Speaker Wire Explained

The thickness of speaker cables is indicated by the "gauge." The lower the gauge, the thicker the wire. For example, 10- and 12-gauge wire is quite thick, while 18- and 20-gauge is comparatively thin. The average person will probably be very happy with 14-gauge speaker cables as all-around decent cables for average runs and audio systems.

Audiophiles will likely opt for a little more assurance that they are getting everything they can from their sound system, and might choose 12-gauge for surround-sound speakers, and 10-gauge for the subwoofer. The subwoofer delivers the bass sounds in a home theater system, and the thick 10 gauge cable assures low resonance signals will be replicated nicely. Surround sound speakers can also be wired with 10-gauge cables, but this is probably an unnecessary margin of overkill. In home applications it is rare to use anything thicker than 10-gauge speaker cables.

While receivers for home theater systems process audio sources to send bass signals to the subwoofer and special effects or brighter sounds to other speakers, traditional 2-speaker stereo systems must handle brighter frequencies and bass together. For this reason 10- or 12-gauge speaker cables can vastly improve the sound of stereo speakers that might be currently wired with older 18- or 20-gauge speaker cables.
While several popular manufacturers of audiovisual cabling charge fairly high prices for speaker cables, humbler brands can be just as good. For this reason many people, including many audiophiles, buy quality speaker cable by the foot from large spools at home improvement centers, electronics shops or other general vendors, rather than paying for expensive packaging and trendy names. Those even less concerned buy spooled lamp cord to save additional money. However, manufacturers of speaker wire provide specifications as to shielding, impedance and resistance. Manufacturers of lamp cord have no stake in how their wiring will sound.

Optional connectors like banana plugs or spades can be attached to the ends of speaker cables, making it easier to connect them to the speaker or receiver. Purists contend that connectors only impede the signal, no matter how nominally. This sect prefers to trim the bare ends of the speaker cables every year or so to produce a fresh connection. Trimming off any corrosion keeps the connections clean and unhampered.

Many people today choose to hide their speaker cables. This can affect the type of wiring required.bywisegeek.com