Accessory Items
In Wall Wire
Why do you care about what the wire sounds like behind the wall? Service, feeder and branch wires have global effects on the entire audio system. Including your digital low voltage circuitry.
Years ago I started a search for premium in wall wire. Time and time again I ran into dead ends. Either the product was too expensive or not legal in the US, or both. Think JPS Labs, Oyaide, Analysis Plus. Recently a manufacturer did step forward and offer a ultra high purity low crystal count wire that is UL in the USA/Canada. Unfortunately it is around $1,000,000 for a minimum order. While the basics of electron theory are fixed across the globe, the fundamental design and rating of wires for use in North America, Europe and Asia vary. This eliminates massive swaths of potential market to sell the product in order to recoup the investment cost.
I thought long on what to do and went back to, why did Fremers sound so good right out of the box. Was it really the “Grain Orientation” of the wire. The branch circuits for Michael Fremers job were given to me from a mentor and industry leader in power solutions. He noted what a few other have said to me. Wire is pulled through dies in the manufacturing process. The mechanical process of pulling this wire creates a grain pattern in it. That grain pattern has a sonic signature.
I have been working on and continue with a project of evaluating different wires for inwall use. Wire any electrician will pull from a panel to an outlet in a residence or commercial project. UL listed and labeled wire done per NEC standards. I am looking at all gauges and designs of stranded, solid, romex, NM-B, SER,, grain oriented, twisted etc.
Grain Orientation
After failing to find a premium wire for behind the wall use, I decided to understand better what grain orientation was all about. This lead me to building a couple tools. One tools is an analyzer. Its a device where wire can be inserted into the tool and listened to through my stereo. I can quickly flip the orientation of the wire from front to back or back to front. I test each role of wire a minimum of 4 times over the span of a week. Each time I test I note the results then walk away. I come back 1 to 2 days later and perform the test again. In one direction the wire sounds open, expressive, engaging. It just sounds right. In the other direction something is a little off. Its hard to pinpoint outside saying, I want to turn the volume up. Like something is held back or missing.
I have recently begun employing a local industry professional who has been willing to come to my house and sit through the process of evaluating new spools of wire. It only takes a few turn of each sample to understand the sonic difference between directions.
A little information on Grain Formation in a wire
Normal, high purity copper known as Tough Pitch Electrical (TPE) has about 1500 grains in each foot (5000/m). The signal must cross the junctions between these grains 1500 times in order to travel through one foot of cable. These grain boundaries cause the same type of irritating distortion as current crossing from strand to strand.
A number of factors influence the grain formation in a wire during the process of Drawing. Some of these influences are as follows. They are not in any order of importance. They are all part of the process.
Quality of the base material. Temperature of liquid metal. Casting rate. Flow size. Crystallizer cooling water temperature.
The rapid development of electronics and broadly understood electro-technology imposes a need for the search for new materials allowing for rapid lossless transmission of electric signals. Depending on the application, the ideal transmission cable should guarantee high sound and image quality (audio-video cables), optimal data transmission speed (cables for information technology applications), appropriate signal strength and minimization of attenuation and the risk of occurrence of interference. The above requirements create the need for use of a material allowing for an electron flow that is as lossless as possible. +
Due to the extremely high cost of creating high purity low crystal count copper wire, the best we can do is try and understand the underlying structure of TPE copper and work with the existing grains the best we can.
Below are images of what crystal formation looks like under high magnification in a wire as purity and crystal count are improved. Non of what I am doing is getting to a lower crystal count wire. It is simply trying to understand the underlying structure of TPE copper available from supply houses in the USA.
Basics of Test
I try to keep the process of evaluating what a wire might sound like to minimum of variations. I am taking a set of branch wires (black, white, green) and terminating them in a breaker on one end and connecting a quality silver female Furutech end plug on the other. For these tests I used my Dartzeel NHB108 amplifier as the evaluation tool. My speakers are Pure Audio Project Trio 15 Coax. The source is usually digital files. Could be vinyl.
I let any new wire burn for a minimum of 48 hours. I intentionally cycle the stereo on and off in that time.
When I critically listen I queue up a variety of songs over a couple days and play them. I swap the power cord back and forth while listening. The delay from power down to power up is about 2 minutes. I don’t want to Motorboat the amp.
For the most part, my base standard in any of these tests is my grain oriented, twisted 10 awg solid THHN/THWN. Sure I am biased. But everything I do to that wire is based upon verifiable data that is published. I am following what is considered best practice. Techniques well above the base minimum requirements set forth in code books.
I am in the process of testing cryogenic wire treated through an immersion bath process. I will publish results when I have them.
When I am listening to a wire, I mark down notes as they come to me. Below is outtakes from the notes
10 AWG Stranded
For this test I used stranded 10 awg MTW/TEW wire. It was the same model as some 12 awg Shunyata gave me, just a larger gauge. I compared it to my grain oriented, twisted 10 awg solid THHN/THWN.. The wire is run in a steel conduit. From the wall to the female connector the wire is wrapped in mylar with a silver drain wire wrapped end to end and terminated at the wall box only. The endplug on this wire is a made for audio single crystal copper plug. It does not have much coloration of its own.
The primary source music was digital. I listened over days but this piece was important to my listening. The work is predominantly violin, cello and harpsichord.
My notes are the stranded grabs your attention as big and bold. You get this sense of owe wow. Listen to all that rich full sound. This must be great as the power is there and it's full of harmonic content.
Then you listen to solid grain oriented/twisted wire. You quickly notice, it's not violins playing, it's 2 very distinct violins. And the cello. Wow. You hear the bow lift and the string/body/resonate after the note.
I can see why some people may want stranded. I know people who use horns and they tell me they like stranded. And they like the aluminum in a panel. I view both of these as veiling and softening the music. It takes speed out. Maybe they are using this to tame horns.
I have tested stranded to my Audion SET 845 amp. There is defiantly a wanted smoothing of what I probably notice as odd order harmonics. The amps are much easier to listen too for extended periods of time. This is in comparison to Oyaide wire to my custom Oyaidea power strip. From there Ching Cheng to the monoblocks.
I can't see why anyone using more traditional speakers would want stranded wire. Solid grain oriented/twisted is more relaxing. You're not straining to hear details. The music comes to you more easily. And you are more aware of all that is happening in the music. It’s more clear and intelligible. You hear the details within bowed or reed instruments. I much prefer solid grain oriented/twisted over stranded MTW.
I am happy to twist long runs of 10 awg stranded.
10 AWG NM (Non Metallic - Romex)
NM is sonically in the same family as THHN grain oriented/twisted wire. But it has some performance differences.
With NM in ENT tube, it seems like instruments have a harder division between the pieces. Your focus is drawn to the parts. To a guitar, to a drum, to whatever. The parts and pieces of the song present as more distinct. With the Romex you find you are looking around a lot at the parts and pieces. You're busy.
Grain oriented/twisted wire is much more rounded. Not in the weight/body of the music, but in the ease to follow all the parts and pieces in a song. Grain oriented/twisted is more easy to absorb as a complete whole.
More engaging. You're into the whole of the song more.
You flow along with the grain oriented easier. You find yourself assessing less and just enjoying the music.
With NM, there is no loss of definition between it and grain oriented/twisted
Maybe the definition seems higher with NM as your attention is more drawn to the parts and pieces. But it's not like there is more information there. It's just coming at you differently.
Instrument placement is the same
Drums are similar.
There is no change in tone top to bottom.
NM is really not bad wire. It works fine.
It's just busier and less relaxing. It takes more concentration and focus to hear the whole of all the parts. It grabs your attention.
Detailed instruments is also where they diverge. The grain oriented/twisted brings out the life. I think this is part of the completeness and why you sense it. Multiple instruments and the subtleties in them are more apparent all at once.
It takes a level of concentrated listening to hear what they do differently. At the same time with certain types of music/tracks the grain oriented will hit with an owe wow at what it's doing.
At times you could be not as aware. But there are also profound changes in what they do and the grain is much more complete, engaging and musical.
12 AWG NM (Non Metallic - Romex)
Sonically this wire is similar to 10 awg NM, but you readily notice the loss in dynamics and air. You want bigger wire. Don’t use 12 unless you're feeding something such as your modem/router/switch.
8 AWG stranded
MSB has published a paper and others have commented you want larger gauge wires as the length of run increases. They claim it is based upon impedance losses. I don’t argue with this on a fundamental basis. But you do have to look at the overall impact of this conductor and assess what it is you’re powering. It does have a voice.
8 awg and larger wire will always be a stranded wire by nature. NEC states any wire 8 awg and larger will be stranded. This is for bending purposes. You can get up to 4 awg solid bare copper. This is used for grounding.
8 awg comes in a variety of insulating jackets and a couple strand sizes/count. You can pull it in a pipe or it comes as a jacketed NM-B. NM-B is inexpensive and you can rope it in any wall in a residence some light commercial structures. I used standard supply house Cero Wire NM-B.
8 awg stuck me as very clean
Very precise
It was very commanding at grabbing your attention
It required focus and energy
If you're a super active listener and want to be looking all over the piece you're hearing, you would like the 8.
I worry the 8 over time will wear you out. You're not relaxing as well.
Levels of quiet to grain oriented/twisted were the same.
#8 NM is pretty much similar to solid #10 NM. I did not compare the two head to head.
Felt energy was the same as the 10 grain oriented/twisted. Maybe the 8 was a hair more effortless. I focused for some time on, am I hearing that. It's not like it stood out. It was pretty much I can't tell. But I wanted to believe the 8 was.
I will say the 10 grain oriented/twisted is about a 22 foot run. I spooled out a whole 50 foot coil for the 8. So it's twice as much wire.
Again, I was very conscious that the 10 grain oriented/twisted let you relax.
Your shoulders laid back and you fell into the music
The 10 is more cohesive. I keep coming back to that word.
It all comes to you. You're not looking for anything, but you're aware of everything.
10 grain oriented/twisted struck me as more tape.
10 grain oriented/twisted is more rounded and full.
The bass bottom and high extensions are the same for both.
You notice the bass more with the 10 as there is a little more body there and up into the midrange.
The 8 is speedy and analytical and I guess that feels more thin in the bass.
The 8 is a snappy bass.
The 8 may actually be very good for subwoofers. Most people seem to be trying to speed subs up and keep bloat out of the equipment. This could be a good use for the wire. I would not hesitate to recommend it for subs.
I would not use 8 for power amps or sources. It's not for a horn system.
Oyaide
I would probably represent Oyaide and sell it if it were legal to install. It does not have any UL or other Recognized Testing laboratory marking on it acceptable in the US. That leaves a risk of an insurance company denying coverage if there were to be any sort of incident. I don’t want to accept that liability and I assume you don’t either. But I have tried a piece to my amplifiers, and it's still in my system feeding most of my front end. I still have a strip from a circuit breaker to a power distribution strip I built using more Oyaide to lace 4 Hubbell 5362 duplex to the branch Oyaide. One day I will pull it out. That is hours upon hours of work I have not gotten around too.
These notes are a comparison of the Oyaide to the stranded wire noted on this page. The Oyaide has the Silver Furutech endplug. This test was performed using my Audion Black Shadow 845 Monoblocks.
It took days of concentrated listening to differentiate the Oyaide from the stranded. They are very similar. I spent good money buying this wire and I was hoping the sonics would jump out at me more.
In the end I came up with a word I called “Nuttyness”. The Oyaide was a better wire. It had a nice clean nutty flavor.
It's a good wire. It has a good shield. Its quality copper.
I honestly don’t think it's worth $60 a foot.
I have not compared the Oyaide to my grain oriented solid. It's not easy to manipulate. Getting Oyaide into my rack to the back of my amp is not an easy chore. I have wanted to spend time testing wires that are legal for installation in the US, Canada.
Finishing Touches
Once I understood wire had a direction that impacted sonics, I had to find a way to twist the wire for installation. This required the creation of a couple new tools.
The short section of blue tube in the above photo is ENT. Electrical non metalic tubing. Smurf tube for short. Most states allow it in your residence. It is quick to install and the twisted, grain oriented wire is pulled through it from panel to receptacle.
In addition to wire, I have also found in wall boxes and other accessories that enhance the overall electrical infrastructure to support your audio or AV system. In short, I am doing all I can do to find the best equipment that is 100% UL legal to install in your home.
10 AWG grain oriented wire, twisted $12 a foot.
Boxes $5 each
Green Glue $20 a tube. FWIW, each tube is massive so I also offer a large syringe of tube that makes adhering the box to drywall fast and effective.