Speaker wire

[James L]

oh wow, betcha you can rock the whole hood w/that beast Larry ~RJ~

You can probably feel air pumping out around the windows when the bass thumps. Garage door probably rattles like the trunk of a car

Seriously though, the best sound comes from an overpowered system. Don't have to turn it up all the way, which amounts to lower THD

 

[kwired]

Twisted pair is a consideration so the cable doesn't pick up interference from RF sources as easily

 

[retirede]

You can probably feel air pumping out around the windows when the bass thumps. Garage door probably rattles like the trunk of a car

Seriously though, the best sound comes from an overpowered system. Don't have to turn it up all the way, which amounts to lower THD

“My neighbors listen to great music…..whether they want to or not!”

 

[LarryFine]

Well, I can play music at realistic concert levels.

 

[SceneryDriver]

Twisted pair is a consideration so the cable doesn't pick up interference from RF sources as easily

For line-level signals, that may be a consideration though digital audio has now rendered the whole "AC hum" issue largely moot. The audio signal stays in digital format all the way to the amp.

If there's enough RF kicking around to cause the speaker cables feeding 4 to 8 ohm speakers to pick up interference, your fillings will likely be melting.



SceneryDriver

 

[curt swartz]

I assume there is a CL2 or other marking somewhere, even if it does not appear on the label?

The speaker wire in the picture is CL3. Most in wall speaker wire is CL3.

Landscape wire is not listed or marked CL anything and can not be use for interior wiring.

 

[kwired]

For line-level signals, that may be a consideration though digital audio has now rendered the whole "AC hum" issue largely moot. The audio signal stays in digital format all the way to the amp.

If there's enough RF kicking around to cause the speaker cables feeding 4 to 8 ohm speakers to pick up interference, your fillings will likely be melting.



SceneryDriver

I don't know all the details on audio, but unless the amplifier is in the speaker assembly the line to the speaker is analog right? And if so not a lot has changed much over the years. Most the time you have no issues, but if you have a nearby HAM radio or other stronger signal two way transmitter nearby I've been places where you can hear those transmissions, installing twisted pair cable cut that interference down. Also had a friend once (like about 30 years ago) complaining about a nearby commercial broadcast radio station that came in on his sound system no matter where the tuner was set or even if selected to play phono, CD, or other device. I told him to use twisted pair cable to the speakers - he said it worked.

When I was a kid we would sit in church, and occasionally you could hear CB radio transmissions over the sound system. Church was next to intersection of the two major highways that went through town and trucks come through there frequently. Guessing the speaker wire was picking those up also. Was before I knew anything about how to remedy the problem, but was an observation I still remember.

 

[LarryFine]

I assume there is a CL2 or other marking somewhere, even if it does not appear on the label?

From the site:

• UL Type CL3R
• Class 3, riser rated for in-wall installation in riser and non-riser spaces
• CMR/CL3R

 

[LarryFine]

You can probably feel air pumping out around the windows when the bass thumps. Garage door probably rattles like the trunk of a car

Seriously though, the best sound comes from an overpowered system. Don't have to turn it up all the way, which amounts to lower THD

It's a serious system, but it's not all that loud outside. Upstairs, yes, the floor does vibrate a bit.

 

[brantmacga]

I use CL3 from Priority ….. part list in pic below. I typically use 16/4 unless specified equipment requires something larger.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[low-wattage]

Or, if you don't want to get ripped off, this stuff works just as well though it doesn't have the fancy directional arrows:

Monoprice Speaker Wire, CL2 Rated, 2-Conductor, 12AWG, 100ft, White - Monoprice.com

Get the most out of your home audio system with high quality, pure bare copper speaker wire from Monoprice™!Pure Bare Copper is a superior conductor to the copper clad aluminum (CCA) conductors

www.monoprice.com

I was going to suggestion Monoprice as well. I used them for my home theater and they seem to have the lowest price.

I have had a number of bad experiences with Monoprice products supplied by customers. The last one was just recently, leading to a policy that we will now flat refuse to install any wire, cable, connector, etc. from Monoprice. (I might not reject something like a simple TV mount where we can see for ourselves whether the quality is adequate.)

Monoprice offers some very low prices by shopping the manufacturers that supply rebranded imported products hard. But, in my experience they do no quality control. They got burned with some copper-coated aluminum not-really-category-5e cable a few years ago. They did a recall but they don't pay for the cost to tear out and reinstall. I don't trust their UL listings / cable ratings are legit.

Go with a manufacturer you trust for a CL2 / CL3 rated cable