[torndownunit]

As in the cable that connect a head to a cabinet? I checked guitarpartscanada and all they carry is one cable that costs $18. I gotta imagine there's a cheaper options for a simple 3-5' speaker cable.

The closest stores are far enough away that it's cheaper for me to order stuff online than drive there.

Anyone know any other Canadian online parts retailers that would have what I need?

Thanks

 

[Ripper]

I use old computer power cords. Cut the ends off, then add my neutrik ends.
Speaker cables don't need shielding as they carry higher voltage and current than the cable from your guitar to your cable and therefore they are less prone to EMI. All the speaker cable needs to do is to low impedance output of your amp to your low impedance speakers.

 

[Wild Bill]

I use old computer power cords. Cut the ends off, then add my neutrik ends.
Speaker cables don't need shielding as they carry higher voltage and current than the cable from your guitar to your cable and therefore they are less prone to EMI. All the speaker cable needs to do is to low impedance output of your amp to your low impedance speakers.

Yep! What he said!

There's so much BS and mojo about speaker cables. As long as the wire is big enough to carry the current without causing too much loss and rugged enough to stand up to mechanical abuse then ANYTHING is fine!

Speaker wire is just a very low resistance in series with the speaker. It does NOTHING to change the tone! If the wire is way too thin it might heat up or even burn out but you will never note any tone change. With a thousand foot cable you might be able to notice a bit loss in volume...maybe.

For anything under a couple of hundred watts and for runs less than 50 feet I just go to a hardware store and buy that plastic yellow "lamp cord" cable. Make sure it's at least 18 gauge, better yet 16 for wire thickness. As Ripper suggested, buy some decent quality ends. Rip Shack and most small town electronics stores carry crappo quality ends for music use. They will never stand up. Avoid brands like "Mode" and pretty well anything sourced from China. They're ok if you plug them in and never unplug them again, or even wiggle the wire. They just don't last and usually the insulating materials melt when you try to solder the centre wire anyway.

Spare yourself the bloodpressure factor!

:rockon2:

 

[violation]

LA Music has some I believe... just make sure to e-mail them and ask if it's in stock first.

 

[bolero]

I got a tip from Mark Norwine once...whenever you see old vaccuum cleaners out on the side of the road during garbage day, pull out the power cord & clip it off with some linesman pliers

last time I made 3 speaker cables out of one...work great!!

 

[torndownunit]

Yep! What he said!

There's so much BS and mojo about speaker cables. As long as the wire is big enough to carry the current without causing too much loss and rugged enough to stand up to mechanical abuse then ANYTHING is fine!

Ya, I mean I am not looking for anything fancy. It's just that there are only a couple of small local stores and they don't carry ANYTHING. Long and Mcquade is a far enough drive that I try to only go when I need to pick up a whole bunch of stuff. I can't believe some of the prices I see on online stores for something as basic as a speaker cable though.

 

[sysexguy]

I beg to differ on cable MOJO and stuff, but since the original post is about finding something that is reasonable in price, I'll try to help. Studio Economik has cables on their web site. Although they may not have guitar cab cable listed, you can call them. Bear in mind that shipping for a cable will be about $8 by post and at least $16 by UPS. You ask for them to try an envelope (cheaper) but the phone jacks will likely peak their way through.

Andy

 

[Wild Bill]

I beg to differ on cable MOJO and stuff,

Andy

Hi Andy!

Well, chaque a son gout but I'm curious if you have a technical argument to support cable mojo. I haven't found one yet but I hopefully have a few more years before I die! :smile:

 

[sysexguy]

No arguments, no :sport-smiley-002: I was kidnapped by hifi aliens and ever since I just am not the same.

I didn't want to start another cable debate as its kinda like porn on the internet (already enough++) ......but I'm sticking to my opinion which is worth about $0.02

I hope I did provide the original poster with a solid lead (pardon the pun) to find what he was looking for (www.economik.com) as they are a great store and have one of the best online presentations in Canada.

Andy

 

[Ripper]

Hi Andy!

Well, chaque a son gout but I'm curious if you have a technical argument to support cable mojo. I haven't found one yet but I hopefully have a few more years before I die! :smile:

you mean I wasted my money buying the oval, hollow, pure silver wire power cords for all my amps???

 

[torndownunit]

Thanks for the link, but I ended up just hopping on ebay and ordering one before that was posted.

Someone mentioned LA Music earlier, and emailing them about what was in stock. I know this is a little off topic, but how come LA Music's site doesn't list all the items they carry? There is hardly ever any content on that site. They obviously carry stuff like speaker cord, but it's not listed on their site. I don't see the point in having an online store if it doesn't even have the items you carry on it....

 

[Wild Bill]

you mean I wasted my money buying the oval, hollow, pure silver wire power cords for all my amps???

Yep!

You see, it's actually not the cord at all. It's the magnetic bracelet around the wrist...

I could let you have one for only 4 easy payments!:smile:

 

[Stratin2traynor]

I can vouch for WildBill. I spent about $25 on a "high end" Planet Waves speaker cable for one of my cabs then a few weeks later made one of equal length out of 15 year old left over 16 gauge speaker wire and some radio shack 1/4" connectors. I've AB'd them and honestly cannot tell the difference at all. IMO there is absolutely no tone advantage to $$$ "high end" speaker cable.

My .02

 

[Wild Bill]

I can vouch for WildBill. I spent about $25 on a "high end" Planet Waves speaker cable for one of my cabs then a few weeks later made one of equal length out of 15 year old left over 16 gauge speaker wire and some radio shack 1/4" connectors. I've AB'd them and honestly cannot tell the difference at all. IMO there is absolutely no tone advantage to $$$ "high end" speaker cable.

My .02

Smart man! Not for agreeing with me but for actually testing something out instead of just going along with the crowd!:food-smiley-004:

I should state that there ARE tone differences with some GUITAR cords! Not necessarily because of the brand but rather how they are made.

Guitar cords use a woven wire braid that surrounds an insulated centre wire. The overall braid acts like a shield to keep out noise, hum and country radio stations.

Like anything else, you get what you pay for. There are good cables and cheap crap!

What makes a good cable is quite simple. There are only two major factors to worry about. One is simple mechanical durability. Guitar cords must be flexible but rugged, including the ends. Cheap ends tend to break!

The other is the quality of the engineering behind how the cable was made. There will always be a capacitance between the inside of the shield and the outside skin of the centre conductor. It will act like a bypass capacitor, shorting out higher treble frequencies.

Good cable will have specs published in a catalog somewhere that will show this capacitance value in terms of pf per foot. Pf stands for picofarad, which is a very low value of capacitance and normally would be too trivial to matter to a guitar signal.

The kicker is "per foot". That cap value adds up foot by foot and if the cord gets to be quite long the total can be enough to suck a lot of highs! 'Course, you can always turn up the treble control...:smile:

Some cable has a much worse "pf per foot" value than others. Cheap stuff tends to have a very high value. Generally, nobody will tell you the specs on cheap stuff so that's a dead giveaway there!

All that being said, once the price gets high enough pretty well everybody's guitar cords are more than good enough!

Still, I agree that rolling your own saves money and gives you the best results. Belden 8410 cable and decent ends like SwitchCraft or Nutrik will give years of good service.

:food-smiley-004:

 

[Ripper]

Still, I agree that rolling your own saves money and gives you the best results. Belden 8410 cable and decent ends like SwitchCraft or Nutrik will give years of good service.

:food-smiley-004:

I can attest that they will take a lickin and keep on tickin. I have abused the crap out of mine and the only time one failed was when the subwoofer got dropped on it and cut it in half.

 

[Scottone]

No arguments, no :sport-smiley-002: I was kidnapped by hifi aliens and ever since I just am not the same.

Andy

Speaker cables can have a pretty big effect on the sound in high end hi fi systems (and yes, I have actually tried different ones). I have serious doubts that you'd hear much of a difference between short speaker cables in a guitar amp though.

 

[Wild Bill]

Speaker cables can have a pretty big effect on the sound in high end hi fi systems (and yes, I have actually tried different ones). I have serious doubts that you'd hear much of a difference between short speaker cables in a guitar amp though.

Well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion but until I see someone pass a blindfold test in a true scientific manner I will never believe it.

It's asking me to throw everything I ever learned about electronics away in favour of technobabble from folks with a vested interest in taking your money. Over the years I have had a couple of guys give me links to supposed technical articles supporting these claims. The articles were written by guys who sell these cables! Go figure...

Excuse me, I have to go put on my magnetic bracelet.

:food-smiley-004: