![]() ![]() You can think of speaker wire, like other electrical wires, as being made up of a resistor, an inductor, and a capacitor, as nearly all conductors have at least a tiny bit of each. However, it’s so insignificant it can be difficult to measure it with even very expensive and accurate test instruments. The wire has a very small amount of resistance, inductance, and capacitance. Speaker wire electrical resistance, capacitance, and inductance explainedĪ diagram showing a model of how you can think of speaker wire or other conductors. Thicker speaker wire has lower resistance, capacitance, and inductance when compared to thin wire as it has a larger cross-sectional area (more conductance/less resistance).The gauge you need depends on the power delivered from your amp or stereo and the length.To make matters worse, the placebo effect has an impact on the test along with the people in it having different levels of hearing. The tests are almost always severely flawed and have no hard scientific audio test data to back them up. While it’s true that blind listening tests have been done to try and prove that special audio wires or cables sound better to people, they’re never able to prove it.Audio frequencies span about 20Hz to 20kHz in range. It’s not a concern until dealing with much higher frequencies (megahertz and higher ranges). The electrical conductor phenomenon known as the skin effect doesn’t apply to the audio frequency range.Other types of cables (like individually insulated conductors) can impact sound – but they’re not speaker wire. Speaker wires are made up of a bundle of thin conductors that touch each other which keeps capacitance and inductance to a level so small it’s negligible for audio.Things like speaker performance, voice coil inductance, speaker crossovers, and others have a much more significant impact on sound quality – hundreds of times larger, in fact.Far less than what is needed to have a real impact on sound quality & the frequency response of a speaker system. While it’s true that many electrical components & conductors do have capacitance and inductance that can affect the sound, the speaker wire has very little.There are a few exceptions that aren’t typical which I’ll explain later. Here’s a list of reasons why you won’t notice any difference in sound quality due to speaker wire. In fact, when it comes to electronics, audio accessories like RCA patch cable, headphone cables, and speaker cable are one of the most profitable categories for retailers! The science of speaker wire and sound quality Most of the time it’s just marketing for higher profits. The problem is that there’s no scientific test data to back it up. Often claims are made by companies & audiophiles that their highly-priced cables offer better sound because of some type of esoteric, fancy technical advantage. ![]() Fancy audio cables & wire are based on nonsense It’s not limited to home loudspeaker or video use, either – there’s been plenty of it in the car stereo world as well. One of the largest problems I’ve seen over the years is the amount of hype & exaggeration used to sell overpriced cables of all types: speaker wire, audio cable (like RCA cables), video cables, and even computer & data cables. Excessively long wire to the crossover & at the speakers can cause the crossover’s behavior to change & alter the sound response of the speaker. ![]() The wire between speaker crossovers and the speakers should be kept fairly short.For best results, do not coil long lengths of speaker wire as this can create inductance that reduces some sound frequencies as a crossover does.Excessively long or other high-resistance wire can affect the sound by causing a drop in speaker volume and some other details. Using non-standard wire or cables instead of speaker wire can result in sound changes, although very minor.99.9% of the time it’s unsubstantiated claims and the difference really does not matter! There’s no scientific test data to back up the (misleading) idea that “special” or “audiophile” speaker wires or expensive cable make a noticeable difference versus affordable, good quality speaker wire of the correct gauge. ![]() However, in some cases, (explained in further below) sound quality or volume can be affected somewhat. Under normal circumstances, the answer is NO: speaker wire does not affect sound quality. ![]()
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