Internal Wiring

[okiepolkie]

Okay, so I know we go to greatly short lengths to make sure our speaker wire is thick and juicy. That is only from the amplifier to the speaker terminals.

Does anyone exchange the smaller gauge (16-22 from what I've seen) inside the cabinet of the speaker to compliment the external wiring?

Exchanging the wire from the crossover to each of the drivers to 12-14 gauge would make more sense to me, but the current is being split anyway so it may not require a larger

[steveinaz]

Some folks do that "tweak" but I wouldn't use heavy stranded copper for that project. I'd use a good solid core copper 18awg, and twist a pair with the insulation left on. I would imagine for such a short run inside speaker cabinets, that this tweak is hardly worth the effort---but to each his own...

[gidrah]

I have put it on the list of things to do when I get a rainy month of Sundays.

You could even tailor the wire for each task. The wire Steve suggested would be great for the bottom end and you could try some thinner copper or silver for the highs. I wouldn't worry too much about the thickness as alot of the power is consumed by the crossover.

[LittleCar_w/12s]

I wouldn't worry about silver wire, the resistance is about the same as copper, and they both oxidize. Not an improvement. For a really good wire, you could use a good solid large gauge with smaller gauge twisted around it.. say, 12ga solid with a few 22ga wrapped around it. it solves both high and low, though I can't tell you the right combination. Of course we are talking about hundredths of an ohm, the only real difference will be made in the individual gauges (for freq. improvement), not the total gauge.

[LittleCar_w/12s]

If you chose to do this, make the step up to silver solder though. The standard lead-tin can have 10-15x the resistance of silver or copper. It will take you a higher temp iron, though.

[Tour2ma]

LC,
Not quite following what you were getting at when you talked about lighter gauge wrapped around heavier and highs and lows. Are you shielding?

Paths for the two freq's coming out of the x-over and going to their driver(s) are likely to be quite different (unless you retro-fit your home Polks with co-axials... :p )

Please expand a bit...

op,
Yes.. several members have replaced their internal wiring. Most go with heavier copper (but not to heavy for reasons already stated). I can't remember reading of any going to silver. Many do use silver solder, however.