and Minus.

Steve/bluewizard
 

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