Let’s talk speaker wire and terminating, eh?
Any particular gauge any of you run, or is it just whatever is lying around…Furthermore, when you’re terminating your wires, do you solder the ends before attaching banana plugs and whatnot?
Thoughts on CCA vs. solid copper?
As for me, the “bench tech” in me has always soldered the ends with some added heat shrink.
There are so many misconceptions about cable. The better your equipment, the more it matters. Your wire will carry often very delicate waveforms. It’s not just if it will carry the current. It if it will carry that waveform intact. Smaller wire will shave off high frequencies, that hurts your imaging and spacial cues. We use 11 gage copper for our low end tabletop systems and 9 gage wire for the super high end system. Don’t think it makes a difference? Try some thin copper plated aluminum wire, then try 12 gage oxygen free cable. Even with mid fi equipment, the difference is dramatic. Good cable will not make your system sound better. Bad cable will make your system sound worse. Also the cable can pickup electrical noise and even radio signals. Think this does not matter? You bet it does. You don’t need to spend hundreds on cable. But if you have nice equipment, don’t cripple it with cheap cable.