What would you pay for a decent but basic speaker cable?

[Chris Cables]

Canvassing your opinion to establish a decent/fair price-point for a new speaker-cable model intended to complete my 'Core Function' budget-oriented range of cables.

Description:
Single-wire configuration only.
Sommer 'SPM240' 2x4mm² (AWG11) OFC copper twin-axial (twisted-pair) conductors.
Capacitance (conductor/conductor) = 125pF/m
Conductor resistance per 1 km = 4.5Ω
9.5mmDIA PVC jacket in dark grey
Banana/spade/angled-banana gold-plated brass connectors.
Absolutely no frills, bells or whistles. Just a basic cable that does what it says on the tin.

I already have a price point in mind but I'd be interested to know what you would be willing to pay for say a 2m pair?
All feedback much appreciated.

 

[bill7621]

OK, I'm sorry to say I don't buy into the speaker cable debate. I use and always have used 14 gauge lamp cord or zip cord as most call them. I usually get brown, but black and white is also an option. I'm not sure what a spool of this costs now since copper is so expensive, but I'm sure they're a heck of a lot more affordable than custom made cables or even the bamboo risers that are used to keep these fancy cables off the floor. I've been using zip cord for 50 years and never ever heard a difference and at my age I doubt if I would. If you can hear a difference, God bless you!

 

[mr_rye89]

IDK I'm bad at haggling, I'm also using 14ga extension cord that I pilfered out of the dumpster at work. I'm also bi-amping and that can get pricy quick

 

[Chris Cables]

..and I should add:

'These magic beans'
'Nothing, you should be giving them away for free'
'Would you entertain a part-exchange for these old but genuine antique copies of Playboy?'
'A ride on my donkey'
'A ride on my camel'
'A ride on my wife'

...will not be considered as valuable responses.




Just throw a figure into the thread, even if you're not that interested.
Cheers

 

[Chris Cables]

IDK I'm bad at haggling, I'm also using 14ga extension cord that I pilfered out of the dumpster at work. I'm also bi-amping and that can get pricy quick

How does bi-amping pilfered wire get pricey?
Surely it's win, win.... without any price?

 

[BlazeES]

80 to 100 USD

 

[J!m]

A meter? I think 80-100 is reasonable.

My speaker cables are about 24 inches long. Silver plated OFC fine strands about 2ga. total with a twisted inner and Chinese finger puzzle outer. The outer is to stop rat nesting in use. These are plasma gun cables and the conductor rides in the water cable. The water cooling allows this fine conductor to carry 1100 amps DC whereas the rectifier to console uses three 000 copper cables to carry that current. (In air)

When the robot moves the gun it bends a lot right at the end and strands start breaking. (Rat nesting) reducing flow of water.

Copper spade on each end for my amp to speaker.

 

[Chris Cables]

OK, good to hear, thx.

I'm going to place a 1m set at €75 and then €20/m for each additional 1m length.
Getting a 2m set out for under €100 ($107.8) was the primary objective. I can still make an acceptable, if lower margin than I'd prefer depending on if I can achieve the volume I'm expecting to sell.
I already have a midrange and top-tier model available but I really needed to get a budget set in there.

 

[mr_rye89]

Wires are pricey if I don't dumpster dive them lol. Your already wayyy under Audioquest and the likes which is good, I don't need cryogenicly treated braided unicorn hair dielectric......

 

[J!m]

But the unicorn nose hair… that’s where it’s at.

 

[MB1953]

And don't forget the Snake Oil.
Lets the electrons slip through for better sound!

 

[Mohawk]

 

[Chris Cables]

Launched today on Marktplaats. Won't be on my Etsy as their fees will just evaporate a big chunk of the margin, but I'll be selling direct via my website soon, when it goes live.

https://link.marktplaats.nl/m2180341091

€95 for a 2m pair, plus €20 for every additional metre, which I think is the cheapest single-wire, 4mm²/AWG11 speaker cable available outside China.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that.

No discounts on the Core Function range unfortunately but if anyone here is interested in a pair I'll go halves on the shipping wherever you're located. Can't do any better than that.

I'm on a bit of a go-slow at the moment as I'm coming out of a bout of pneumonia but expect to be back up to full speed next week.
Was out for a cheeky bikeride in the sun yesterday, so I'm well on the mend. (Fekin relief!)
The build queue currently stands at 3 weeks at the moment but I'm hoping to bring that back down to 10-14 days from the end of next week after catching up a bit.

 

[J!m]

How about a nice 2-conductor replacement power cable? (not for me; just an idea)

There are a million grounded ones out there, but I haven't seen any 2-conductor ones...

 

[Chris Cables]

How about a nice 2-conductor replacement power cable? (not for me; just an idea)

There are a million grounded ones out there, but I haven't seen any 2-conductor ones...

I facilitate that only when it's asked for as it contravenes the IEC directive and CE safety guidlelines. It's easy enough to configure for a C15 connector - you just don't connect the pin, but the mains plug ground pin is always connected in order to ground the cable.
For a C7 connector there's no ground pin of course.

My Core Function[POWER] comes with both C7 and C15 connectors:




A few more braided models I offer

 

[J!m]

So, I guess the equipment end would have to be specified for what it is intended to fit.

If a component has a standard IEC input, there should be a ground used for sure.

 

[Chris Cables]

You just have to make sure that the un-grounded component (powered by an un-grounded C15 connector is grounded via a different, connected and grounded component. Otherwise you're isolated from ground and will potentially end up with some 'issues'.

I'm never really comfortable with it and I always demand a disclaimer from the client but I got an order for an ungrounded European Schuko-C15 cable for a TT user who convinced himself he had a ground-loop issue and that an ungrounded power cable for his amp would solve the problem.
I actually forgot and made the cable fully-grounded end-to-end out of habit however and only realised after I'd shipped it to him.
I never advised him of the 'oversight' and he emailed me to say the cable had fixed his ground-loop/hum issue. Go figure.
I can only assume that the CMR in the braided cable geometry helped get rid of some external noise or something.

 

[George S.]

No IEC power grounds on my components other than at the preamp and the preamp power supply, even though every piece does have a IEC socket installed.
The IEC power grounds aren't connected in the four amps, MiniDsp, tuners, turntable, etc.
Everything is grounded to each other through the interconnects to the preamps ground.
I'm comfortable with it this way. At one time most everything was wired two wire, we survived.
I do keep the factory grounds on peripherals like the computer and big flat screen.

 

[20tajk7]

What would you pay for a decent but basic speaker cable?

More than I can afford of course

 

[wattsabundant]

I use Belden 12 guage speaker cable and Pomona MDP dual banana jacks. I got the cable in the 80's when I did pro sound. The cable runs are less than 8 feet. Exotic cable may make a difference. Before I dropped a load of cash on speaker cables I would look elsewhere for improvements.