Problem with solid core in binding posts is that the wire doesn't compress and fan out like multistrand does, which limits your contact area when using solid core...if you are worried about such things.

But yeah, when it comes to speaker cable, I'd trust an engineer or scientist over an audio salesman any day. Anyone who is trying to sell cables with a certain "sound" ought to be shipped off to the hoosegow.

Cables are not an additive device...a cable cannot add sound to a signal, it can only remove it, so a cable that sounds different than what is naturally coming from the output source is removing sound...which is bad.

If you can honestly hear the difference between high purity copper cable and silver cable, more power to you, although I think that the silver cable supplier gets more out of the deal than the buyer.

Over the length of the run, solid core wire does make sense. BloggingITGuy has hit on one issue that crops up, though, and that's termination. That transition point will contribute to the overall resistance of the system, and multistrand wire will likely provide more surface area for crimped connectors or for bare wire into a binding post. How much difference it'll make, I don't know. I could certainly see a case where this proved to be a failure point if something were not quite right, as is of course also true with stranded.

the 970 arrived today, though i'm on the road, building something for a bizillionaire, so i won't be home to hook up the new gear until friday. (get to see some pretty bichin A/V gear in this job sometimes). still going to try solid core, at least for the magettes. bananna plugs ought to work on binding posts; though at the speaker end magnepan gives you just a tail of 16 ga. stranded. is there such a thing as a female bananna plug? - i work with some pacific islanders from time to time who tell me that with females, green banannas work best.

Yes, the binding post that you plug the banana plug into is technically the female.

You can get wall mount female plugs if you do in house/in wall wiring for your speakers.

Alex

I realize I'm jumping in late here. Without getting into the technical aspects of why and just listening to my ear, I've found the Kimber "TC" line and mid-grade Cardas seem to sound best with the Maggies. A longtime friend is a Maggie advocate and did 30-day demos of dozens of speaker cables from a local hi-fi shop, usually 3-4 at a time where he'd keep the best one from each week and exchange the others to compare. He liked the Cardas a slight bit better in some areas but we both agreed the Kimber 8TC was the best *with his setup*.

how many audiophiles does it take to get a joke?

Hey openhelix, I'm also looking for some better speaker wire for my Maggie 1.6's - did your friend include Mapleshade wires in his trials? Has anybody else reading this tried them with Maggies, especially comparing them to the Kimber 8TC's? Thanks.

PsyProf, I don't have the complete list, but I don't remember those.

Thanks for the quick reply, openhelix. Since your friend got his cables from a cooperative dealer and the Mapleshades are only available online I kind of doubt it. Anyone can read about them at http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/goldenhelixspeakercable.php; I would be more skeptical about their claims if I hadn't found their Ultrathin digital cable (see http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/ultrathindigitalinterconnects.php) really does perform as stated: a real stepup in cleanness especially for the highs, but terribly fragile. Their maple bases and other stuff require more space and fanaticism than I've got but it's the cables that interest me.

Wow, WAY too fragile for my tastes.