OT: High end speaker cables?

[Gsinill]

Since we seem to have some audio buffs here.

So far we only set up a few Sonos speakers in our new house after we moved about 2 years ago. Just enough for casual listening...

It's finally time to dig out the old stereo to set up a dedicated listening area.
My wife agreed to put it into our front room, with the only condition that cables and wiring are not exposed all over the place.
Plan is to run everything from the walls down to the basement and then cross over along the basement ceiling to get from one side of the FR to the other.

Unfortunately, my existing speaker cables (Transparent Musicwave Biwire) are only 15' long and I need at least 20'.
I am not up-to-date on what is out there now and also don't want to break the bank (again) just for speaker cables.
Any advice?

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by Gsinill

Since we seem to have some audio buffs here.

So far we only set up a few Sonos speakers in our new house after we moved about 2 years ago. Just enough for casual listening...

It's finally time to dig out the old stereo to set up a dedicated listening area.
My wife agreed to put it into our front room, with the only condition that cables and wiring are not exposed all over the place.
Plan is to run everything from the walls down to the basement and then cross over along the basement ceiling to get from one side of the FR to the other.

Unfortunately, my existing speaker cables (Transparent Musicwave Biwire) are only 15' long and I need at least 20'.
I am not up-to-date on what is out there now and also don't want to break the bank (again) just for speaker cables.
Any advice?

First I must say that in all my travels the only place I ever heard the term "front room" was in Chicagoland and it brings back my youth. Elsewhere we might have parlors, living room, sitting rooms but nothing as descriptive as our "front room". I think thickish 10-12 gauge lamp cord will suffice unless you have a really good system and ears. Many audiophiles will disagree.

[bjf]

You might want to check out The Cable Company. Lots of their stuff is very pricey, but some isn't. I have been very happy with their advice.

[Spdntrxi]

I use a bunch of MIT stuff.. lower midline stuff and even that is pricy when you add up 7.2 system... monoprice to the rear though... those runs are too long

[parris]

I don't have first hand experience with them but I've heard good things about Blue Jeans Cable. You may also want to look at Monoprice.

[rkhatibi]

Originally Posted by parris

I don't have first hand experience with them but I've heard good things about Blue Jeans Cable. You may also want to look at Monoprice.

Would also recommend Blue Jeans.

[FierteTi52]

I used 12 gauge 4 conductor in wall fire rated cable to bi wire the system in my finished basement. This is an example of the cable style I used although 14 gauge would be plenty:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_...SABEgI0W_D_BwE

[oliver1850]

I have never gone for the high end audiophile wiring Kool-Aid. For long runs I'd use 12 gauge wire, 14 should be fine for shorter runs. Something like this, but this may not be the best deal on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Speaker-Wir...DwEA:rk:5:pf:0

[Peter P.]

16ga. common speaker wire is good for runs up to 100ft. There may be NFPA or NEC codes requiring other, certified wire for running through walls, floors, and ceilings, for fire rating safety but other than that, save your money for bike parts.

[Gummee]

This is hearsay, but that bulk extension cable wire you can buy at Home Depot/Lowes/etc is supposed to sound pretty good.

I don't remember where I read that, so check it for yourself

M

[pobrien]

I would do some research to satisfy yourself as to which route to go. I have been very pleased with generic speaker cable on reasonably nice stereo kit.

[cdimattio]

Can't say I have tried multiple products and suppliers side by side, but another vote for Blue Jeans Cable...

[toytech]

Most all of the claims made by high end speaker wire manufacturers go against basic electrical theory. If the wire is made with decent copper and adequate sized it will work. 14-16 ga. is fine for most, more strands is better (finer wire strands) for a given gauge. Some years ago there was a blind test done with expensive wires tested against coat hanger. Guess what won

[mtechnica]

DIY with some industrial cables. I’m using 4c 14awg shielded Allen Bradley servo cables that I got for free, guarantee the wires inside these are higher quality than 99% of audiophile snake oil cables.

[joosttx]

This is amazing. I know you not going this far but its crazy to see the fringe.


https://robbreport.com/gear/electron...les-available/