Less expensive substitute for speaker wire

[IA_Chiefs_fan]

Can regular electrical wire be used rather than speaker wire to save some money?

[Eddie Horton]

Just go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy some 12ga speaker wire. It doesn't get much cheaper than that and it works great.

[kgveteran]

I just bought 15' of 10-4 ( four conductor of 10ga ) It was the flexible multistrand type. I use this for my subwoofer. Net cost 17.56 inc. tax.

[martins]

Lamp cord works fine too. Do a price comarison at HD and get whatever is cheaper when you go. It won't make any difference in performance.

[atye]

I've got Paradigm Monitor 3s hooked to a Panasonic SA-XR50. I bought 2 15' 14 GA extention cords from WALMART, cut the ends off, and they work just fine. One side has ridges running it's length and I use it as my RED side!:)

[noah katz]

Romex is much cheaper than speaker wire. I've used it for long runs with a few feet of 12 GA speaker wire soldered on the ends.

[kenglish]

Saw test results recently. Orange extension cords work pretty well. Just cut off the plugs and connect the wires.

[M NEWMAN]

Originally posted by noah katz
Romex is much cheaper than speaker wire. I've used it for long runs with a few feet of 12 GA speaker wire soldered on the ends.

While this would work with decent results, its actually something I wouldn't recommend for a couple reasons. #1, solder clearly isn't as good a conductor as copper (although a case could be made for silver solder, but not typical 60/40 tin/lead), and #2, this exposes the copper for oxidation to occur much more rapidly which can affect near future connectivity and conductivity. Not insurmountable problems, but an ultra-cheap orange 14 or 12awg extension cord would remedy these with none of the above drawbacks. Money's about the same too.

[DMF]

#1, In soldering, the first principle is make a good mechanical connection before applying solder. Thus the actual electron path through solder is from fractions of a millimeter to zero. While solder does have a higher resistivity than copper, the effect on the overall cable is indistinguishable from nothing.

#2, Oxidation only affects contacts. Oxidation of wire itself produces no macro effects on electrical characteristics - certainly not in solid wire. Solder itself does not oxidize in atmosphere (in my experience).

Just be sure to use resin-core instead of acid-core solder.

[M NEWMAN]

Originally posted by DMF
#1, In soldering, the first principle is make a good mechanical connection before applying solder. Thus the actual electron path through solder is from fractions of a millimeter to zero. While solder does have a higher resistivity than copper, the effect on the overall cable is indistinguishable from nothing.

#2, Oxidation only affects contacts. Oxidation of wire itself produces no macro effects on electrical characteristics - certainly not in solid wire. Solder itself does not oxidize in atmosphere (in my experience).

Just be sure to use resin-core instead of acid-core solder.


Like I said, "Not insurmountable problems", but you're assuming a little much for a potential novice at soldering. I've seen some truly hideous connections from novices at soldering. Also, while a properly done connection shouldn't present problems, 12awg wire, on a typical 15 watt iron, done by an inexperienced hand with no external flux will almost certainly result in a semi-cold solder joint. Now you've exponentially increased the solder connection resistance. ;) See what I mean about using an uninterrupted run of (nearly) equally cheap extension cord being a better solution? I just wasn't getting into much detail of potential problems in my first post. :)

[noah katz]

"See what I mean about using an uninterrupted run of (nearly) equally cheap extension cord being a better solution? "

You're talking about what is probably 16 ga, I'm talking about 12 or 14 ga Romex, which I'll bet is still cheaper.

[DMF]

15 W iron on 12 AWG ?? I'd love to see someone pull that off. :D:D:D

Might work better to tie them together with rope!

[martins]

Originally posted by M NEWMAN
solder clearly isn't as good a conductor as copper
The signal doesn't pass through the solder, it passes through the wires that are coated with solder. The effect of the solder on the electrical signal would be precisely nothing.

[M NEWMAN]

Originally posted by noah katz

You're talking about what is probably 16 ga, I'm talking about 12 or 14 ga Romex, which I'll bet is still cheaper.

No, I specifically said 12 or 14awg extension cords - they are really, really cheap...have you priced them lately?! Not much different from the romex.

[M NEWMAN]

Originally posted by martins
The signal doesn't pass through the solder, it passes through the wires that are coated with solder. The effect of the solder on the electrical signal would be precisely nothing.

It passes through the part where the solder coats over both conductors - 'nother words, yes it does pass through the solder. The effect is slightly above nothing - it is measurable (albeit an awfully small #), but I'll conceed that I probably wouldn't hear the difference...as long as it was a "good quality" soldering job. ;)

[noah katz]

"No, I specifically said 12 or 14awg extension cords - they are really, really cheap...have you priced them lately?! Not much different from the romex."

12-2 Romex is $.12/ft. All I could online was a 100' 12-2 extension cords for $25 = t $.25/ft.

Still plenty cheap, though, not worth hassling with stiff Romex.

[M NEWMAN]

Originally posted by noah katz

12-2 Romex is $.12/ft. All I could online was a 100' 12-2 extension cords for $25 = t $.25/ft.

Still plenty cheap, though, not worth hassling with stiff Romex.

Bingo!! ;) In fact, I think the last 100' 14awg extension cord I got from H Depot was on sale (you know, those big fat boxes of goober with the discount price tag taped to the outside that they stick in the aisles?) and I think it was around $10 or 12 bucks. I could be off by a few bucks, but I know it was super cheap!

[ETphoneHome]

I purchased 250' of 12 gauge speaker wire on ebay for $25 + shipping. And this is Boss brand, high quality wire with thick casing, much better than the 12 gauge wire they carry at Home Depot. I purchased this much because I have 4 rear speakers in my 7.1 setup, and the wires run through the attic, and each rear requires about 40 ft. total length. Plus, I plan to run two outdoor speakers in the future, so wanted some extra wire for this future install.

Cutting the ends off of extension cords ... I dunno, it may essentially be the same thing as speaker wire, but it still seems so wrong. :rolleyes:

[maverick_geek]

Stop the presses... Yes a dry solder joint will give you problems but otherwise it is the norm in all the devices you own.

What do you suggest that circuit boards use for quality... No connections or pure molten copper or silver...

I am just waiting for the Monster branded acetylene torch with speaker wire that you can fuse the wire to be one with you amplifier. LOL

[mjosef]

LOL...as I started reading this post and came across the part where "solder is not a good conductor" or something like that, I had the same thought as Maverick...picture all those gazillion resistors and caps and ic's SOLDERED onto the circuit boards, making lord know how many point of "resistive" contacts/connections...hope you get the picture. My Fluke DIM cannot measure the difference across a soldered joint. Maybe it needs calibrating?

[DMF]

Mike did make a good point. 12 AWG is not easy to solder. I'd wager most people would happy if it didn't fall apart before they got the electrical tape on it. That means most of the joints would be cold or dry or even fractured and have bad electrical characteristics.

OTOH, I'm with ET. It just seems wrong somehow. ;)