Members paul6string Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Does it matter which wire goes to the tip, and which goes to the sleeve as far as copper vs. silver? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Just try to match the tip to the positive side of the speaker so that if you do have multiple speakers you are in phase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paul6string Posted March 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Just try to match the tip to the positive side of the speaker so that if you do have multiple speakers you are in phase. It's going to have (2) 1/4 ends(head to cab). I guess I should have specified what type of connection on both ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pekelnik Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Does it matter which wire goes to the tip, and which goes to the sleeve as far as copper vs. silver? Probably no but I'm not entirely certain about what does "cooper vs. silver" mean. If you are just asking whether it matters which wire you solder to the tip on both sides and which to the sleeve, then the answer is no and that holds for any two conductor cable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 do you absolutely have to make one? You can buy one from MF for as little as 3 bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Probably no but I'm not entirely certain about what does "cooper vs. silver" mean. He's talking about one conductor being silver looking and the other looking a bit more copper. Not really sure what the difference is in conductivity, but I'd probably go with copper for the tip on both ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldMattB Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Makes no difference, as long as you are consistent with both ends. Convention would be to make the tip the marked wire, or the positive. One conductor has some silver strands, so you can identify one conductor from the other. Some wires have small ribs on one side of the plastic to identify, and some have a colored fiber along with one side of the wire. oldMattB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor49 Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 He's talking about one conductor being silver looking and the other looking a bit more copper. Not really sure what the difference is in conductivity, but I'd probably go with copper for the tip on both ends. sounds like he is talking about a single copper core with a silver (woven) screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members =JL= Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Copper versus silver? You're not using shielded cable, are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coralkong Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Makes no difference, as long as you are consistent with both ends. Convention would be to make the tip the marked wire, or the positive. One conductor has some silver strands, so you can identify one conductor from the other. Some wires have small ribs on one side of the plastic to identify, and some have a colored fiber along with one side of the wire.oldMattB +1. Having silver and copper in the same cable just differientiates so it is easier to match up + and - on the other end. Makes no difference which one you hook up to + or -, just keep them consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paul6string Posted March 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 do you absolutely have to make one? You can buy one from MF for as little as 3 bucks. I don't absolutely have to make one, but I would like this one to be a specific length. I wouldn't expect a quality speaker cable for $3.00 though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 You may want to consider, a lot of the "speaker" cable with copper/"silver" conductors that's out there now actually uses steel wire on the silver side. Used to be tinned copper mostly, but the Chinese figured a better way. May not matter much on short low power runs, but I'd rather have copper all around. I usually just buy 16ga ext cords and whack the ends off. Cheaper that buying bulk zip cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ballhawk Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Copper versus silver? You're not using shielded cable, are you? To the op. Make sure you understand what JL is talking about here. YOU do NOT want to use a shielded cable for speaker wiring. If you don't know why use google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paul6string Posted March 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 To the op. Make sure you understand what JL is talking about here. YOU do NOT want to use a shielded cable for speaker wiring. If you don't know why use google. I know the difference. It's definitely speaker wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ballhawk Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Cool. On the net it's sometimes difficult to know where someone is coming from so I decided to err on the cautious side rather than worry about possibly insulting you. Hope you get it. Anyway you already have your wiring answer. Just be consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cogdog Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 ...that's funny I thought I was in the electric guitar fourm not the DIY Speaker cable section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 I usually just buy 16ga ext cords and whack the ends off. Cheaper than buying bulk zip cord. This^^^^^^^^^^^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 ...that's funny I thought I was in the electric guitar fourm not the DIY Speaker cable sectionPeople who play electric guitar also need amps. Or didn't you know this? You see "how to" questions here all of the time Get the phuck over it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fusion1 Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 I used the bulk lamp cord from Home Depot and bought Neutrik 1/4" Jumbo plugs from a seller on ebay. Works great and you can custom fit lengths for whatever amp/cab combination you use most, opting for the shortest possible length as you're able to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members johanneswiberg Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 I don't absolutely have to make one, but I would like this one to be a specific length. I wouldn't expect a quality speaker cable for $3.00 though. Is it for a PA that you move around, or a permanent installation like a stereo system? Unless you're moving things about, there's no reason whatsoever to look for "quality speaker cable". Snake oil. A coat hanger works just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Polarity is only important if the speakers are very close together...like multiple speakers in a cab. Once you separate speakers by a few feet, phase considerations really fly out the window. Speed of sound vs the wavelengths you are dealing with and all. So basically you realy shouldn't care that much if you are dealing with cable for PA speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 Polarity is only important if the speakers are very close together...like multiple speakers in a cab.Once you separate speakers by a few feet, phase considerations really fly out the window. Speed of sound vs the wavelengths you are dealing with and all.So basically you realy shouldn't care that much if you are dealing with cable for PA speakers. This is incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted March 17, 2010 Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 I'm not sure about the phasing issues and really don't care. I wire everything the same way every time. Just a good habit to be in. BTW I have a large roll of 16 awg. I got free years ago. It has imbedded lettering on one half. I always use this half for tip/+. This throws the hypotheticals right in the crapper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paul6string Posted March 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 ...that's funny I thought I was in the electric guitar fourm not the DIY Speaker cable section You're absolutely correct! I was looking for the DIY speaker cable forum, but it was sooo busy that it was temporarily unavailable, so here I am in this forum. I deeply regret that you wasted 30 seconds reading my post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paul6string Posted March 17, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2010 You may want to consider, a lot of the "speaker" cable with copper/"silver" conductors that's out there now actually uses steel wire on the silver side. Used to be tinned copper mostly, but the Chinese figured a better way. May not matter much on short low power runs, but I'd rather have copper all around. I usually just buy 16ga ext cords and whack the ends off. Cheaper that buying bulk zip cord. That's a good idea also. I'm assuming you're speaking of 2 conductor stuff like xmas tree light cords, and not the 3 wire stuff? I have spools of free speaker wire at my job, so it's the free stuff for now, and as long as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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