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djwayne · Location: USA Posts: 583

I found the perfect el cheapo speaker wire, it's normally called outdoor extension cord. It's 16 gauge, two wire cord (Black & White), in a light green outer plastic casing. 100 feet for $ 9.99. Of course you have to cut off the 110 power connections, but hey, it worked great for me. I'm currently wiring my studio to my living room for listening and monitoring recordings. I've only wired it for stereo so far, but may go with the 5.1 eventially, but would need a 6 channel local volume controller or mixer eventially.

The cheapest alternative was standard clear 18 gauge speaker wire, 100 foot roll for $9.99. I like the 16 gauge green stuff better.

Hopefully my dog won't chew it up like she did the old stuff. She used to love chewing the curly phone cords up into little pieces !! She hasn't done that for awhile though, so maybe she's over it.

Having the music pumped into my living room works out good for me when I have other artists recording and set up there. They don't have to cram into my control room to listen to their freshly made recordings. Smile

djwayne · Location: USA Posts: 583

I found "Monster Cable" 16 ga. wire on the internet, it goes for $224 for a 500 foot roll. approx. 44 cents a foot. The above mentioned outdoor cable is about 10 cents a foot.

Here's a link to the Monster cable that looks similar to the outdoor stuff.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-t25v7udC0zD/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=119SP1625K

VoodooRadio · Location: USA Posts: 3971

The "heavy duty" extension cord trick has been around for many years. Most starving artist bands had to back in the 70's because they couldn't afford proper cabling. Wink

djwayne · Location: USA Posts: 583

VooDoo this is true. I used to run a light show for blues & rock bands back then, and had a whole trunk full of outdoor cords which never failed me. I also was a qualified wireman for Rockwell Automation for ten years, and learned quite a bit about industrial wiring for control panels for motion control systems. In my opinion, 16 ga. wire is always better than 18 ga., & having an extra outer casing helps to protect the wire as well. The great thing about this wire is it'll last a very long time and can be re-used.

VoodooRadio · Location: USA Posts: 3971

And.. a quick trip to Radio Shack (for 4/$2 connectors), plus a stop off at Walmart for a 100' extension cord (a whopping $10) and about 20 minutes labor will produce 2-50' speaker cables for less than $20. Wink

jonrose · Location: USA Posts: 2901

Given that this is a "budget-oriented" thread, I almost hate to say this here.... But to be quite honest, I've never been able to buy proper speaker connectors at Rip Shark. For the most part, they seem to all be rather cheaply made and flimsy. Unfortunately, they don't (and probably never will) carry the kinds of connectors I really need for my gear... so I guess I'd rather go out and spend the $5 to $8 for the good ones!
8)

Best... -Jon

...Er, okay, sorry... that would be this kind of connector, if anyone's still wondering.... Heh! Wink

VoodooRadio · Location: USA Posts: 3971

While it's been many moons since I've had to make up my own cables, (personally) I've never experienced any problems with their TRS plugs. These days, I usually buy Monster Cable and.... (of course) pay out the teeth for it! Disapprove