Loudspeakers - Solid, or stranded?

[Thefoxygranpa]

Hello!

I am helping rebuild some loudspeakers and wire up new NL-4 connectors, when I came across something I was stumped about.

When wiring inside a cabinet, will solid or stranded give a better sound/signal/be better? My initial thought was solid, as because it is permanent in the cabinet, its going to conduct better.

Anyway, looking for some advice and what is best for wiring within a cabinet to the loudspeakers.

Cheers and thanks!

[avkid]

To be quite honest I've never heard this question before, but i'll take a swing.

1. A NL4 connector is not designed for solid wire

2. Solid wire breaks more easily than stranded

3. Flexibility is important in a portable loudspeaker that is in varied environmental and atmospheric conditions.

4. If one piece of a stranded cable fails, the signal still travels down the cable unlike solid core.


I have never opened a loudspeaker cabinet to find solid core wire.

[museav]

As long as the cross sectional area of the conductor is the same I don't think you can assume a lower resistance for a solid conductor. And resistance is not the only potential factor, inductance and capacitance can also matter in some applications. Ignoring the audiophile skin effect argument for stranded cable, which is irrelevant at audio frequencies, and in addition to the points Phil noted, another potential benefit of stranded cable is that you can often get better contact at the connections. Go with stranded.

[waynehoskins]

Skin effect as it relates to solid or stranded wire of the same size is hardly even relevant (in a transmission line) at radio frequencies. At audio (which, from an RF standpoint, is indistinguishable from DC), it virtually doesn't exist.

Stranded is better from a mechanical standpoint, so go that way. You can solder directly onto the tabs on the NL4 jack or use the Faston terminals (which are more convenient if you have the right crimp terminals on hand). But if all you have on hand is solid, there's no electrical advantage or disadvantage to it.

[Thefoxygranpa]

Thanks for the replies...I decided to go out and get some stranded spools...4 colors of it.

And I tried to use solid to wire some up, and they were a royal pain, so quickly gave up on that :P .

Now for the faston terminals, is there any resistance going to be happening, as it doesn't have as strong of a connection compared to soldering? Perhaps I'm incorrect.

These cabinets are going to be out on rentals quite a bit, so a good bit of jostling may occur.

[rwhealey]

I like the Fastons- soldering on those terminals is a pain, especially with a larger gauge wire.

I wrap the whole Faston in electrical tape when I'm done, though, because I'm afraid that the pins are close enough together that they'll short if bumped too much.

[avkid]

Originally Posted by Thefoxygranpa

Now for the faston terminals, is there any resistance going to be happening, as it doesn't have as strong of a connection compared to soldering? Perhaps I'm incorrect.

Any resistance is negligible.

The mechanical connection of the Faston tab is better than the contact made by solder in some cases.

[Thefoxygranpa]

Thanks everyone, looks like I'm going with faston connectors for the ease of wiring and repair.

When buying the faston's at one of the large electrical suppliers in my area, the sta-kon brand was over $40 for a box of 50. !!! I quickly went for the Ideal Electrical brand to find them much, much cheaper.

Now why were the sta-kon brand so darn high!? It was close to $1.00 for ONE 14-16 AWG!

[rwhealey]

Originally Posted by Thefoxygranpa

Thanks everyone, looks like I'm going with faston connectors for the ease of wiring and repair.

When buying the faston's at one of the large electrical suppliers in my area, the sta-kon brand was over $40 for a box of 50. !!! I quickly went for the Ideal Electrical brand to find them much, much cheaper.

Now why were the sta-kon brand so darn high!? It was close to $1.00 for ONE 14-16 AWG!

Wow, the ones we got from Full Compass were $5 for 50...

[Blah067]

Originally Posted by rwhealey

Wow, the ones we got from Full Compass were $5 for 50...

Full Compass is always lowest. Every order I get from them always comes in lowest price out there...

Plus they're a dealer, and the retail stores jack up prices like CRAZY...we all know that?!!?