Is all "14-2 OFC" speaker cable (essentially) the same?

[Mulberry]

Hi Bart,
talking to Chris West seems very much like the right thing to do.
As I found out completely by chance, is a nice synergy between Nordost Flatline Gold II and the Supernaits 2 and 3. I had a pair left over from a home theater setup long gone which turned out to be an improvement over the more expensive Vovox cable used before.
Your system is much more capable than mine, but you might want to know nonetheless.

[Bart]

@Simon-in-Suffolk

If you can do 8 metres that would be likely best with NACA5 … the likely reasons why have been discussed on another thread.

If I place them on the floor and have them follow the baseboard, it’s 10 meters. Down from 20

[Bart]

@n-lot

Does this mean you abandoned the Blue Jeans ten white? Just curious why if you’re willing to share.

I’m going to have a chat with Chris West about it before concluding that 20 meters of ANYTHING is the right thing to do.

[NickSeattle]

Hi, @Bart .

I have had shockingly-good results with cheap (but appropriate/thoughtfully chosen) speaker wires suited to a NAD 12-channel distribution amp, playing through locally-attenuated Niles and SpeakerCraft ceiling speakers.

Hiring a pro installer was worth it, as the high-end pieces were inserted where they paid off, and eliminated where they didn’t.

I can hear the benefits of the 552, RP10, Superline etc. at the remote locations.

Built-in stuff is best left to the pros, IMHO, as long as they understand what you are after, and what Naim does.

Distributed hi-fi simply isn’t well covered at Naim-level; and it usually requires permanent commitments, while walls and ceilings are open — pro-experience is hard to pick up on blogs, I find.

Good luck.

Nick

[opus]

@Bart if I recall I believe that there’s a couple of companies that make base board molding that’s kind of hollowed out to allow hiding wire behind. Or any good carpenter should be able to route out a nice deep channel to hide the wire behind

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

is baseboard the same as skirting board?
S

[Bart]

@Simon-in-Suffolk

is baseboard the same as skirting board?

Yes just 3300 miles to the west.

[facefirst]

12 AWG or thicker. Don’t need to be equal length. All OFC is essentially the same, just get something that is CL rated.

[Bart]

@NickSeattle

Built-in stuff is best left to the pros, IMHO, as long as they understand what you are after, and what Naim does.

Thanks Nick! Here is the challenge. Finding someone who knows ‘what Naim does’ at a level of detail. That’s why I’ve reached out to who I’ve reached out to

My local high-end hi fi retailer does a ton of custom install work. They use a relatively inexpensive OFC speaker cable for in-wall applications (from 14 to 10 AWG OFC stuff), and I can buy that pretty inexpensively from a few different sources. (This makes sense; custom installers are not charging customers tens of thousands of dollars for the cables.) But it leads back to part of my original question which is whether it’s a good idea to connect a NAP 500 and not-easy-to-drive speakers with almost 60 feet of such cable.

[n-lot]

@facefirst

Don’t need to be equal length.

I think that’s for relatively small differences. For the OP there’s a 4-5m difference I think, not sure that can be ignored.

[facefirst]

It can. Resistance is the key issue here, not signal transmission time. 10AWG if 30% less resistive than 12AWG so the OP could go for that if they wanted.

[jlewis]

Not sure that I would like to have each of my monoblocks (or indeed each side of my stereo amps) driving different loads. A definite no-no from me.

[facefirst]

The difference would be tiny.

[jlewis]

…still a no-no for me.

[n-lot]

@facefirst

10AWG if 30% less resistive than 12AWG

Resistance indeed, a ~25% difference with those lengths.

[Bart]

Yes one option still on my list is 10AWG OFC CL-rated cable; it’s pretty inexpensive and I can install Audioquest bananas on each end.

Part of my brain tells me that $20,000 worth of SuperLumina speaker cable is not that different…but I dont have facts upon which to draw.

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

Correct, it can’t be ignored… unless you are not too concerned about accurate playback.
The key aspect is not resistance, which is minimal, but reactance which at audio frequencies could lead to one channel being slightly more filtered than the other, likely most noticeable with transients … this would affect stereo imaging amongst other things.
Resistance however can be your friend as it can dampen stability issues in longer runs… but I suggest the key consideration is reactance, not resistance.

[opus]

8 meters or 26 ft of at least 10awg would be ok ; sonically not the best but much better then 60ft which would really degrade the SQ.

And keep in mind the Power amp has to control the motion of the Drivers in the speakers. The more cable between the amps outputs and the speakers inputs the more difficult it is for the amp to control the drivers. Hence reduced sound quality. Always keep in mind Cables can only be subtractive. Think of it like this: The perfect cable would be a zero, changing nothing. But all cables are subtractive. It’s just a question of how much from zero they are.