How to Pick the Right Speaker Cable?

Many speakers do not come with the speaker cable that is needed. This means that you will need to buy the right speaker cable for your system. There are cables that come with and without the connectors. To make the process of buying a speaker cableeasier, below are tips on how to pick the right speaker cable for your system.

What Cable Gauge do you need?

Cable gauge is identified by the AWG or American Wire Gauge number. The lower the number is, the thicker that the wire is. A thicker wire has less resistance to the flow of the power or sound. Thicker wires like 12 and 14 gauges are recommended for longer wire runs, low amp speakers, and higher power applications.

16 and 18 gauge speaker cable is recommended for shorter runs and high amp speakers. These cables are cheaper because they use less metal and are easy to work with.

How Much Speaker Cable do you need?

The easiest way of finding out what length of speaker cable you need is to run string from the receiver to each of the speakers. Mark the string and then measure the length of the strings. You should buy a speaker cable that is longer than what was measured because you will need some slack to make the connection easier. There is also the possibility that human errors were made, so the extra length can cover them.

What Type of Speaker Cable is Need?

There are cables that come with or without connectors. If you buy cables that do not have connectors, you should also think about buying banana connectors to make attaching the speaker cable easier.

If you are buying a speaker cable that has connectors, you should make sure that they are the right connectors. While you can switch the connectors, you should try to buy the right ones the first time. There are guides online that you can check if your speakers do not have the type of connector that they use listed on the packaging. If the connectors are not right and you do not know how to switch the connectors, then you can also use transformers.

You also need to know how many connectors you need because some speaker cable is only meant to be used in smaller systems. You should also make sure you are using speaker cable that is meant for the area where you are installing the system. This information will be listed on the cable’s packaging. 

There are many options that you need to pick from when you are buying a new speaker cable. This can make the process of buying one confusing since most speakers do not come with information for the necessary cables.