I have a few questions.
How does gauge affect performance?
How long of a run should these be? My Speakers probably won't live right next to my amp.
I'm waiting on a Bryston 3b Pro in the mail to pair up with my B&WDM602S3's. How does one go about connecting 1/4" to Banana Jacks? I've never even fussed with Banana Jacks before so I'm in the dark but I'd like to get my cable order out soon.
Thanks.
Speaker Cables
Speaker Cables
weeeee
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You can just use bare ends on everything right to the posts... Does your 3B have 1/4" outs? 
Something decent - 14 guage would handle it just fine. 12 is getting a little thick, but fine also.
Something decent - 14 guage would handle it just fine. 12 is getting a little thick, but fine also.
John Scrip - MASSIVE Mastering
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Bill @ Irie Lab
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speaker cables
I'd recommend an audiophile trick if the driving stage you've got before the power amp has any oomph to drive a long run.
Speaker cable is a necessary evil. Having leads measured in inches is one of the benefits of powered speakers (and having amps in the same box is one of the drawbacks, oh well)
Anyhoo - Better results can be had by moving the amp close (and between if possible) to the speakers with as short speaker cable runs as possible and connecting the line level signal to the amp with shielded co-ax cable.
Size - bigger is better as long as you can terminate it properly (no snickering!
). Oxygen-free twin-lead, even if generic, is worth the investment. Stereo pairs the same length. Leads nicely dressed and connections tight.
If quick disconnect is not a requirement, skip the bananas if you can use spade lugs. Even tinned bare wire is better.
BTW - that is going to be a NICE set up!
Bill
Speaker cable is a necessary evil. Having leads measured in inches is one of the benefits of powered speakers (and having amps in the same box is one of the drawbacks, oh well)
Anyhoo - Better results can be had by moving the amp close (and between if possible) to the speakers with as short speaker cable runs as possible and connecting the line level signal to the amp with shielded co-ax cable.
Size - bigger is better as long as you can terminate it properly (no snickering!
). Oxygen-free twin-lead, even if generic, is worth the investment. Stereo pairs the same length. Leads nicely dressed and connections tight.If quick disconnect is not a requirement, skip the bananas if you can use spade lugs. Even tinned bare wire is better.
BTW - that is going to be a NICE set up!
Bill
I&TC - Intonation and Technology Company
Irie Lab Sound Studios
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I have Bryston 4B powering my B&W Matrix 805s. It's banana to banana (no snickering). Do your B&Ws have posts for biwiring? Canare 4S11 speaker cable is excellent 4 pair cable and perfect for biwiring. You can get it from markertek fro pretty cheap.
I thought the Bryston "pro" amps had XLR connections, not 1/4".
best,
mike
I thought the Bryston "pro" amps had XLR connections, not 1/4".
best,
mike
I've read this thread again and am STILL confused (as if that's unusual <g>).
What are the available *speaker output* connectors on the Bryston? 1/4" is uncommon on a pro amp (but common on guitar amps), while banana jacks are the most common. The B&W owner's manual indicates the speakers can accept banana or spade lugs.
I would tend to use soldered spade lugs on each end, and bi-wire it, as previously suggested.
A semi-recent "high end stereo" magazine did a shoot-out of various speaker cables (including some costing $10000000 per inch <g>), and amazingly enough, an orange colored AC extension cord from Home Depot was right up there with the best of the expensive cables.
EDIT: I found the PDF scan a friend sent me awhile back. The shootout was in the 2004 Feb/Mar and Apr/May issues of "The Absolute Sound". The Home Depot extension cord (with the AC plug and receptacle cut off) was 14 gauge.
Bri
What are the available *speaker output* connectors on the Bryston? 1/4" is uncommon on a pro amp (but common on guitar amps), while banana jacks are the most common. The B&W owner's manual indicates the speakers can accept banana or spade lugs.
I would tend to use soldered spade lugs on each end, and bi-wire it, as previously suggested.
A semi-recent "high end stereo" magazine did a shoot-out of various speaker cables (including some costing $10000000 per inch <g>), and amazingly enough, an orange colored AC extension cord from Home Depot was right up there with the best of the expensive cables.
EDIT: I found the PDF scan a friend sent me awhile back. The shootout was in the 2004 Feb/Mar and Apr/May issues of "The Absolute Sound". The Home Depot extension cord (with the AC plug and receptacle cut off) was 14 gauge.
Bri
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I believe that the Bryston 3b-pro is simply the one with rack ears, but still with 5-way binding posts and not 1/4" jacks on the back.
The B&W 602s will have bi-wire capable 5-way binding posts on the back, meaning there will be four total posts, two for positive, two for negative and a couple little gold plated jumpers stuck between them.
The answer to the length question is as short as possible.
The answer to the guage question is that it depends on the length... the longer the run, the thicker the wire.
16-AWG will do just fine for that amp, those speakers and a run shorter than 100-feet.
I have used that Canare speaker wire, and even have a spool in the studio waiting to be diced up into cables for the monitor system. I chose that wire for our live sound rig and used a whole spool there to build 4x 25' cables, 4x 40' cables and to wire up the connection points on the amp rack. All are SpeakOn connections and they have performed very well for about two years. The nice thing about Canare is that even after the abuse of live sound use and a few short tours, the cables are still very supple and easy to coil, uncoil and keep un-kinked.
For your setup, I would install one run of the 4-conductor cable to each speaker and bi-wire the speakers. The Canare wire has 4-conductors: white, clear, red, and pink. I would send white & red to the woofer and clear & pink to the tweeter (or the other way 'round if you prefer) and of course, remove those little jumpers B&W has on the posts. If the speakers are going to be hooked up and left in place for months or years, then just use bare wire through the post and tighten down the red & black nuts over the wire.
On the amp end, there should only be one set of outputs so I would tie the two positives (red & pink) and two negatives (white & clear) together. I would expect binding posts but if there really are 1/4" plugs you'll need to solder. For Binding posts it will be a tight fit, but the two wires should fit through.
If you are going to move the speakers around and really want bananas then keep in mind that the B&W speakers are European and so do not have the right spacing for a dual banana plug like we find on US-marketed pro-audio speakers. (That's a law because the sizing is the same as the 220v power system on the continent and somebody once blew himself up by plugging A/C power into the audio connections on what I believe was a set of Martin-Logan electrostatics.) So you'll use single bananas from Pomona or maybe Audio Quest (but not Monster because they suck).
Is that enough for ya'?
-Jeremy
The B&W 602s will have bi-wire capable 5-way binding posts on the back, meaning there will be four total posts, two for positive, two for negative and a couple little gold plated jumpers stuck between them.
The answer to the length question is as short as possible.
The answer to the guage question is that it depends on the length... the longer the run, the thicker the wire.
16-AWG will do just fine for that amp, those speakers and a run shorter than 100-feet.
I have used that Canare speaker wire, and even have a spool in the studio waiting to be diced up into cables for the monitor system. I chose that wire for our live sound rig and used a whole spool there to build 4x 25' cables, 4x 40' cables and to wire up the connection points on the amp rack. All are SpeakOn connections and they have performed very well for about two years. The nice thing about Canare is that even after the abuse of live sound use and a few short tours, the cables are still very supple and easy to coil, uncoil and keep un-kinked.
For your setup, I would install one run of the 4-conductor cable to each speaker and bi-wire the speakers. The Canare wire has 4-conductors: white, clear, red, and pink. I would send white & red to the woofer and clear & pink to the tweeter (or the other way 'round if you prefer) and of course, remove those little jumpers B&W has on the posts. If the speakers are going to be hooked up and left in place for months or years, then just use bare wire through the post and tighten down the red & black nuts over the wire.
On the amp end, there should only be one set of outputs so I would tie the two positives (red & pink) and two negatives (white & clear) together. I would expect binding posts but if there really are 1/4" plugs you'll need to solder. For Binding posts it will be a tight fit, but the two wires should fit through.
If you are going to move the speakers around and really want bananas then keep in mind that the B&W speakers are European and so do not have the right spacing for a dual banana plug like we find on US-marketed pro-audio speakers. (That's a law because the sizing is the same as the 220v power system on the continent and somebody once blew himself up by plugging A/C power into the audio connections on what I believe was a set of Martin-Logan electrostatics.) So you'll use single bananas from Pomona or maybe Audio Quest (but not Monster because they suck).
Is that enough for ya'?
-Jeremy
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