Speaker Cables and Wire- Cheap, Expensive or Audiophile Grade, DIY Installation

Are those expensive speaker cables worth it? Can you really hear the difference? What are audiophile grade speaker cables? You may be asking yourself those questions as you are setting up your home theater system and hooking up your new speakers. So what’s the real story? For the average listener choosing the right type of speaker wire to use in their audio system can be very confusing because of the many controversial reviews, ratings, testimonials and opinions about the quality and cost of speaker cables. An audiophile may have a better understanding of the different grades of speaker cables and know what they want as they have handpicked every component in their high end audio system to reproduce the type of music they love. There is no standard wire quality specification for rating speaker wire or cables for home or auto use. Speaker wire basically falls into the same category as electrical AC wire or soft jacket power cable. Chances are you will be looking to purchase new speaker wire for your system whether you do it yourself or buy premade speaker and audio cables.

No doubt you have painstakingly taken some time to go to different audio dealers to listen to various types and brands of speakers before you reached a decision on the ones you want. Finally the day has come, you tell the salesperson you are ready to purchase your new speakers and can’t wait to take them home to set up and listen to them. Just when you thought the decision making was over, the salesperson has a smile on his face and says “you’ll need some audiophile quality speaker cables to match your speakers”. The salesperson starts to recommend some upgraded cables which he makes a hefty commission on. As he continues the memorized sales pitch “this hi tech expensive oxygen free copper pair of cables will time align and enhance the sound of your speakers, add brilliance to the highs and the special dynamic core subwoofer cable will deliver tighter bass” as you stand there speechless not knowing the difference.

At this point you are thinking to yourself how much will it cost to hook up and listen to the already expensive speakers you just bought? There are many opinions about “quality” of speaker wire and you should have some knowledge about the different types of cable so you can decide what’s best for you. This article contains some facts about speaker cables and wire that I have learned from my own experience and is not intended to be a review or comparison of brands of cable. There is no percentage cost per speaker or per system that relates to a budget price to spend for cables. Only you know what your ears hear and if there is a real difference in the level of sound quality that relates to the price of the cable and your listening pleasure. At minimum, use the recommended gauge of wire for the length of the cable run so the amplifier is able to deliver the full wattage to the speaker. Beyond this minimum requirement if you are not satisfied with the sound quality of less expensive cables then you should compare others and select what meets your expectations.

Audiophile Grade Speaker Cables- What is the difference of audiophile speaker cables and wire? In my search to find the definition of “audiophile quality “relating to cables and wire, I found there is no standard or specification that applies to the term. It is a hot marketing adjective keyword that is falsely used to describe, rate or imply that a product is a higher quality audio component or accessory. Here are some cable manufacturers product descriptions for audiophile speaker cable;  “high performance for connecting precision speakers”, “cable designed for audiophile music”, “audiophile grade high articulation audio cables”, “top materials and technology to reveal capabilities of high end systems”. A true audiophile knows the difference in the quality of cables, wire and interconnects and is usually willing to pay a higher price for better performance and listening pleasure.

Do It Yourself- Making the speaker cables yourself give you the flexibility to make custom lengths as needed for your speakers.  If you are capable of making an ac power extension cord you are probably capable to make a speaker cable. Tools needed for making cables are a wire stripper, wire cutters, knife, small screwdriver, pliers and optional shrink tubing, solder iron with rosin core solder. For bare stranded wire strip off ¾” of the insulation off the wire, twist the strands tight together and solder (tinned) the end of the wire so all strands are contacted to each other. Better quality gold plated banana plugs work great and have a thumb screw to tighten down the wire. For the best contact use only solid copper or gold plated connectors. The crimp- on type connector is fine as long as they are soldered to the bare copper wire making a solid permanent contact. It doesn’t get any simpler than this. Speaker cables are the easiest of audio cables to make as there is no tedious stripping and soldering of fine wire or woven shielding as in input cables.

Types of Wire- Stranded copper wire for speakers- I recommend to use at minimum 12AWG stranded wire for everything unless you have a longer run- over 80’ then use 10 gauge wire. I have used SJ 12/3 type cable in many loudspeaker applications for permanently installed sound systems.  This cable is easy to work with, it is flexible and low cost. This type SJO wire is readily available at most electrical suppliers in different gauges 16AWG, 14AWG, 12AWG, 10AWG with three conductors which is commonly used for power wire. If this is your choice, cut off the ground wire and use only two wires- one positive, one negative. Stranded copper wire is the most popular among higher priced pre made speaker cables and designer cables.  If you are considering bi wiring speakers use this same grade wire but with four conductors- 12/4 SJO and connect according to speaker manufacturer specs. If your speakers only have two terminals , pair two wires together- two for the positive and two for the negative and connect to speaker terminals. If you are twisting two wires together to go to the same terminal I suggest after you twist the wire together tightly, solder all of the wire strands together so all of the strands make contact with each other. I have bi wired speaker connections in the past for longer cable runs and the signal sounds clean. Other types include- shielded, twisted pair, solid, flat wire and bi wire.

Solid Copper Wire- Another option is to use solid copper wire in single 12 AWG gauge or 10 AWG gauge. Solid wire is a little harder to work with because it is not as flexible as stranded and resembles regular in wall electrical wire. There are few designer speaker cables made in one solid strand. From my experience it sounds much cleaner than stranded and many articles on this subject have stated the same finding. My theory is one solid single conductor of 12 gauge of copper wire has les resistance than stranded wire.  Stranded wire is many small wires twisted together to act as one conductor. If there are any imperfections in the length of the cable and all strands are not making contact with each other this will result in signal loss.

I don’t claim to be an audiophile, but I do own very high end professional audio equipment and know the difference between good and poor quality cables. My 5.1 channel theater sound system has matching power amplifiers on the center, front and rear speakers. The two front main speakers are wired with 6’ of 12/3 SJ 12 gauge stranded wire and sounded fine. This cable has tinned wire ends fastened directly to the Crown Studio Reference amplifier’s binding post output terminals and the other end is directly connected to the terminals on TAD speaker cabinets which have one TL 1601b 15” speakers and one TD2001 compression driver in each. The center channel speaker enclosure is powered by its own Crown power amplifier and has two 10” JBL speakers with crossover and horn with compression driver in it. This is wired with 12AWG shielded stranded wire about six feet long.

As I was writing this article I decided to do a simple comparison test of my own to see if there was a difference using solid copper wire for speakers.  I removed the existing stranded speaker wire and prepped the ends of the new cable. I stripped off ¾” of the insulation on each end to expose the bare 10awg solid wire. The new 10awg solid wire had to be routed a little differently because it is very rigid. After running the wires through the wire chase within the wall unit, I installed the 10AWG gauge solid copper wire directly to the screw down connectors as before.

When the wiring was completed I turned on the system and listened closely for about twenty minutes and then listened from the next adjoining room which is open to where the speakers are for about 3 hours. At first it didn’t seem like there was much of a difference but the longer I listened from the open room I noticed the highs were more distinct and it did sound better. I listened on three different occasions and concluded the speakers did sound better. This review convinced me that solid copper wire delivers a better quality signal than the stranded wire I was using.

 Internal Speaker Wiring- the wire within the speaker cabinet should be equal to the gauge of the wire coming from the amplifier. Therefore if 12 AWG wire is used for speaker cable the internal speaker wire in the enclosure should be 12 AWG also. For high end systems consider upgrading the internal wire and connectors.

Center Channel Noise- if the center channel speaker is directly under a conventional tube type monitor consider using a good quality shielded speaker cable so noise is not picked up from the TV tube or monitor. An alternative is to use foil shielding between the TV and center speaker cabinet to stop interference.

Bi Wiring Speakers- Some speaker cabinets have four input connectors, two for the hot terminal and two for the ground terminal. If you want to bi-wire your speakers that only two terminals- 1 hot and 1 negative, twist the 2 wires together and solder together for both pairs of wire on the cable. Is there a difference? I have bi wired a few speaker setups where there was a long distance of cable to run and I did not recognize any difference. If you want to bi wire the speaker to double the size of the wire on a long run that’s fine. Otherwise I would say there is no reason to spend more on bi-wire speaker cables.

Cable Connectors- There are several types connectors that can be used to hook up the wire to the amplifier and speaker cabinet like pin type, spade, banana and dual banana plugs. Bare wires can also be connected directly binding post without plugs or connectors. There is a chance that the bare copper wire can fray or corrode in time causing a poor connection. Realize the cable connection to the amplifier and speakers is only as good as the connector on the component.

Main and Rear Speaker Wiring- It doesn’t matter what set of speakers you are running cable for the same speaker cable can be used for any type of home audio system. Different types of systems include stereo, surround sound, 5.1, 7.1, center channel or mono. There are more pairs of wire for a 7.1 speaker setup than a surround speaker setup. For a small mini sound system you can purchase speaker wire kits and there are also 5.1 channel home theater speaker connection kit

Subwoofer Speaker Cable- Some cable manufacturers claim to have special cables for the main speakers and special cables for subwoofers. Speaker wire doesn’t discriminate frequencies within the range of the human ear. The wire delivers the same signal to a subwoofer as it does a horn driver.

Outdoor Speaker Wiring-  For outdoor speakers use the same wire size chart to calculate the gauge needed for the length of the cable run. Outdoor wire is usually on a spool or reel in lengths of 50’, 100’ or 250’- 500’ long. You will have to install the cable end connectors yourself. If you are running the speaker wires from inside the house thru a crawl space or basement to the outside of the house use outdoor wire. For outside wall mounted speakers run the wire inside the exterior wall up to the mounting bracket. Outdoor speaker wire is available in direct burial grade which means you can bury it in the ground without using electrical conduit. It has a polyethylene jacket which is U/V, weather and sunlight resistant also good for above ground installations.

Speaker Wire Gauge Chart for 8ohms

50’       18AWG

100’     16AWG- 14AWG

150’     14AWG- 12AWG

200’     12AWG

250’     12AWG- 10AWG

300’     10AWG

Speaker Cable Quality

Cable quality does affect the performance of the speakers and ultimately what you listen to. Higher priced cables will probably be of better quality, but this is not always the rule to judge. Stay away from using cheap lamp cord or zip cord as they are light gauge, cheaply made and may have no coding on the outside casing of the wire to phase the speakers when hooking it up. Inexpensive wire at least should have a printed marking or molded rib on one side of the casing to trace the positive and negative wires from the amplifier to the speaker connections. You may have noticed on older clear lamp cord a greenish color seen from the outside of the jacket, this is a sign that the copper is corroding between the strands and breaking down and is common for lamp wire. Use at minimum 16AWG copper wire for short runs but I would suggest to use 12AWG wire for all speaker connections up to 50’ long including the subwoofer cable. Beyond that length, to be safe use 10AWG if available in the grade you are considering.

Silver Wire- Silver is slightly lower in resistance than copper, a thinner gauge wire in silver can be used or simply increase the gauge of copper wire which would be less expensive and have the same results.

OFC- Oxygen Free Copper, OFC may be the slightest less resistive than ordinary copper and most likely will not have any noticeable difference in sound quality. If OFC copper had any relevance to quality, wouldn’t high end audio component manufacturers use OFC wire on the internal wiring and circuit boards in amplifiers and electronics. Use your own discretion, if you feel it is worth the difference in price go for it.

Gauge/AWG- The most important factor in speaker wire is the gauge. The thicker the wire gauge (AWG) the least resistance.  The AWG is the thickness of the actual bare wire without the insulation, the higher the AWG the thinner the gauge of wire. Therefore 22AWG is thinner than 12AWG. As long as the wire is sized properly for the length of cable from the amplifier to the speaker it will be able to deliver the full power signal. Similar to an electrical extension cord, if the wire gauge is too thin the cable will heat up and restrict the tool from performing at maximum capacity. Solid or stranded, the choice is yours and the best practice is to oversize the wire.

Wire Direction- Smart marketers of designer audio cables have actually convinced users that wire has a direction of flow for optimum sound quality and have actually printed arrows on the cable so it is installed in the right direction. People let’s get with it, copper wire is a conductor of electric no matter which end it enters the wire. If a wire manufacturer claims their cable has directivity I wouldn’t buy it.

Shielded Speaker Cable- The signal coming out of an amplifier which passes through the speaker cable has the possibility of picking up interference along the way to the speaker especially in conditions near high ac voltage. I believe shielded speaker cable is a good quality and if it is within your budget is worth the extra money. Shielded wire should also be used for in wall cable runs that are near existing electrical wiring, larger electric motor driven appliances or strong radio frequencies.

Installing Speaker Cables- When installing audio cables in your home theater or home audio system separate and organize the different types into groups.  Keep ac power cords together as far away from the speaker cables as possible and tie together the input cables separately from the speaker lines. Make cable lengths as short as possible and near the same size for both front main speakers and the same for the rear speakers. If you are running the speaker cables in the wall, thru a crawl space or basement, keep them at least 18” away from any 110v house wiring and power wires going to motor drive appliances. If you experience noise interference you might want to try installing some inexpensive ferrite core cord noise suppressors which clamp around the wire. Ferrite cores can be used on power cables or speaker cables and work best if installed at both ends of the cable. They are inexpensive and available at most electronics parts suppliers.

Cable Manufacturers Terminology

Speaker cables are a high profit item for manufacturers, audio dealers and consumer electronics stores. Cables are usually purchased along with the sale of new speakers, home theater systems, computer speakers, car speakers, auto audio, car subwoofers and other audio components. The product requires up selling by the sales person to convince you to spend more money on expensive speaker cables. Here are some of the phrases and adjectives used to describe how the expensive cables will improve your system after hooking up the new cable:  extended bass, pure highs, transient attacks are crisp, layered depth sound stage, advanced technology, bass control conductor, tight punchy bass, precision time correct windings, incredible dynamics, pristine sonic reproduction, dynamic range, natural tonal balance, magnetic flux tube, high current delivery, monster bass, monster sound, amplitude balanced, domain distortions, capture lost phase, high refined.  If you understand these terms and can relate them to what you are hearing or not hearing in your speaker system, then maybe you will purchase a set.

Conclusion- As you can see there are many considerations when choosing speaker wire and only the user can determine the value to dollar ratio. The smart approach is to evaluate your whole system and define what would most improve the sound quality within your budget and compliment the quality of the other components.  Yes there are differences in very expensive cables that can be measured when bench tested on a scope in a lab, but can you hear those differences? Get the biggest bang for your buck. A set of $500 speaker cables will hardly improve the sound quality of a $1500 mini hi fi stereo system. The money might be better spent on a upgrading the other components. Consider adding a power conditioner or new ac power cords which would improve the quality and protect your equipment. If you have a high end system and are satisfied with your components then new cables might make a difference to improve the sound.

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