what is a real good speaker wire for home theater?

Answer 1

Irrespective of the standard you use, a lower the gauge number related to a thicker wire, and a better capacity to pass the amplified audio signal. Good quality speaker wires fall in the range 12 to 16 AWG.

Avoid speaker wire thinner than gauge 16 when installing your home theater wiring unless you are working with very short runs. A major factor is the distance between the amplifier/home theater receiver, and your speakers — long wire runs can cause significant power losses, and thus require thicker speaker cables.

Even with short runs, AWG 18 is the minimum thickness you can go.

When choosing speaker wire, consider the quality of your gear. In other words, the build-up quality of the speaker wire should match that of your speakers and amplifier. Ensure also that your speaker wire support the power rating of your sound system.

However that quality comes at an expense; thicker home theater wiring is more expensive; hence keep an eye on your available budget.

Answer 2

Best Speaker Wire

Answer 3

Without knowing all the details of your equipment I can't tell what it would need. Sales staff (often commissioned) will try and sell to you and insist that you need to buy whatever product generates the best commision; however you system is as only good as its weakest link. There is no point in spending more on the wire than the combined prices of the rest of your system, but it goes both ways. In a high end system your paying much more for the equioment for a better, less degraded signal which can be severely degraded over poor wiring. Most systems will work fine over properly terminated 16awg 65 strand wire. This is the standard used in prewiring new-construction homes as it is a decent quality but still inexpensive enough to justify running hundreds of feet within a new home.

Answer 4

While speaker wires DO make a difference in a highly-sensitive music system - Home Theater sound is a lot sparser and compressed. This means the speaker wires dont make as much a difference for HT.

I like the Oxygen free 12 ga stuff sold through speaker supply stores like PartsExpress.

Answer 5

HI. The best speaker cable is NO cable.The ideal speaker cable does Not change the signal travelling through it in ANY way.NO cable can improve the sound quality of a system,they only make it worse in varying degrees.The best cables make things worse only a very little bit.Ok so what do we do ? You can buy your own wire to the length you want .You will need to connect quality plugs on both ends of the wire in a way that does not allow oxidisation at the joins.
Contrary to what some people say ,speaker wire does sound different among various configerations,particularly if you have high end equipment There are 2 main types of speaker wire ; Stranded and solid core.Most use stranded because it is easy to work with than solid core,but solid core sounds better.Avoid using very long speaker cable because they reduce sound quality due to increasing electrical resistance.Thick wires carry electronic signals better than thin wire because thick wire provides less resistance to electric current. 12 or 14 gauge wire should be ok.There are ready made cables to buy which are more expensive than making your own.Some of these companies charge ridiculous prices for speaker cable ,so should be avoided. I have been listening to speakers for over 40 years and have used many different cables to find the right ones for my system.

.I have always been impressed with Van Den Hul cables (interconnects and speaker cable) and have been using their speaker wire for 20 years. It is not overly expensive but the results are excellent. They use their own connectors on both ends of their cables which are available in 3,5,and 10 meters. The ends are sealed with a special tape to prevent oxidisation where the plugs are joined to the wire,

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Nordost makes the finest cable out there but you'd have to take out a second mortgage to afford it.

Kimber Kable makes excellent high end cable that is affordable. Other excellent companies are Analysis Plus, Cardas, and Audioquest.

Answer 7

Hundreds of good companies with excellent products. Check out the ones in your region and check them with your system.

First link provides more information about the wires.
Second link - some examples.

Answer 8

Don't waste your $$$ on the overpriced Monster Cable. For the best Price/Performance look to Monoprice: http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239
Look at the 14 guage wire. CL2 if you need to run the cable in wall!

Answer 9

Look for it at your home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes. Really cheap! It works just as good.

Answer 10

Get these down at your local hardware store. Click the link: http://www.avtruths.com/budgetcables.html