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Speaker Cables

Speaker cable is a bit different from a lot of the interconnect cables we handle, in several respects. Because speakers are driven at low impedance (typically 4 or 8 ohms) and high current, speaker cables are, for all practical purposes, immune from interference from EMI or RFI, so shielding isn't required. The low impedance of the circuit also tips the balance of concern from capacitance, which is important in interconnect use, to inductance, which, while a concern, can be controlled only to a limited degree. The biggest issue in speaker cables, from the point of view of sound quality, is simply conductivity; the lower the resistance of the cable, the lower the contribution of the speaker cable's resistance to the damping factor, and the flatter the frequency response will be. While one can spend thousands of dollars on exotic speaker cable, in the end analysis, it's the sheer conductivity of the cable, and (barring a really odd design, which may introduce various undesirable effects) little else that matters. The answer to keeping conductivity high is simple: the larger the wire, the lower the resistance, and the higher the conductivity. We offer a few alternatives in large-gauge speaker cable, either raw or terminated, as follows:

Belden 5000 series Cable: Our favorite speaker cable is the Belden 5000 series; we carry two offerings, the 10-gauge 5T00UP and the 12-gauge 5000UE (note: with wire gauges, the smaller the number, the larger the wire is). Belden's standard version of these cables is available only in a gray jacket, with white and black inner conductors; however, we've had Belden build us a slightly modified version of each, with a white outer jacket (less conspicuous in many installations) and red and black inner conductors, which we call "Ten White" and "Twelve White". Both the 10-gauge and 12-gauge versions consist of two separately insulated conductors, twisted together and wrapped in an outer PVC sleeve; the gray version of the 10-gauge 5T00UP is shown at right. Whether in white or gray, or 10 or 12 AWG, all of these cables are UL-listed and NEC-rated for in-wall use (the NEC rating for 5000UE and Twelve White is CL3R; for 5T00UP and Ten White, it's CL2).

Canare 4S11 Cable: Canare 4S11 is a "star quad" 14-gauge cable, with four conductors together in one outer gray jacket; it is popular for bi-wiring (where the speaker crossover is bypassed and separate wires run to each of four speaker terminals). When conventionally wired, star quad speaker cable has the advantage of reducing the EM field around the cable, which will tend to diminish the effect of the signal in the speaker cable upon nearby interconnects--though this is not, in most applications, a significant concern. 4S11 is a very pleasant-looking cable, with a round matte gray jacket, and is quite large--about 3/8 inch in diameter. 4S11 is not UL-listed or NEC rated. We offer this cable raw, and terminated either in single-wired or bi-wired configurations.

To Terminate or Not?

While it's common to use banana plugs or spade lugs to terminate speaker cable, one option worth considering is simply using bare wire termination--just buy the speaker cable raw, strip the ends, and insert them into the side holes in the binding posts. Whether this will work in your application depends largely on how big the holes in your binding posts are, and whether you can successfully access them to get the wire properly inserted (not an easy task on many surround receivers). When it's feasible to do, we like to use bare wire termination because it's simple and inexpensive, and because it avoids making additional connection points (e.g. wire to banana plug) which can fail.

Termination Hardware: Bananas and Spades The important attributes of a banana plug or spade lug are its ability to be reasonably well tightened onto the cable and its noncorrosive coating--the job of a banana or spade is very simple otherwise, as all it needs to do is provide a mechanically stable connection to the binding post and to the speaker wire. We carry banana and spade lugs which we import directly from a supplier in Taiwan; these are gold-plated and are of a compression screw termination type--that is, one inserts the wire through the rear portion of the connector, flares the wire to make it overlap the end of that rear portion, and then screws the front portion of the banana or spade onto the threads (see our speaker cable termination instruction page). Properly done, these terminations are extremely solid and can't be removed even with very strong pulling. Because these plugs have a conductive metal surface on their entire exterior, we recommend using a bit of heatshrink tubing (included with the connectors) to provide an insulating layer which will help protect against the possibility of shorting one connector to the other. Bear in mind, when choosing between spades or bananas, that because spade lugs have to go onto binding posts sideways, they really aren't practical for many of the surround amps on the market today, as there just isn't room for them. If in doubt, you're better off with banana plugs, which plug right into the ends of most binding posts.

Locking Banana Plugs:

We now also offer a locking banana plug; this plug (not pictured) has a tightening collar which can be used to expand the width of the banana after insertion, for an especially secure installation. As with our standard bananas, instructions for terminating these are contained on our speaker cable termination instruction page.

Raw or Finished--Your Choice

We offer all of the speaker wire above in raw lengths, and we offer the banana and spade terminals in pairs. We recommend terminating these yourself--it's simple to do, and it allows you to customize your cable lengths in-place, leaving yourself as much or as little slack as you like. Full instructions on how to terminate your cables using our spades and standard or locking bananas are contained on our speaker cable termination instruction page. However, we also offer speaker cables terminated at both ends, at an additional charge.

Raw Speaker Cable:

No terminations included;
NOTE ON SHIPPING: Lengths greater than we can ship in a USPS flat-rate box (greater than 400 ft. 12 AWG, 200 ft 10 AWG, 100 ft 4S11) carry a shipping surcharge (Why? Click here for a detailed explanation); if you need more than that maximum, you can avoid additional shipping charges by ordering multiple lengths, each below the maximum.

Terminated Speaker Cables:

Note: Banana plugs on our terminated speaker cables are the locking-type bananas.

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