What speaker cable is best?

[Philib]

Hi there guys, although its not STRICTLY computer related (more home cinema) I was wondering if anyone here can recommend or give me some advice on speaker cable. I recently picked up 4 speakers and was going to run them threw my amp. I normally just buy cable with my speakers in the shop but as these are second hand im going to have to get some off the internet.

Cheers.

 

[jamesriley94]

I've never really found it to make that much of a difference.

It's probably similar to the companies that try to sell you an HDMI cable for £60...

I usually get mine from Wilkinson hardware store if there's one near you? I've found that to be pretty good quality, strong, thick enough and incredibly cheap. That may be worth a shot.

 

[Josh Weston]

I usually get my speaker wire from Maplin, and I usually go for the middle of the range stuff. Not too thin that there's a risk of it melting when you pump your music high enough, not too thick that you're paying a ridiculous premium.

 

[Philib]

So what your saying is go for the middle of the road and dont spend the earth. Are any brands better then others or is cable just cable at the end of the day?

 

[PEXON]

Oxygen free copper or silver wire ftw. You DO notice a difference... More airy and clear... Its like anything, you pay a little extra for quality, up to a point. Some stuff is overpriced, but 40 or 50 quid only quality cables makes a huge difference imo.

 

[PEXON]

Forgot to say Mogami make very good wire at about 7-8 quid a metre

 

[Philib]

Wow not looking at spending anywhere near that amount. I was actually looking at buying a real so I can cut to length and then have some for whenever I use it again.

 

[PEXON]

Well you will definitely NOT notice any difference between some cheap pre mades and Maplins cable for example.

 

[mrapoc]

ebay it then mate

just get some decent thickness stuff.

Got a PA system as my speakers atm, with speakon cable

Now thats expensive!

 

[chrisjones]

Yeah, as the previous guys said, you wouldn't notice much difference, unless you spend quite a bit. Or you could go over the top like me, and use Genelec studio monitors but then again, I do studio work, so need them.

 

[PEXON]

Yeah, as the previous guys said, you wouldn't notice much difference, unless you spend quite a bit. Or you could go over the top like me, and use Genelec studio monitors but then again, I do studio work, so need them.

You WILL notice a difference, silver speaker wire FTW.... send me a PM if you want some made up

 

[chrisjones]

You WILL notice a difference, silver speaker wire FTW.... send me a PM if you want some made up

I meant between the cheaper rubbish I don't really use systems with binding posts, because I use active studio monitors with XLR connections, but you can definately tell that the sound loses clarity with the worse cables.

 

[MiThewsey]

It all depends on the power of your speakers. If you have 100W speakers you are going to need a thicker gauge of cable to cope with the extra current. Vice Verse, is you have less power full speakers you need a smaller gauge of cable. Sometimes having cable that is too think will reduce audio quality. You need to buy unbalanced cable as well, so the stuff that looks like two cables stuck together, and not in the same piece of insulation. You only need balanced cable for things like microphones.

 

[Windspeed36]

Pure silver followed by gold. However I doubt you have the money for it - what's the RMS rating for the speaker? (constant = half RMS, Peak = 2x RMS) The higher the wattage they consistently require the bigger the cable needs to be in terms of AWG. However for normal home theatre use just plain 16awg copper cable.