If you're not careful, selecting good audio wire for your system can take you beyond the point-of-no-return....  wires make a big difference and are at the deepest, murky depths of your audiophile journey.

One must use common sense and their ears of couse. That's what we've been doing for 40 years -- we cn be of great help and guidance to you.... read on and listen to the video below.

 There are so many modern and over-hyped ideas. Walt (founder of HiFiTown, and an avid listener with over 50 years of USA/Germany hifi / recording tube audio expertise) -- It was after many years of experimenting ;  he studiously chose to avoid the wire swapping game. Instead learning to judge wire by quality, feel and overall sound performance. Time and time again, our search led us to rare, quite old US made wire that survived the ages -- and no longer produced. It was constrcuted to ultra high flexibility standards, and with simple, pure, natural materials no longer utilized by industry. This combined with electrical performance screening helped us acquire wire perfect for high end, high efficiency and vintage systems. 

Stock Update: November 2012 ... -- we're really highly recommending this thicker, vintage 16 gauge, tinned rose copper version .... The tinning treatment is a traditional process in wire mfg. This process protects the underlying soft copper and allows easier soldering ... The rubber jacket and sisal liners were made by the Cornish Rubber Co., in business back in the 1940s,50s & 60s USA Penn state area, and one of the very few companies in the 1940s/50s that still utilized naturally sourced and processed rubber.

This wire sounds outstanding, it's thick and alot more durable -- and just as detailed sounding. An entire 50ft (15m) section measures less than 1 OHM on our calibrated impedance meter! The thicker guage to ear also opens up the bottem end, but ablsolutely no sound / tonal coloration.

We frequently get detailed reports from experienced listeners. Case in point... one of our customers using Altec 755A's:

"" Dear Sir, I bought a pair of Cinema PhotoPhone Copper cables from you.

I'm very satisfied with this very old cables.
I'm using them with my Altec 755a in a large open baffle.
Thank you also for the gifts (ads and labels).

Have already given your website address to some of my friend who also are interessed in vintage music reproduction.

Sincerely yours,
Andre, Switzerland ""

This is among the very last, long sections multistrand copper / cotton & sisal inner jacket (see photos below) wire types we have in stock. The remaining lengths are some of the best looking of all .... from the 1950's Korean wartime era...this surviving wire has a thick, clean & supple outer rubber jacket. The following offering is the same guage and thickness as the heavy duty  PhotoPhone type "T" wire. You will find it's excellent for all sizes of vintage (or modern) tube amp & speakers! Any room, any amplifier and speaker combiation you have --- this wire will work well and is very rugged!   Like the PhotoPhone wire in previous listings, this wire had amazing detail. We've heard amazing compliments from users of WE755A, Altec, JBL, Lansing and Shindo. 

It's rubber is of slightly hardness durometer scale, as it was used by WESTREX (formerly ERPI sound-on-film division), "on-site" for mobile sound 1940s just post-war film/sound recording events. Historically, this type was used from tube amp to speaker/horn or side-fill -- "final" runs.  Also, note in exhibit B, C, & D -- the stranded copper has been "tinned", and does not show the rose tint unless it's scrapped with blade. (see Exhibit B for the rose color!). Just the same  as it's quite old, slow-draw copper and about 50 years old!   The sound is phenominally detailed, maintaining a satisfyingly accurate & system-balancing neutralilty.

 I just finished completely inspecting this unique 12.4M piece -- incredibly low reactance.

More listening reports from users/buyers just in.

A customer, Alex from Moscow - (Alex is a very experienced tube audiophile, and has heard many high-end vintage systems)  -- he writes: "I have listened yours PhotoPhone speaker cables, it really nice, very clean, tender, every sound is stretches and a vocal is a main, a live. Thank you very much for good items."

 And...there are many more reports are in from several recent sales. They all say excellent sound; astonishing revealing detail with smoothness... this is with a variety of amps/speaker setups!  Lower price per ft here...discounted for longer/quantity!  

This wire is positively wonderful for all perceivable kinds of hifi full range 8" & 15" drivers, large & small tube amps. Also have received positive comments from a couple of Western Electric 755A open baffle owners.  All very happy!! Universal praise on this wire's neutral & uncolored tone and deeply detailed quality.

It's a dream to physically handle and strip / solder as well....you won't believe how much nicer than newer era (like PolyVinyl/Teflon/Olefin etc) wires it is!! 

Now offering...this single long piece 12.4 meters =about 40ft. This is a longer length, as requested by several customers. 

A very pure rubber/sisal/cotton audio wire in mint condition from the 1950 & 60s. Perfect for Diy, Western Electric, RCA, Altec, Marantz, SE tube amps - infact, all tube powered sound systems. Simple really - it's the best rubbber; the best tinned soft copper, natural fiber & that's it -- no plastics! Carefully removed  from surviving ERPI / Western Electric, RCA, Lansing and Motiograph sound systems. This type of wire carried amplifier output, to all speakers in various locations..such as cinema side-fill, recording and sound in pictures 1940s - early 1960s. Vintage cinema installs, sound trucks, nos storage, and in-service equipment. This wire is of very limited supply. The natural rubber is 50 years old, and made by few companies in the USA that was still using prewar style latex .... (Cornish Rubber Co.)--- it's  all ORIGINAL - yet is still flexible, supple, easy to strip and totally corrosion free. PREWAR & early wire types of copper often have soft, beautiful stranded conductors.

Great for full range cabinets and entire systems, no matter the length. Useful for low or high power tube amps. The sound is neutral, detailed and non-colored - the quintessential vintage USA sound. This wire reads low resistance and capacitance on all meters. This outer black is quite thick at .31" OD. It has one white and one black conductor --  lined with non-reactive a natural sisal or cotton fiber runner. It is very soft and flexible/pliable even in our cold office. About like stiff cotton cord or thin rope! We have to throw away lots of other wire to find little of this grade, which takes years!  Totally different from anything you see in modern use.  Go into any modern HiFi shop -- you'll see them using ridiculous forms of wire speakers. It's the last & furthest length of wire you will be buying, and it's best to avoid gimmicks here. Buyers who need wire easily succumb ... we know! Just avoid the fancy sales pitch; the ribbon wire, magic boxes, "active" shielding, etc. Don't use excessively thick gauges either. 

If you're a tube audiophile wondering what type of wire is best ... take note: 

     I am only making two points here here... this wire: the best, oldest, corrosion-free copper and great quality liner & rubber. That's it, not other silly mojo. Fancy new wire can have problems: poly-resins and plastics, teflon(s), foil shielding and ultra hard, quick cold draw, and highly purified metals result in predictably bright, brash sound. The the modern materials all have reactances within themselves and in response to each other... To many for even a scientist to predict. This old, soft copper has a nice feel and an old american neutral and detailed tone (not dark, nor too bright) and retains great detailed sound. It does not change your music like many other wires can. It's just cotton fiber and prewar rubber, around very old, very soft, rose colored, slow draw, stranded copper.  Sometimes we really must take our thoughts back to the basics, remove all of the standard brainwashing we receive from Stereophile and other magazines, AudioAsylum and other forums (although they're rapidly coming around) they exist to pitch glamour and expense ... or the exact opposite ... that "wire is wire".

If neither are true..... then what is?

 Good, pure (vintage) materials = good sound.  

       It's time to judge more by feel and manufacturing technique. Less concern with raw specs, noise, resistance, OHFC etc. I'm sure you can tell from the wire's tint & gleam of the tinned surface, how it's very different from newer wire. No amount of flexing will fatigue it. Nice, no green oxides, even a long 40ft to 50ft coil could only muster 1 ohms DCR at 20,000 cycles. That's very impressive. (Watch our video for a detailed explanation and test results.)  

We personally use this wire for all of our speaker projects. Reliable and great sounding. Forget modern "oxygen free" claims. One of the worst problems with modern wire is it's chemical drenched vinyl jacket and aggressive dielectric insulators.  Part of the story is rubber.

In the years preceeding WWII, rubber was a precious material. Entire countries were invaded for it. The success of the allies is partially credited to the enhanced production of petro formulated synthetic rubber. This allowed unlimited / rapid production of tires, insulation - all you need is more oil. In comparison, just a few years before say... the late 1930's, the rubber had to come from a far more natural process, and needed extraction from a tree! Cheaper, faster rubber may be good to win a war, but not for your speakers! By the war's end - 1950s on, almost all rubber was produced with DuPont's method. This post war production used lots of yucky "plastiziers" to make "fast" rubber, using less latex, more oil and hydrocarbons in an all plastic lining. Fine, but what happens is after many years - the plastizers spread around, it gets stiff and can crack. Post-war rubber is not stable. That is not the worst of it; the copper tends to oxidize from the chemicals, changing to black or green. Later vinyl wire processes are worse! Find some 1970s clear vinyl stranded, chances are it will fee sticky to touch on the outside. These same chloride laced chemicals leeched to the inside and attached the outer strands of the wire. This results in high capacitance, high resistance and altered sound! Notice the photo below, how clean the inner cotton liner is! That's after nearly 50 years under the latex jacket.

 No stickiness, goo, or smells. The materials are cured and stable -- they'll outlast us and perhaps our children.  Any important hifi Altec, Jensen & WE system around here gets wired with this stuff for testing-- so we know the wire is nice sounding!  It's predictably neutral performance will help your speakers & amps sound very clean indeed....limited supply --- buy soon or you may miss it. 

Video's description:

We received wonderful comments back from happy customers he purchased our vintage PhotoPhone wire. It sold out quickly!

Back to the warehouse we found a limited supply of this 1940s through 1960s Cornish rubber Corporation wire, also known as PhotoPhone T. This wire was used in a mobile recording studio and sound outfit, that was operating from the 1940s through the 1960s.

In this video you'll see, hear and also observed me stripping a small end of the wire so that you can see how excellent and pliable it still is. Also you'll get a chance to observe the tinned Copper after slight scraping reveals the same rose-colored highly flexible stranded material of the prewar era.

Just as before you'll hear the neutral yet sweet mid range this wire allows when used low , medium and high power to audio systems...

Every single customer who purchased the PhotoPhone wire either sent us letters of praise.  We quickly sold out. Thankfully,  this Cornish Wire & Rubber Co. wire produces exactly the same level of detail with possibly a wider more LF region thanks the slightly thicker gauge. It was used for the same HiFi vintage sound recording purpose, and you'll hear the same great detail!  

This wire  contains a pair (2) of Black/White colored rubber inner 16 gauge conductors....highly durable wire that is ready to using your audio system of just about any power. 

We've carefully screened it for reactance, and capacitance --- and found none. In fact an entire 50 foot-long section could only muster 1 ohm  resistance when  20hz -- 20,000hz audio frequencies!

The demonstration audio in this video was played with under one watt of power from a push pull 6BQ5 tube amplifier and and all original Western Electric 755A. This is one of the many simple configurations that can generate true audio magic when used with this wire!