Home Cable Asylum

Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

Re: thermalcouple wire as speaker wire

The "copper" wire is probably not pure copper, and that other wire is not silver, it is an alloy of some sort.

See below.
Thermocouple wire types:
Type J (Iron vs Constantan(TM)) is used in vacuum, oxidizing, inert or reducing atmospheres. Iron element oxidizes rapidly at temperatures exceeding 1000ºF (538ºC), and therefore heavier gauge wire is recommended for longer life at these temperatures.

Type K (CHROMEL®* vs ALUMEL®*) is used in oxidizing, inert or dry reducing atmospheres. Exposure to vacuum limited to short time periods. Must be protected from sulfurous and marginally oxidizing
atmospheres. Reliable and accurate at high temperatures.

Type T (Copper vs Constantan(TM)) is used for service in oxidizing, inert or reducing atmospheres or in vacuum. It is highly resistant to corrosion from atmospheric moisture and condensation and exhibits
high stability at low temperatures; it is the only type with limits of error guaranteed for cryogenic temperatures.

Type E (CHROMEL®* vs Constantan(TM)) may be used in oxidizing, inert or dry reducing atmospheres, or for short periods of time under vacuum. Must be protected from sulfurous and marginally oxidizing
atmospheres. Produces the highest EMF per degree of any standardized thermocouple.

Type N (Nicrosil(TM) vs Nisil(TM)) is used in oxidizing, inert or dry reducing atmospheres. Must be protected from sulfurous atmospheres. Very reliable and accurate at high temperatures.

Constantan : Any of several nickel-copper-based alloys containing small amounts of manganese and iron.

Neither of these wires would make a very good speaker cable wire.
If you are looking for inexpensive high performance DIY speaker cable recipes, see:
http://www.AudioAsylum.com/audio/cables/messages/7637.html
The outer braid becomes the Negative speaker lead, and the center wire the Positive lead, at both ends this way.

Hope this helps.
Jon Risch


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Kimber Kable  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups


You can not post to an archived thread.