is it OK to use phone wires for wires to speakers?
Michael Eisenstadt
The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
receiver.
Would the small section area of the phone wires be adequate for my
setup?
Thanks in advance for any technical advice on this issue.
Mike Eisenstadt (mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us)
Robert Casey
In article <323F31...@podbox.austin.tx.us> Michael Eisenstadt <mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us> writes:
>The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
>a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
>receiver.
>
>Would the small section area of the phone wires be adequate for my
>setup?
>
speakers, but that much length of thin guage wire you would loose about
half the amp's output power in the resistance of that phone wire. May
be noticable if one speaker is connected via that lossy phone cable, and
the other speaker is connected via a short length of thicker wire.
That second speaker would be about 3dB louder, which is noticable.
Also throw in the amp's damping and variations of impedance vs frequency
and one speaker having more series resistance, each channel may no
longer sound identical. But you could get an equivalent length of
phone wire for the second speaker, and things should be more matched
again.
Ian J. Smith
Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
>
> The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
> a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
> receiver.
>
> Would the small section area of the phone wires be adequate for my
> setup?
Another cheap and reasonable option would be to use cable like is used
to wire your house electricity. 30amp cable is quite cheap and would
solve a lot of your loss problems. You could buy a drum from a local DIY
or wholesaler.
--
Ian J. Smith BEng CEng MIEE i...@lucent.com
Senior Wireless Engineer
Lucent Technologies Network Systems UK (formerly AT&T)
Disclaimer: the views expressed above are mine and not
necessarily those of my employer.
Bob Fitzgerald
wa2...@netcom.com (Robert Casey) wrote:
>In article <323F31...@podbox.austin.tx.us> Michael Eisenstadt <mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us> writes:
>>a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
>>receiver.
>>
>>Would the small section area of the phone wires be adequate for my
>>setup?
>>
>speakers, but that much length of thin guage wire you would loose about
>half the amp's output power in the resistance of that phone wire. May
>be noticable if one speaker is connected via that lossy phone cable, and
>the other speaker is connected via a short length of thicker wire.
>That second speaker would be about 3dB louder, which is noticable.
>Also throw in the amp's damping and variations of impedance vs frequency
>and one speaker having more series resistance, each channel may no
>longer sound identical. But you could get an equivalent length of
>phone wire for the second speaker, and things should be more matched
>again.
Where or how did you come up with 3dB ?
Actually there has been lots of past discussion on the positive use of
solid core phone wire for speaker connections. It is usually around 24
to 20 gauge, with 4 conductors. The Question then becomes how many
strands of 4 conductor you need to get to an equivelent of say, 16 guage.
According to some who have tried it, this approach is better than using
common 2 conductor stranded cable. You may also find it more convienently
available in 8 conductor bundles as well. The key is to use solid core.
m. mattson
Michael Eisenstadt <mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us> wrote:
>The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
>a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
>receiver.
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I suspect that 22 or 24
ga. phone line is going to be rather lossy. Personally, I'd use at
least 18 ga stranded.
Mark
The truth as I perceive it to be.
Your perception will be different.
Philip Nelson
Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
>
> The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
> a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
> receiver.
>
> setup?
Yes, it will be adequate. If it were my setup, I would use 18 AWG zip
cord, unless I didn't want to spend the money, and had the phone wire
lying around. The big disadvantage of the solid wire is lack of flex,
it will break after awhile if it is moved much.
> Thanks in advance for any technical advice on this issue.
Oh, you wanted _technical_ advice!
Well, "technically", it's too small. But it will work anyway. ;-)
> Mike Eisenstadt (mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us)
LEE SHEE WEI
Michael Eisenstadt (mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us) wrote:
: The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
: a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
: receiver.
: Would the small section area of the phone wires be adequate for my
: setup?
: Thanks in advance for any technical advice on this issue.
: Mike Eisenstadt (mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us)
hi,
well, using phone wires for spker is really cool... :)
but i hope u will not do it.
if u really don't care a bit about sound quality, u can use the mains
cable but not the phone ones pls. :)
enjoy.
sharky
Walter Clark
Michael Eisenstadt wrote:
>
> The subject line says it all. I have a 30 watt stereo receiver with
> a pair of 8 ohm Model 2600 JBL bookshelf speakers about 25' from the
> receiver.
>
> Would the small section area of the phone wires be adequate for my
> setup?
>
> Thanks in advance for any technical advice on this issue.
>
> Mike Eisenstadt (mich...@podbox.austin.tx.us)
Depends on "adequate".
Would you get sound? Yep. Would you damage something? Nope.
Would it sound OK? Depends on what you compare it to...
Walter