welcome to the board..
shielding is somewhat BS. i mean, i am sure it doesnt hurt, but is it beneficial enough to warrant its higher price, definitely not. the only time i could see it really necessary, is if you were gonna run speaker wire closely adjacent to electrical wiring that is carrying high current. other than that, dont bother.
good rule of thumb is to try and get 12g wire for runs over 30 feet. anything less, and 14 will be fine. and you can even use 16g for runs under 10 feet. i just went to home depot and got their basic 14g bulk wire at .27 cents a foot, and ran that to all my speakers. terminate the ends with a basic banana plug, and you will be good to go.
as far as what gauge is 'in' the speaker.. i have no idea.. but, rest assured, these are well made speakers, so i would guess it is of above average quality.
bigjohn
