Building your own speaker wire

[JustinGN]

Okay, I know that with the sponsorship of CAT Cables for these forums, discussing speaker cable is a very touchy subject. Still, considering this is more a DIY question than one about particular brands, I think it's okay to post. If it isn't, apologies in advance to Lex and co.

Anyways! I recently got myself some new B&W 685s and an HTM61, and I needed new speaker cable for them. I'd been previously using a brand commonly found in electronics retailers here in the states, but the fibrous nature of the cable and excess insulation drove me to look for greener pastures. I was in Home Depot when it hit me - why not build my own? I eventually settled on two 30ft. lengths of THHN Cable - yes, the kind commonly used for High Voltage applications.

After rigging everything up with Banana Plugs and murdering my poor hands (The insulation on them is a pain to strip and cut without special tools - lesson learned!), the speakers sound great, all things considered. My concern is, though, that the cable may not be appropriate (or dangerous, even) for my speakers or AVR. It's 8AWG Stranded THHN Cable, terminated with Banana Plugs on both ends.

Could this harm my speakers? It's labeled quite clearly so nobody decides to try and wire my speakers or the AVR to a voltage box, and with it being copper, I would think it's just fine, but I'm still concerned.

Thanks for the input!

[Hdale85]

Well the rule is really no specific cable discussion other then something like what kind of cable do I need for a blu-ray player. Beyond that is pretty much not allowed.

[Johnloudb]

Could this harm my speakers? It's labeled quite clearly so nobody decides to try and wire my speakers or the AVR to a voltage box, and with it being copper, I would think it's just fine, but I'm still concerned.

Thanks for the input!

It won't hurt your speakers assuming you've wired it correctly. That's pretty massive wire for your speakers though. What is the internal construction of the cable? Sounds like each cable just 8 gauge stranded wire. So, you're using two 8 guage wires for each speaker (i.e. one positive and one return)? Well, nothing wrong with that from an electical standpoint, just a tad overkill.

Grainger Cable 8 guage

[krips]

Should be fine safety wise. All larger gauge wire does is decrease the impedance of the circuit, and unless you compare the extremes (long runs of say 22awg vs 8awg say) I would say it's negligible.

[JustinGN]

Thanks for the input! I know they're nothing fancy, but they do sound appreciably better than my old cables, not to mention they were actually cheaper to build.

Pain to work with, though...

And yes, I realize 8AWG is a bit overkill for my 600 Series B&W Speakers, but I'd rather do overkill than not be thick enough.