Speaker Wires?

Question

i have an old stereo system, and I was wondering if you can use regular wires as speaker wires...y'know, those red and black wires....and if not, why? guaranteed 10 points to best answer, and this is urgent! Thanks!

Answer 1

Speaker wires have to carry current in order for them to reproduce sound. Low power amplifiers/speakes require very little current since they are not capable of very loud volume levels so can use almost any type of wire. However as the power output increases, current levels also increase. If you don't use a large enough wire, you restrict the amount of current that you can provide to the speakers. I guess the easiest analogy is a water hose - a smaller diameter water hose supplies less water than a larger diameter one.

So to answer your question, yes you can use those wires but for best results you should use the proper gauge and type of wires.

Answer 2

You're going to have to be more specific about those "regular wires" as I don't know of any that are red and black, unless you mean composite cables which are usually red and white.

But, speaker wire is simply two separate strands of wire. One strand goes to the positive terminal of the speaker, one to the negative terminal. So you can use just about any wire to connect them. Quality of the sound however is reliant on the quality of wire - use too thin/high of a gauge, and the sound will not be as good.