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Good looking speaker cable?

raysablade

raysablade

pfm Member
I'm making some changes to my listening room that are going to require the Amp and sources to be moved away from the speakers. First though was that I should be hiding the cables either chased into the wall or under the floor but that is going to require some expensive building work involving a few trades or floor surgery.

I'm not ready for active wireless speakers yet so am wondering if could bear the sight of some cable wandering across the floor? Runs would need to be fairly long maybe 6m for the nearest speaker to the amp and 7m for the farthest.

I've never be able to detect significant differences between the cables I've used so I'm wondering if I could just choose based on aesthetics?

The whole separation idea is an experiment so I don't want to spend a fortune but I do want to see the full effect I'm looking for. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good looking cable at around £10 a metre. Main requirement is that it is soft enough to snake gracefully across the floor, maybe with a bright rubber/silicone casing? NACA 5 is everything I don't want. Would silicone coated mains cable be a viable option?
 
When you say 'wandering across the floor' do you mean open terrain or round the baseboards? With or without doorways to traverse?
 
raysablade said:
I'm making some changes to my listening room that are going to require the Amp and sources to be moved away from the speakers. First though was that I should be hiding the cables either chased into the wall or under the floor but that is going to require some expensive building work involving a few trades or floor surgery.

I'm not ready for active wireless speakers yet so am wondering if could bear the sight of some cable wandering across the floor? Runs would need to be fairly long maybe 6m for the nearest speaker to the amp and 7m for the farthest.

I've never be able to detect significant differences between the cables I've used so I'm wondering if I could just choose based on aesthetics?

The whole separation idea is an experiment so I don't want to spend a fortune but I do want to see the full effect I'm looking for. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good looking cable at around £10 a metre. Main requirement is that it is soft enough to snake gracefully across the floor, maybe with a bright rubber/silicone casing? NACA 5 is everything I don't want. Would silicone coated mains cable be a viable option?
Click to expand...


As far as appearance goes, a lot depends on taste and your interior design style, but I am quite happy hiding them in cable covers like these

D-Line CTT1.1B Cable Tidy Tube | Cable Management Sleeve | Cable Organiser to Manage Cables from TVs, PCs & Games Consoles | 1.1 meter length x 32mm outer diameter – Black: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools
 
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Just buy some braiding off Amazon for a few quid, then you can braid any old speaker cable and make it look nicer

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FW3GTXB/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Check size you need first, choose colour, and then consider how to create the 'ends' - you can use heat shrink, or some companies make specific ending covers etc.
 
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h.g. said:
Do you want to have the cable lying on the floor to walk on and trip over?
Click to expand...

Not the plan, but it is a risk. Cable would run around the edge of the room but no attempt would be made to hide it.

Craig B said:
When you say 'wandering across the floor' do you mean open terrain or round the baseboards? With or without doorways to traverse?
Click to expand...

All in the same room, amp and source on one wall beside me, speakers on the facing wall.

mandryka said:
As far as appearance goes, a lot depends on taste and your interior design style, but I am quite happy hiding them in cable covers like these

D-Line CTT1.1B Cable Tidy Tube | Cable Management Sleeve | Cable Organiser to Manage Cables from TVs, PCs & Games Consoles | 1.1 meter length x 32mm outer diameter – Black: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools
Click to expand...

That's an option however I was looking at a bright red silicone cased interconnect and thought to my self wouldn't it be lovely to have a speaker cable that looked that good?

flutteringwow said:
Just buy some braiding off Amazon for a few quid, then you can braid any old speaker cable and make it look nicer

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FW3GTXB/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Check size you need first, choose colour, and then consider how to create the 'ends' - you can use heat shrink, or some companies make specific ending covers etc.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. The speakers are on the same side of the room as the router, so could I put a flat ethernet cable in there with them and branch it off half way through the run.

Heat shrinking is one of the few cable making skills I have mastered:)

I'm guessing a more jaunty colour is out of the question.

PS I think we might be in business,
 
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raysablade said:
That's an option however I was looking at a bright red silicone cased interconnect and thought to my self wouldn't it be lovely to have a speaker cable that looked that good?

,
Click to expand...

Well I'm sure you could get that stuff in red somewhere. But . . . much more interesting . . . Peter Walker of Quad used to rate orange lawnmower cable for speaker wire.

2 Core Orange Flexible Mains Cable 3182y 0.75mm Flex Strimmer Lawn Mower Garden 5 METRES : Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I use Rega SC42 round the baseboards of my lounge. Depending upon the colouring of the flooring/carpets, walls/baseboards it doesn't actually stand out too much; decent flexibility too.

IIRC, this used to be available in two or four ('shotgun') conductor configurations, that latter might lend itself to having a single run round the room that is split wide at the loudspeaker end.

1_pair_rega_sc42_speaker_cabld_terminated_in_banana_plugs_1547275910_fdf7fc3f_progressive.jpg
 
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raysablade said:
PS I think we might be in business,
Click to expand...

A word of warning, some of that stuff can be quite stuff when tight on the cable. I built some interconnects and cover them in a jaunty coloured sleeve, but had to remove is as it was too stiff.

Suck it and see I would guess :)
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
The only decent looking speaker cable I’ve ever encountered is the coiled red and black curly stuff B&O designed to match their Red Line speakers.

if anyone has any they want rid of, let me know!
 
To my mind, a “good looking” speaker cable is an inconspicuous one. In my collection systems, I have Chord Odyssey 4, Chord C Screen and some Black Rhodium Opus, all basically look like white round section mains flex, they sit nicely against the skirting board and you don’t notice it’s there… they’re generally better at staying put than white mains flex.
 
chiily said:
A word of warning, some of that stuff can be quite stuff when tight on the cable. I built some interconnects and cover them in a jaunty coloured sleeve, but had to remove is as it was too stiff.

Suck it and see I would guess :)
Click to expand...

I have some monster gauge Van Damme speaker cables that I made up with in black stretchy PET braided cable sheath. Didn't seem to add much to the stiffness - though the cable was already a bit unwieldy!
 
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