expiredViperGuy posted Nov 27, 2023 09:20 AM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expiredViperGuy posted Nov 27, 2023 09:20 AM
100' AmazonBasics 16-Gauge Speaker Wire Cable
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Amazon Basics 16-Gauge Speaker Wire Cable, 100 Feet, Bronze https://a.co/d/gmd3jhk
According to multiple entries in questions and answers, this is copper clad aluminum.
Not surprising given the price point. But it's disappointing that it's not clearly stated in the product description.
16 gauge is fine for runs less than 50 feet I believe; anything longer you want 12 gauge. Also I prefer/recommend to use banana plugs [monoprice.com] when connecting the speaker wire. A little trick I do to ensure a good connection is to spray the banana plugs with Deoxit.
Edit
Not sure why my post was edited by the staff for "A3P link". Is linking Deoxit at Amazon forbidden fruit here? Perhaps it's a secret safe word in frugal sex dungeons? Seems a bit overzealous/ridiculous if it wasn't a mistaken auto edit by the forum system IMO...
Edit part deux
Seems like this wire is CCA [reddit.com](Copper Clad Aluminum). There's lots of cons of CCA wire that you can read about here [gearit.com]. Basically CCA is poor quality wire that should be avoided for long runs/lengths but 16 gauge CCA wire should be fine for short distances under 15 feet.
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0848T4...ct_details [amazon.com]
https://www.monoprice.c
The primary reason why I canceled my orders once I realized the speaker wire was CCA is because I want something that's reliable and will endure. I don't want to go through the trouble of terminating the wire with banana plugs and installing/concealing the cables only to have my efforts wasted in a few years. Quality copper speaker cable will last you decades and can be forgotten about once installed; the same can't be said about CCA.
If you hear humming, static or pops coming from your rear/surround speakers then there's a good chance that it is being caused by low quality CCA wire. I'm pretty sure my top surrounds have CCA as I experience/hear a very quiet hum/static when volume is set to medium on my audio receiver for example.
Thanks to insertfootmouth's post I've been enlightened about CCA shenanigans and if you are going to thank anyone on this thread it should be him for sharing his insight and saving us money. I was like "Duh, good price on speaker cable; me buy."
Overall, I don't recommend buying CCA and it's worth the effort/expense of buying solid copper; it last longer and has better performance (That's what she said). CCA is especially bad with Ethernet cables [truecable.com] I've recently learned as well.
Got one, thanks OP.
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Quite disappointing, this would otherwise have made great scrap wire for random projects.
Thank you for the comments pointing out this is aluminum wire (copper-clad-aluminum, CCA).
But a few years down the line, you might, when this starts oxidizing, or wiggles free of your terminations, or the wire cracks somewhere since aluminum has a super low fatigue life.
It's just not worth wasting any time on this crappy wire. Full copper wire in 18 awg (roughly equivalent to this CCA wire in 16awg) is cheap enough already. You're saving maybe $10 here, for what? To increase the risk of problems down the road?
If you want to get ultra cheap, but still maintain quality, you could always use ethernet cable. You'll get nice, high quality twisted wiring that's shielded for dirt cheap. Using all 4 pairs in a Cat6 24AWG stranded cable is equivalent to an 18AWG pair, 4 pairs in a 23AWG Cat 6 cable is equivalent to a 17AWG pair, and 4 pairs in a 22AWG Cat 6 cable is equivalent to a 16AWG pair. Car stereo guys do this if they don't want to spend a fortune on true shielded speaker cable.
But a few years down the line, you might, when this starts oxidizing, or wiggles free of your terminations, or the wire cracks somewhere since aluminum has a super low fatigue life.
It's just not worth wasting any time on this crappy wire. Full copper wire in 18 awg (roughly equivalent to this CCA wire in 16awg) is cheap enough already. You're saving maybe $10 here, for what? To increase the risk of problems down the road?
If you want to get ultra cheap, but still maintain quality, you could always use ethernet cable. You'll get nice, high quality twisted wiring that's shielded for dirt cheap. Using all 4 pairs in a Cat6 24AWG stranded cable is equivalent to an 18AWG pair, 4 pairs in a 23AWG Cat 6 cable is equivalent to a 17AWG pair, and 4 pairs in a 22AWG Cat 6 cable is equivalent to a 16AWG pair. Car stereo guys do this if they don't want to spend a fortune on true shielded speaker cable.
Fundamentally, from a current carrying perspective, wire is wire, cables are cables. Cat6 cables are supposed to be 24AWG minimum, and can be had down to 22AWG. 24AWG is roughly 400 circular mils, so using 4 wires, gives you roughly 1600 circular mils. Same as 18AWG. Thus four 24AWG wires, can carry the same current as a single 18AWG wire, assuming the same insulators are being used.
The Ethernet cable idea has mostly been a car audio thing in my experience. I first heard about it on the BMW forums I used to frequent (r3vlimited and bimmerforums). This is because BMW for decades had truly awful audio wiring and systems, that were very noise prone.
Cars are extremely noisy environments with regards to electromagnetic interference. You have no separation of grounds between sensitive and noisy devices, and you have coil packs creating thousand volt arcs, with insanely high dV/dt. So shielded, twisted pair speaker wire is preferred in cars, but wire which is adequately shielded, is actually quite expensive, and sometimes hard to find. What qualifies as "shielded" in the speaker wire realm is also not really defined by a known standard. So knowing what you are getting is a challenge, unless you are willing to pay for it.
Cat6 cable by contrast, has exacting and well defined standards, which specify the shielding design, and number of twists in each pair. It's usually really high quality cable because of this. So you benefit from getting twisted wiring for noise rejection, benefit from the economies of scale bringing the price down, and more than adequate shielding.
If your speaker manufacturer is recommending 12 gauge, then you've got pretty powerful speakers, or extremely low impedance speakers, and Ethernet cable would definitely not be suitable.
Cat6 Ethernet cable would be good for say a 50W or below speaker with 8 ohm or above impedance, higher impedance, the better. I wouldn't exceed 2A in total across all 4 pairs if using 24AWG cable, and 3A in total if using 23AWG cable, and 4A in total if using 22AWG cable.
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