Building Speaker Cables with Silver Wire

I wanted to try some silver speaker cables, and I wanted them long enough to allow hooking up amps or receivers that are not in my main system to the speakers in my main system. I settled on 18' for the cables.

Parts List:
18 guage teflon insulated silver wire.
banana plugs - speaker end
flex pins - amplifier end
1/4" and 1/2" wover polyester sheathing
various sizes of shrink tubing


The + / - conductors for each channel consist of 5 strands of 18ga silver wire in a loose Litz weave. This yields a conductor that is roughly 11 guage. Each conductor is then protected with 1/4" polyester sheathing. The flex pin connectors use crimp attachments, and the banana plugs use set screws.

Here's the completed cable for 1 channel:

Those look great, Mark.

Can we expect to read about your impressions?

The only silver wire I have ever owned was, and still is, as a matter of fact, the 0.5 mt. interconnect between my CDP and Pre, an obscenely expensive ( for me, that is) Audioquest Lapis.

Jorge

Thanks Jorge.

I'll get the cable for the other channel built this weekend (includes Monday as that is the Memorial Day holiday) and hook them up to the MX-10000 driving the Infinity Q2's.

I recently made some new speaker cables out of some wire that a friend of mine got me from the phone company. They use it in the switching offices for their DC power. It's 10ga teflon coated with a cloth braid cover (appliance rating). I believe it's silver plated. Too bad my hearing isn't good enough to tell the difference. (He just gave me 150' paired).

Sounds like it would be excellent speaker wire. What did you use to terminate it? How about posting some pics?

The silver speaker cables are completed, hooked up, and making music!

They sure look great.
I have a pair of Qed Silver 25th Anniversary speaker cable and i like them a lot.
If you have a mellow system with a little emphasis in the mid-lows or even some old records with mellow and blurred bass, i think silver can give more dynamics and edge in all around soundstage.


Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

Thanks Clint! I'm not sure if I'll be able to distinguish between them and the Zu Audio speaker cables I had hooked up before, but I'll have some fun listening to these.

That Qed speaker cable is stunning!

They aren't "properly" terminated yet. It was a rush job to hook up the Cornwalls. When I re-do them, I'll take photos and start another thread. I need to get good ends like you have.

I need to start watching the govt. surplus sales for silver wire.......................

Mark,

Did you ever think of using some spikes to decouple your speakers from the floor?

Your system is coming to a point where improvements are bound to be found in the small details only.

Jorge

Parts sources:

18ga teflon insulated silver wire - www.homegrownaudio.com
LOK rhodium plated banana plugs - www.homegrownaudio.com
Ultralink Flex Pins - www.needledoctor.com
Heat shrink tubing - www.buyheatshrink.com


360' of 18ga silver wire was used for the 18' pair of speaker cables.

This post has been edited by Mark B on May 28, 2007 03:32 pm

Jorge - I've been planning to get plinths for the speakers made in 1" thick Walnut or Maple. I was going to use Blu Tack to couple the speakers to the plinths. The primary reason for the plinths was to provide a more stable base for the speakers. The bottom of the speakers is slightly rounded so the speakers are not as steady as I would like.

Funny you should say that, Mark. I asked you about the spikes because in the second picture the speaker cable ( I believe it´s your left speaker ) seems to be under the speaker itself.

A plinth seems to be a fine idea. I can vouch for Blu-Tac coupling speakers to stands too.

Jorge

Funny you should say that, Mark. I asked you about the spikes because in the second picture the speaker cable ( I believe it´s your left speaker ) seems to be under the speaker itself.

A plinth seems to be a fine idea. I can vouch for Blu-Tac coupling speakers to stands too.

Jorge

The base of the Infinity Quantum 2 is recessed about 1" on all sides.

There is no way I could post this without sounding like a wise@$$, but I don't mean to sound that way. You said you used 5 pieces 18' long (90') for each leg. Four legs - 360' Did I miss something, or is that a typo?

Larry