My Thoughts on Cables and Biwiring

[dennist]

I built my first DIY speaker in 1975 (Kef Concerto) and have been a bit of a DIYer ever since. I started with some Monster Cable wire which was quickly replaced by Supra cables (which are still on my TV system in the family room).

 

After many years of experimenting with cables and noting that I have the advantage of experimenting with  triwiring my speakers I haven come to some conclusions -

 

- In a 3 way system use the thickest cable you can use on bass only, I am using 4 gauge Neotech OFC High Power Cable (I have also wired my bass speakers internally  with it). Bass speakers need current.

- Use a smaller gauge good quality cable for mids and tweeters, I have experimented with shielded Cat 5 recipes, solid core,DIY Moganis,  Chord Company , Supra,  Analysis Plus , QED etc for  this and while subtly different, they all do a good job.

 

I am currently biwiring just using some old QED Silver Anniversary Cables (Which have a Teflon Jacket) for mids and treble, they seem as good as anything I've tried. I am biamping with Aksa monoblocks. IMO I can't really see the point in biwiring with the same (sometimes thin) cables.

 

At one stage I was using expensive gold coated copper connectors, but one day a long time ago Philip Vafiadis (founder of Vaf Research) let me in on a little secret that was the fact that cheap coated copper automotive connectors are technically as good as it gets,  I have been using those on my DIY cables ever since. The only time I would use bananas is if there is a need for regular quick disconnecting/connecting.

 

Below are a few cable and connector pics.

 

[Ian McP]

Good way to  go, DIY cables. Can I ask how you are splitting the signal on the inputs to the Soyara and Maya amps?

regards Ian

[dennist]

Ian, my Doge Preamp has two sets of outputs, as the input sensitivity of both amps is the same, the speakers passive crossover takes care of the rest, it really is overkill, either amp by itself is just cruising at high listening levels, I prefer the Maya for mids/treble and the Soraya (after I increased the bias quite a bit) has a very slight edge in the bass area.

 

I took the Mayas into Vaf Research one day to hook up to the latest I93 and it was the best I have ever heard them perform in there. Hugh really does make great amps.