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What is important about speaker cables?

It is worth investing in good cables. Find out which attributes are decisive here.

Speaker cables are one of the best-known connection solutions on the market. Officially: Speaker cables are two-wire connections between audio amplifiers and loudspeaker boxes. Together with the audio signal, they also transmit the electrical current required to operate the speakers.

Material of loudspeaker cables

The cores of most loudspeaker cables are made of copper. Precious metals or even pure aluminium are rarely used. The former are relatively expensive, which makes their use uneconomical for most end users and manufacturers. Pure aluminium has a 50 percent higher resistance than copper and is more susceptible to cable breakage. Copper cables can be divided into two classes: All-copper cables (CU) and copper-coated aluminium cables (CCA). Both have material-specific advantages:
Solid copper cables are the first choice for audiophile listeners. They boast excellent transmission properties, low line resistance and high electrical conductivity with a small diameter.

Copper-coated aluminium cables (CCA) are lighter and cheaper than solid copper wires. With their particularly good price/performance ratio, they are suitable for normal users whose devices and components cannot utilise the material advantage of solid copper.

Wire cross-section of loudspeaker cables


The cross-section of a loudspeaker cable is calculated in the same way as any other cable. The area of the conductor that is exposed when the cable is cut is measured. It is specified in square millimetres (mm²) and has a decisive influence on the transmission quality and the sound. The jacket (2) is not measured.

A distinction is made between cables with one core (3) or many fine wires (1). In a cable with fine wires, the core cross-section is calculated from the sum of the cross-sectional areas of all wires.

Basically, as the wire cross-section increases, the sound develops from warm and full to bright and transparent. In domestic use, twin conductors made of stranded copper wire with wire cross-sections between 0.75 mm² for very short distances and 6 mm² for long distances achieve the best results.

Tips for practice 

Bei der Bestimmung des optimalen Aderquerschnitts sollten neben der Kabellänge auch die Leistungsfähigkeit von Verstärker und Lautsprecher berücksichtigt werden. 

The rule of thumb is: the greater the output, the larger the perfect cross-section:
Power
Recommended cross-section per channel
up to 40 watts / channel 0,75 mm²
up to 80 watts / channel 1,50 mm²
up to 120 watts / channel 2,50 mm²
up to 200 watts / channel 4,00 mm²
up to 400 watts / channel 6,00 mm²

 

Select a higher wire cross-section if your cable route or amplifier power exceeds the specified value. Use the same cable length for both channels of your speaker pair to achieve a balanced sound.

The core cross-section of a cable in general and a loudspeaker cable in particular should not be confused with the diameter. The cable diameter is the total diameter of all cable components such as shielding and sheathing. It is given in mm.

The latter does not allow any direct conclusions to be drawn about cable and signal quality because, for example, a very thick sheath can be used. Even if the core cross-section is the important parameter for determining the cable quality, a thick sheath also has advantages, as it makes the cable more robust and easier to lay. On the other hand, a thicker jacket makes the cable less flexible.
General information
Material
Wire cross-section
Tips for practice
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