Quality wire

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mjoekingz28

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For power, does it get any better than highstrand count copper?

For ground, aluminum wire???

What about patch cords/RCA cables?


For speaker wire, Ive seen both copper, Au power, Al ground and not sure but i think ive seen aluminum power wires....
 
The only reason to use stranded is for flex. Resistance per cross section is higher than solid. Aluminum wire is cheaper, lighter, and stronger which is why it's used in transmission lines, and line to house drops, but has more resistance per length than copper. It caused a lot of trouble when used for internal building wire, not compatible with a lot of connections in fixtures. Yes, "Cu/Al" devices are produced but splicing dissimilar metals is a problem, which goes for aluminum and brass joints as well as aluminum and copper. You can google "aluminum house wire" and read about it. Soldering to aluminum is not easy. A friend who is an EE has the biggest, baddest home stereo I've ever seen uses copper ROMEX house wire for speaker wire. We just crack up at the ads for "oxygen free multiweave 5 bucks a foot" speaker wire. It's the electronic version of automotive snake oil. You have to look long and hard to find copper produced by other than an electrolytic process.
 
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Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
For power, does it get any better than highstrand count copper?

For ground, aluminum wire???

What about patch cords/RCA cables?


For speaker wire, Ive seen both copper, Au power, Al ground and not sure but i think ive seen aluminum power wires....


Silver is a better conductor than copper, but it corrodes easily. Copper conducts second best and gold third best. Copper also corrodes, but much less easily than silver, and gold corrodes the least. That's the main reasons for the popularity of copper wire and gold contacts.
 
Oops, au is gold and cu is copper. I made a mistake, i dont know the periodic table as well as I thought.


Thing is, im planning out a good 12v autosound system one day. I want it to be good. It seems the industry has been cost cutting,as ive seen Kicker power wire seems to be aluminum, although they seem to hint around the wire material and really push the insulation.



So- please note anything with the following that is not top quality.

4ga copper to battery from gold plated distro block

4ga to ground????? Should aluminum or copper produce better results?

Speakers/sub to amp- 16/12 ga copper for positive and aluminum for negative...



What is USDA prime choice for connectors? Ten cent a piece 3m aluminum?

Then i plan on those oversized glass fuses with gold plating(or brass) on the endcaps.

Big three underhood "upgrade"





On a side note, is a fuse a fuse? Is a maxi 60a going to show any difference than a mini 60a? It just seems it will not"flow" the power as well...




Then what about patch cables?
 
High strand copper wire is really needed when the wire will be flexed on a continuous basis like welding lead wire.

The cord for your TV is stranded wire but I doubt you touch the cord more than a few times a year for dusting (if you are married).

Service entrance cable is going to be stranded aluminum since if it was solid you could not easily bend it.

Boat wire is always tinned copper wire.
 
As a general rule, aircraft/aerospace/mil spec MIL-W-22759/16 is about as good as is commonly available. It features standard tin-plated copper conductor and is insulated with extruded Tefzel (ethylene/tetrafluorbethylene) which has a maximum temperature rating of 150°C or 200°C. This wire is rated for 600 volts. The wires come in many different styles, as they are offered in thin wall, standard wall, and standard wall high strength versions.

From experience, it's really, really tough, tolerant of all forms of chemicals, far exceeds it's rated heat capability and is nearly 100% reliable with standard connectors.

On my Cessna, I have a number of MIL-W-22759/16 located under the engine, fairly near the exhaust. It's hot enough to discolor the white paint on metal parts there, but the wire holds up perfectly, right next to the exhaust.
 
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Cant say Ive seen Al automotive wire. Not sure why you would want to consider Al for the system...

Once I used lamp cord, 14 ga for speaker wire. Never tried Romex primarily due to bend and flex issues.

One also must consider skin effect and the relevance between AC and DC power.
 
JH, you dont remember the good speaker wire of the nineties? It had a strand of copper (we always ran to positive) and a silver colored strand(i assume aluminum that we always ran to ground/negative.


Just curious Cujet, what voltage does the aircraft industry run on? Home is 110V/220V depending on locale, and nearly all automobiles run 12V.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Just curious Cujet, what voltage does the aircraft industry run on? Home is 110V/220V depending on locale, and nearly all automobiles run 12V.


Small aircraft are often 12V, just like cars.

More complex aircraft, such as larger/newer singles, twins, turboprops and so on use 24V.

Jets and other large aircraft use 24V batteries to start the APU. Which then provides 115V, 400HZ power to many systems. The engine's generators also are typically 115V, 400HZ.

Some other systems will use 5V, such as backlighted switches.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Thing is, im planning out a good 12v autosound system one day. I want it to be good. It seems the industry has been cost cutting,as ive seen Kicker power wire seems to be aluminum, although they seem to hint around the wire material and really push the insulation.



I think you are mistaken. Everyone including Kicker in the car audio industry uses copper for wiring and they have for decades. You may have seen tinned wire and thought it was aluminum.

From Kicker's site:

D-Series DCK8 8AWG 2-Channel

All wire made from oxygen-free copper for max signal transfer


Here's another with tinned wire, but still copper:

P-Series PK4 4AWG 2-Channel

Wire constructed of tinned, oxygen-free copper for max signal transfer

Edit:

Found this for their speaker wire:

QW12150 12AWG 150ft

Tightly twisted, silver-tinned OFC wire (12AWG) eliminates noise
 
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Thank you Zeus for the correction.

If youd like to say a word for this silver colored copper wire (as I see it now) or tell me about tinned copper.



Edit. Zeus I was looking at their power wire which makes no mention. You provided links to speaker wire.



Edit again. Ok, looking back, you mention their amp kit while i made mention of their power cable. Wonder what, if any, differences there are?


Edit. One more again. It seems their 1/0 and 4ga is different than 8 ga
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
JH, you dont remember the good speaker wire of the nineties? It had a strand of copper (we always ran to positive) and a silver colored strand(i assume aluminum that we always ran to ground/negative.


Just curious Cujet, what voltage does the aircraft industry run on? Home is 110V/220V depending on locale, and nearly all automobiles run 12V.
The "silver" strand is simply plated copper.
 
Originally Posted By: Zeus33
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Thing is, im planning out a good 12v autosound system one day. I want it to be good. It seems the industry has been cost cutting,as ive seen Kicker power wire seems to be aluminum, although they seem to hint around the wire material and really push the insulation.



I think you are mistaken. Everyone including Kicker in the car audio industry uses copper for wiring and they have for decades. You may have seen tinned wire and thought it was aluminum.

From Kicker's site:

D-Series DCK8 8AWG 2-Channel

All wire made from oxygen-free copper for max signal transfer


Here's another with tinned wire, but still copper:

P-Series PK4 4AWG 2-Channel

Wire constructed of tinned, oxygen-free copper for max signal transfer

Edit:

Found this for their speaker wire:

QW12150 12AWG 150ft

Tightly twisted, silver-tinned OFC wire (12AWG) eliminates noise
I doubt you can find copper used for electrical purposes which is NOT "oxygen free" - meaning it's refined using electrolysis.
 
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