coaxial speaker cable (built)

[NYfan2]

I use the same locking bananas- they do a great job of making and maintaining solid contact.

Why choose coaxial construction for speaker cables?

No particular reason, the specification are comparable to a normal loudspeaker cable.
I don't believe that for a cable of 4m the coaxial design has an advantage.

One of the benefits is that the is cable very flexible and thin.
A round cable looks better at a speakon then a standard loudspeaker cable

But the main reason Just for fun

 

[NYfan2]

I'm probably wrong, but it looks like you used the shield for the positive (red) lead.

No. red is the core, black the shielding.

 

[NYfan2]

Hi, how did you connect the cable ends to the banana plug? Was it presolderd or a clamping sleeve or just the copper?
As so far, nice cables and good DIY idea.

It's just the copper clamped direct in the banana plugs.
I used the 2x2,5 mm2 version there is also a 2x4mm2 version, the banan plugs and speakon connector are big enough to fit the 4mm2 so for long cables that is also an option but for the short length that I use it doesn't matter.

 

[Wolf]

Lots of speaker cable, 2c, or 4c wire is round.

Just as info, Supra makes a coax cable called Quadrax (4c) with no center conductor.
The theory around coax for speaker cable is that since electrons flow mostly around the circumference or surface of the strand of wire, then why have copper down the middle? This means coax optimizes the copper placement for better operation for current flow.
At least that is the theory....

 

[Speedskater]

The Supra Quadrax (4c) is not a coax cable.
It's more like a Star Quad or a Star Many.
And theory is the wrong word, it's a fantasy.

 

[Jim Shaw]

The Supra Quadrax (4c) is not a coax cable.
It's more like a Star Quad or a Star Many.
And theory is the wrong word, it's a fantasy.

A fantasy beyond even a wet dream. There are myriad reasons to employ proper coax cables for low and line-level signals. Passive hifi speaker use is not among them. If you hear some improvement, consider using the extra money on therapy.

 

[brombo]

The advantage of the coaxial cable is in active speaker systems where each driver is connected to a separate cable. There is no inductive coupling (cross talk) between coaxial cables. Both the electric and magnetic fields due to the signal are confined to the cable. Thus low frequencies from the bass and midrange cannot couple into the tweeter. This is not true if pairs of signal wires (even if they are twisted) are in proximity to one another. With the coax cables you can have a neat cable bundle without having to worry about cross talk. Here is an excerpt from the construction manual for the LX521.4 speakers -

"22) - 25 July 2013 - Speakon connector
Instead of using screw terminal blocks at the speaker end I use a Neutrik 8-pole
Speakon connection. The part numbers in the Mouser catalog are:
568-NL8MPR-BAG male, chassis, Faston tabs, $7.28
568-NL8FC female, cable, screw terminals, $10.44
For a Belden 8-conductor cable 1811A I make the following connections to minimize
crosstalk:
Tweeter: blk-wht
Midrange: brn-blu
Woofer top: grn-red
Woofer bottom: yel-org
Also see FAQ8"

 

[Speedskater]

Let's see: the impedances of the bass, midrange and tweeter drivers are all probably under 20 Ohms. Not much chance of inductive coupling at such low impedances.