Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Speaker cable shielding?

Random thoughts :

- the big advantage of the Axiom cable is that it is high quality AND 12 gauge AND very flexible... normally you only get 2 out of 3. Twelve-gauge wire is the best for long runs (I forget the guidelines, think it's anything over 30 feet ?) but normally is a bit of a pain to work with (hence the Axiom premium stuff is an option)

- you will be told things like "the wire in the voice coil is very fine, you don't need anything heavier" which is total BS -- the idea is that you want the impedence/resistance of the speaker wire to be essentially zero compared to the impedence/resistance of the voice coil, otherwise you don't get the full voltage into the voice coil (bad)

- the guidelines about "16 gauge up to 10 feet, 14 gauge up to 25-30 feet, 12 gauge up to 60 feet" or whatever are meant to give you that "near zero compared to the voice coil" impedence -- can someone post a good link ?

- speakers often have smaller wire gauges inside but that doesn't make a difference because the length of the wire is so short. 50 feet of 16 gauge wire would be a problem; 1 foot of 16 gauge wire is not a problem

Most people get their speaker wire from Home Depot. General consensus is that it all sounds the same -- paying more gets you three things :

- lower oxygen means it won't corrode as quickly (cheap wire sometimes turns green after a year but that's rare these days)

- more expensive wire tends to be easier to strip and solder if you're putting ends on the cables

- some of the better wires (eg. Axiom's) have very fine strands and so are more flexible and harder to damage

My first thought would be if you're willing to spend money for better speaker wire get it from Axiom -- theirs seems pretty good -- if not, just go to Home Depot or equivalent.

Make sure whatever wire you get is polarized (ie either insulation or wire colour lets you tell one wire from the other at both ends, or you'll be cursing for hours). Note that Monster 16ga speaker wire is not polarized but Radio Shack 16ga speaker wire IS polarized.

- it's possible that you can get away with smaller wire for surrounds where the bass is being handled by the sub but I have never read anything to confirm this. Lots of people (myself included) have used 16 ga wire for long runs to the surround speakers (generally out of desperation because Rat Shack and Home Depot were closed) -- never had a problem but I can't recommend it in good conscience.