The Real Truth About Speaker Cables - What the Manufacturers Didn't Want You to Know

Speaker cables play an incredibly important role, and yet many people seem to be confused about what makes a good speaker cable, and what to look out for when buying new cables. A common analogy is that speaker cables are like the arteries of your home entertainment system. Just like your arteries carry blood from your heart and deliver it around your body, so your speaker cables carry audio signals away from your amplifier or receiver and deliver them to the various speakers placed around the room.

With every single manufacturer claiming that their cable offers the best performance it can be extremely hard choosing which type of speaker cable to go for; and with prices ranging from a few dollars to literally thousands of dollars per foot, it's hard to know whether you got a fantastic bargain, or were ripped off.

It doesn't help that there is so much misinformation out there; in fact a lot of the so called experts are actually just making things worse by spreading myths and rumours disguised as hard facts. With that in mind, here are a few simple things that you should consider the next time you venture out to buy new cable.

All cables suffer from resistance to some degree but you will find that the thicker the speaker cable, the lower the resistance; so it's advisable to opt for a cable with a decent gauge. The thickness of the cable may depend on how long you want the cable to be, but as a general rule of thumb for runs of up to 15 feet a 16 gauge cable should be perfectly fine. For runs between 15 and 25 feet use a gauge 14 cable, and for runs longer than 25 feet use a 12 gauge cable. Typically the thicker cables (those with the lower gauge numbers) tend to be more expensive, so don't be fooled into paying extra for a thick12 gauge cable if a thinner 16 gauge cable would be adequate.

Another point of much confusion is whether or not to use a connector on the end of the cable. Many people argue that it is best to just use the bare end of the cable, while just as many say that you should use some kind of connector such as a banana plug or spade terminal. The main benefit of using connectors is that they make it much easier to connect and disconnect the cable quickly, but they have no bearing on the quality of the sound at all. The simple truth is that it doesn't really matter how you connect your speaker cable, the only important thing is that the wire is secure and the terminal is free from corrosion.

A lot of people also ask whether the speaker cable needs to be the same length for each speaker. If you are running a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system then it can be very expensive to buy enough cable to ensure that each cable is exactly the same length and it's also a total waste of money! This 'every cable has to be the same length' myth was just started by manufacturers as a way of getting consumers to buy more cable.

Just use as much cable as you need to connect each speaker to your amplifier or receiver. There is absolutely no need to make each cable the same length, after all, what is the point in paying for a 10 foot run of cable if a 5 foot run is all you need? Just be sure to take careful measurements before buying your cable. A good tip is to lay out a piece of string following the path you want your cable to take, you can then measure the string to find out the exact length of cable you need.