So I've been wondering, while your saving up for Steve's wires, what non exotic, "will not break the bank" speaker wires really work.   I don't need fancy ends or anything and I don't think you could call it even DIY!  What do you guys use? Thanks, Darrell

When I first started using Decware gear back in 2003 (or 2004), Steve had told me that a naked Romex cable is difficult to beat!  As Romex stuff could not be found in NYC at the time (due to some construction regulation, maybe), I remember driving to New Jersey and buying some.  Later on, I bought some 8-awg naked copper wires from Home Depot for cheap, and they worked great for many years.  As the SE84C+ speaker outputs could be shorted, there was not risk of frying the unit, and over time, the copper wire started sounding better.  

So, to cut the long story short, I used them for years and was very happy with them!  Just give it a shot, as it is dirt cheap!

Best,

Alper

Cat-5 cable is hard to beat for the $$.  Buy the plenum rated version, which gets you teflon(PTFE) insulation.  You can play around with the braiding of the wires to get different results.

I have been a fan of Goertz/Alpha Core copper(and silver) foil speaker wires and interconnects for years - they are a reference for me.  I judge everything else DIY and otherwise against how it differs from the Goertz. The copper versions can usually be had on the cheap from audiogon.  I have a set of silver Goertz speaker cables too, but to be honest, there is only a slight noticeable difference sonically - but a huge difference in price.  Many folks would probably actually prefer the copper long term.  I use the copper Goertz speaker wire pretty much all the time.  Due to silver prices, Goertz stopped offering silver speaker cables a couple years ago, but they still offer silver IC's.  If you want to try them, go cheap first, and go the copper route.  It's at least 90% of the silver's SQ at a fraction of the price.
 
If you want to DIY, you can really do a Goertz-type speaker cable cheap. Buy a 12 gauge copper foil inductor, like a 1.0uh value, and unroll it - you'll have plenty.  Then get some cloth gaffers tape and use it for insulation.  You can mess around with running the two pieces of foil(one piece of foil for + and one piece for -) in parallel sandwiched together or run them separately - this affects the inductance dramatically.  Pick which sounds best to your ears in your system.  I could tell you my opinion of how they sound compared to Zen Styx, which I have, but it would just be my opinion.. in my room, with my equipment.  Your mileage WILL vary.

materials are common as dirt.  you can get cat-5 plenum rated at any electrical supply house... or Amazon.
copper foil inductors from Jantzen, Erse, Goertz... check parts-express.com, partsconnexion.com, soniccraft.com... all over the place.
parts-express, Amazon for gaffers tape.... or many other places - GTS(Google that $hit) to find more options ..!!!  

I went from lamp cord to Belden to 8 awg silver plated copper (like Steve's) to the Western Electric.  The WE16g is my favorite cheap cord so far.   Hard to find these days.  The guy in Kansas that had it on ebay is pretty much out.

If I was you, I'd be tempted to try the cat 5.  I have heard good things about it as well, but never tried it.

I'm using lamp wire right now because I needed a longer set of cables and wasn't sure what else to do in the short term, I appreciate all these possibilities and your experience.  on a related note my amp has to be off center so one speaker is farther away from the amp by twice the distance.  you do need to have equal lengths, right?

1. http://audience-av.com/cables/ohno.html

2. Western Electric WE16GA, if you can find them.

cat-5 is not high-capacitance if you take the individual pairs out of the outer jacket and make your own braids to whatever objective you’re trying to attain.  Every cable’s electrical characteristics are derived by its resistance, inductance and capacitance, of which these three parameters define its impedance.  They are intimately correlated, and if one is high, another has to be low.

And… I’m not being argumentative here at all, really - Please explain – I’m seeking knowledge/clarification.  But if capacitance “rolls off” highs.. then why are “capacitors” used as “high pass” filters in every passive crossover on the planet to let highs “pass” thru to the tweeter and to attenuate lows from reaching a tweeter?  The capacitance is blocking/attenuating low frequencies from passing thru the capacitor - right?

Also… I have used Goertz foil conductor cables for years, if you have never heard any, you should give them a listen.  And… they are admittedly, by their manufacturer (Alpha Core) high capacitance, but very, very low in inductance, and low resistance with about a 6-ohm impedance.  Per well established properties of electrical frequencies  transmitted over wire, as stated above… in order for the Goertz to have such low inductance and relatively low resistance, they must be high in capacitance – and Goertz states that they are.
I assure you, no I guarantee you, that these cables do not roll off highs and anybody can verify this with their own ears within seconds of listening to a pair.  At least they do not roll of highs in the human hearing range.  In the megahertz range – maybe – I don’t know – and I also don’t care.
I have 3 different sets of Goertz speaker cables, 1 set of copper, 1 set of solid silver and one of their Python series in copper.  I also have a pair of Zen Styx, Nordost Red Dawn(rev. 1), Kimber 8TC, some DIY cat-6 cmp(Teflon insulated), some old Audioquest (can’t remember the name), Zu Mission(looks like lots of runs of individual CAT-5 wire) and some solid copper/Teflon insulated DIY’s using wire that Dzurko/Audio Concepts used to sell that their speakers were wired with internally, plus a few I've forgotten about at the moment.  Each of these speaker cables has an identifiable and distinct sonic signature.  The Goertz high-capacitance cables do not give up anything in high frequency resolution compared to any of these cables on the numerous amp/speaker combinations I have owned or tried them on in the last 10-15 years, which is how long I’ve had some of the Goertz cables.  In fact, within the last week, I have A/B'd the Zen Styx and the Goertz copper foils on my current DIY OB speaker project, which uses a single, full-range, high-efficiency driver with no crossover of any kind.  There is no more revealing speaker, not even my Martin Logan electrostats.  I think you would be surprised at how similar the Styx and the Goertz cables sound.  It takes a few swaps back and forth to distinguish the differences, which are very slight.

http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?p=8762

...and the answer came today: not necessary!