On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 14:30:33 +0000 (UTC), "Jo"
wrote:

In ,
Stewart Pinkerton typed:
On Mon, 6 Mar 2006 18:35:02 +0000 (UTC), "Jo"
wrote:

I'm aware of the never ending discussion on interconnects and speaker
cables, but I just want some advice on what to actually buy. Nominal
impedance of speakers is 6 ohms. Room is quite large and so
amp/speaker distance will be 4-5 meters. Speakers are bi-wired.

I just need an idea of cross-sectional area and where I can get some
suitable cable. I'm not convinced by the talk of OFC and so on.
Multistranded copper of sufficient thickness is fine by me.
Suggestions please ?

You should be aware that *all* multistrand cable is OFHCC (oxygen-free
high conductivity copper), because this confers the required
flexibility. Hence, OFC or OFHCC is jusyt a marketing label applied to
standard flexible copper cable. SAs to the rest, something like QED
72-strand or 105 strand will be more than adequate for your
requirement, and you can probably find the equivalent speaker wire
even cheaper at B&Q. Basically, aim for something like 12-14AWG
thickness if you can get hold of it.

BTW, bi-wiring does nothing whatever, so you're better running a
single run of thick cable and leaving the jumpers in place. If any
shop guy tells you that bi-wiring halves the cable resistance, ask him
what he thinks the crossover does, and check the blank expression on
his ignorant mug. Then buy somewhere else......

Thanks for the info Stewart. I make 12 AWG to be about 3.3 sq mm, which fits
with my original rough calculation of (10 x Rcable)(Rspeaker) for about 5
meters length. I may add some temporary bi-wiring using some old single
strand power cable I have. Just out of curiosity :-)

12 AWG (which is indeed about 3.3 sq mm) copper wire has a linear
resistance of approximately 1.6 milliohms per foot, giving you a loop
resistance of about 52 milliohms for a 5 metre cable. This should be
between 1 and 2 % of your minimum speaker impedance, so not a problem
by any measure.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering