Podcast #827: Speaker Cables - What does High Quality Cost?

Speaker Cables - What does High Quality Cost? I was going through some of my typical AV websites the other day and came upon an article at Electronic House about speaker wires and was very interested to see what a site for installers had to say about the subject.  We have been saying for years now that you should buy high quality cables to get the most out of your system. However, we have also been saying that high quality cables don't have to cost a lot of money.  We will examine the article, credited to EH Contributor, and give you our take. First assertion: Copper and silver are the two most common conductors used in speaker cables. Make sure the cable manufacturer is using high-purity conductors.  A quality speaker cable manufacturer should be able to tell you what purity level the conductors are that they're using to build the cable. This makes sense and from physics we know that copper is good, silver is better, and gold is really good! But if you want the BEST, you are talking platinum. For that, may we recommend the Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 7 Speaker Cable New 7 Series? As one reviewer put it all that matters is sound. Two five meter cables will cost you a cool $40K! I recently decided to upgrade my audio system and decided that I needed a firm budget to keep costs under control and to avoid the temptation of overspending on products that are ridiculously overpriced. These cables fit the bill nicely. As I was about to put these in my cart, I had an existential crisis and thought that perhaps the $40k would be better spent on feeding, clothing, and housing an entire town of people in Africa. This only lasted a second however and I decided on the cables because really, the sound is all that matters in the end, am I right? Bravo Wireworld, bravo. All kidding aside,  you are looking for cables made out of copper. You will find some really cheap cable made out of copper clad aluminum CCA. Those will work just fine and the vast majority of people won't notice the difference between CCA and solid copper. Since solid copper wire is not expensive at all, we recommend going with solid copper wire. Second assertion: Quality cable manufacturers will typically braid conductors together to ensure the conductors aren't running parallel next to one another. By running parallel, they could be acting like an antenna, thus making them more susceptible to picking up radio-frequency interference (RFI) from cellphones, Wi-Fi or traditional radio signals. This is true! But only if you can hear frequencies well above what the typical human can hear. In reality at 20KHz there is less than .01 db difference. However, if you don't believe instrumented test results. Go ahead and buy braided cables. Just don't spend a lot of money. Here is an option that will set you back about $25 for a pair of 10 foot cables - Monoprice Affinity Premium 14AWG Braided Speaker Wire with Gold Plated Banana Plug Connectors. If monoprice scares you, SVS has some high quality braided cables that will set you back $100 for a pair (SoundPath Ultra Speaker Cable). Third assertion: A well engineered cable can be hampered by a poor quality connector. Make sure the speaker cable you're interested in has a well engineered design and is made of conductive materials such as copper and silver. It is OUR assertion that the statement is true. A poor quality connector will hamper the cable. It's also OUR assertion that a high quality connector will make the install clean and easy to connect. We choose to use banana plugs for convenience and aesthetic. However, there is no sound quality difference between bare wire and banana plugs.     Fourth assertion: Teflon is considered by most to be the best insulation for wire conductors. It is believed to have the least impact on the conductors.  However, there are other insulation materials out there that work well, so do your homework before choosing a cable purely because it has Teflon insulation. Let's assume that the "It is believed to have the least impact on the conductors" portion of the statement is true. That doesn't mean that PVC insulation is bad. In fact, the difference is negligible at best based on instrumented test results. This was a throw away assertion. The author then states "However, there are other insulation materials out there that work well, so do your homework before choosing a cable purely because it has Teflon insulation". So why bother even making the assertion? At the end of the article the author makes three recommendations for speaker wire: AudioQuest Type 4 – $209.00 per 6' pair   www.AudioQuest.com Kimber Kable 8TC – $401.00 per 6' pair   www.Kimber.com Cardas Audio Iridium – $260.00 per 2m pair  www.Cardas.com Which we think are ridiculous! Nothing in this article changes our recommendation. Buy high quality wire but don't over pay. With that said here are some recommendations we have.   If you must have braided wire, and we don't think you need them, buy the monoprice wire we discussed earlier. For all other wire, these are our recommendations: Mediabridge 14AWG 2-Conductor Speaker Wire (100 Feet, White) - 99.9% Oxygen Free Copper - ETL Listed & CL2 Rated for In-Wall Use $29.99 for 100 feet of 14 gauge wire. C&E 100 Feet 14AWG CL2 Rated 2-Conductor Loud Speaker Cable (For In-Wall Installation) $26.95 for 100 feet of 14 gauge wire. Monoprice 102821 250-Feet 14AWG CL2 Rated 2-Conductor Loud Speaker Cable $64.58 for 250 feet of 14 gauge wire. We also recommend buying some banana plugs to make installs easier and cleaner: Sewell Direct SW-29863-12 Deadbolt Banana Plugs, 12-Pair $23.95